Clayton Rawson (1906 - 1971) was an United States mystery writer, editor, and amateur magician. His four novels frequently invoke his great knowledge of stage magic and feature as their fictional detective The Great Merlini. He was born in Elyria, Ohio, the son of Clarence D. and Clara (Smith) Rawson. He became a magician when he was 8 years old. He married his wife, Catherine Stone, in 1929, the same year he graduated from Ohio State University; they had four children together. He moved to Chicago and lived there, working as an illustrator. His first novel, Death from a Top Hat, appeared in 1938. He was one of the four founding members of the Mystery Writers of America, which presents the annual Edgar Awards in various categories of mystery writing. All of his novels were written before the founding of this group, but in 1949 and 1967 Rawson received Special Edgar Awards for his various contributions to mystery writing and the MWA. At least two movies were made based on the Merlini books. One them, Miracles for Sale (1939), was evidently based on the Merlini exploits in general but had no character named Merlini. The 1942 movie The Man Who Wouldn't Die, starring Lloyd Nolan, was based on No Coffin for the Corpse, but the Merlini character was replaced by Michael Shayne, a popular fictional private eye of the time, created by the writer Brett Halliday.
Bibliography

The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942) ( No Coffin For The Corpse)

                       

Courtesy of: http://www.wikipedia.org/