The Men from the Boys

Hard-hitting drama about an ex-cop turned house detective who becomes involved in solving a crime when his son is severely beaten.

Ed Lacy was born Leonard “Len” S. Zinberg in New York City on August 25, 1911. During the late 1920s, he attended the College of the City of New York, then wandered the U.S. in the next decade working odd jobs. Returning to New York in the early 40s, he married Esther, and except for a stint in the army in WWII, lived with his wife and daughter in New York City on the fringes of Harlem the rest of his life. A huge fight fan, Zinberg’s first published novel in 1940 was a boxing story, and became a Broadway play. He went on to create “the first credible African-American PI,” Touie Moore, in Room to Swing, which won the Edgar for Best Novel in 1958. Overall, Zinberg published 29 novels and over 90 short stories before his death by heart attack on January 7, 1968.