Ruth Cavin (October 15, 1918 – January 9, 2011) was an American

book editor The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

who worked as an associate publisher of

Thomas Dunne Books Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...

, where she started working at age 70 and oversaw the publication of 900 books.

Mystery fiction Mystery is a genre fiction, fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains wiktionary:mysterious, mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually prov ...

was her specialty in her two decades in the business. Cavin was born Ruth Brodie in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

to Jewish immigrants who taught her how to read as a young child. She attended

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, earning her undergraduate degree there in 1939 and married Bram Cavin, a journalist with ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' whom she met after moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She lived the life of a typical suburban housewife, raising her twin daughters in suburban

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

, and didn't begin her publishing career until 1979, when she started editing books for

Walker & Company Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

. Stasio, Marilyn
"Ruth Cavin, Editor Known to Cultivate Promising Writers, Dies at 92"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', January 13, 2011. Accessed January 14, 2011. Hired by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

to work at its

unit when she was already in her 70s, Cavin helped develop first novels by such mystery fiction authors as Donna Andrews, Steve Hamilton,

Julia Spencer-Fleming Julia Spencer-Fleming (born June 26, 1961)page 240, ''Great Women Mystery Writers'', 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, 2007, publ. Greenwood Press, is an American novelist of Mystery fiction. She has won the Agatha Award, Anthony Award, Mac ...

and Laurie R. King. The Malice Domestic Contest, a yearly competition honoring best first mystery novels, was begun by St. Martin's Press based on Cavin's suggestion. Earning the nickname "First Lady of Mysteries" that adorned a plaque in her office, author

Sue Grafton Sue Taylor Grafton (April 24, 1940 – December 28, 2017) was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" (''"A" Is for Alibi'', etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fic ...

called Cavin "soul mother to mystery writers for years".Italie, Hillel via

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

"She knows where bodies are buried"
, ''

South Coast Today ''The Standard-Times'' (and ''Sunday Standard-Times''), based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is the largest of three daily newspapers covering the South Coast of Massachusetts, along with ''The Herald News'' of Fall River and ''Taunton Daily Gazet ...

'', August 12, 2001. Accessed January 16, 2011. She helped edit and publish 900 books in a broad range of genres during her tenure there, continuing to work as an editor until 2010 when she was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

.Italie, Hillel via

"Ruth Cavin, editor of mysteries, dies at age 92"

WLOX WLOX (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Biloxi, Mississippi, United States, serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast as an affiliate of ABC and CBS. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on DeBuys Road in Biloxi, an ...

, January 10, 2011. Accessed January 16, 2011. Cavin wrote a number of her own books, including ''Trolleys'' and ''Complete Party Dinners for the Novice Cook'', a book that she had originally conceived of as ''Dinners for Beginners''.

Personal life

Together with her husband, Bram Cavin, she had twin daughters, Nora and Emily, and a son, Tony. Her husband died in 2009. Cavin died at the age of 92 at

White Plains Hospital White Plains Hospital is a general medical and surgical, non-profit hospital located in White Plains, New York. In addition to providing general care to patients, it also operates a number of specialized programs, such as its cancer center. The ho ...

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

, on January 9, 2011, due to

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavin, Ruth 1918 births 2011 deaths American book editors American women non-fiction writers Jewish American non-fiction writers Writers from New York (state) Carnegie Mellon University alumni Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) Writers from Pittsburgh People from White Plains, New York