Major Works
- Death Is a Cold, Keen Edge (1956)
- The Big Steal (1955)
- Short Stories
- The Broken Window (in Manhunt, February 1957)
- The Prison Break (in Mike Shayne, October 1957)
- Decision (in The Saint, March 1958)
Biography
Born Earle Morris Basinisky, Jr., in 1921 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, he attended the University of Mississippi but left before graduating to join the Air Force during World War II. While training at the air base in Greenwood, Mississippi, he became friends with Mickey Spillane. After the war, Basinsky moved to New York for a short time where he worked with Spillane. Basinisky then returned to Vicksburg to work in his father’s printing business. After Spillane visited Basinisky in 1953, Basinisky’s desire to write was rekindled.
In 1955, his novel The Big Steal was published by E. P. Dutton as a Guilt Edged Mystery. It is the story of a policeman who is accused of stealing ransom money but after losing his job uncovers the real culprit. A year later, Death Is a Cold, Keen Edge was published by Signet. It is the story of a psychopathic World War II veteran who goes on a killing spree.
Basinksy married Mary Johanna Poehlmann in 1945 and died in 1957.