Never burn your bridges till you come to them.

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 including the founding of the organization's first newsletter "The Third Degree". His first novel Death from a Top Hat appeared in 1938. Rawson is also credited with writing the organization's first slogan: "Crime Does Not Pay -- Enough".

Clayton Rawson (1906 - 1971) was an American 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 a professional magician who runs a shop selling magic supplies. He also wrote four short stories in 1940 about a stage magician named Don Diavolo who appears as a principal character in one of the novels featuring The Great Merlini.