Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Novels

[May 1, 2005] TV shows like NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues and even Barney Miller can trace their roots to the police-detective novels of Ed McBain. These "police procedurals" trace the work and lives of a group of police detectives in the "87th Precinct" of an unnamed city that's an awful lot like New York City. As with the TV shows named above, these individual mystery episodes surround a broader flow of events in the characters' lives -- and some characters from the early novels are (for various reasons) replaced by new characters. The first novel was published in 1956 and the 55th is scheduled for release in mid-2005.

1. Cop Hater (1956)

"Swift, silent, and deadly -- someone is knocking off the 87th Precinct's finest, one by one. The how of the killings is obvious: three .45 pistol shots from the dark add up to one, two, three very dead detectives. The why and the who are the Precinct's headaches now. When Detective Reardon is found dead, motive is a big question mark. But when his partner becomes victim number two, it looks like open-and-shut grudge killings. That is, until a third detective buys it. With one meager clue, Detective Steve Carella begins his grim search for the killer, a search that takes him into the city's underworld to a notorious brothel, to the apartment of a beautiful and dangerous widow, and finally to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head…"

2. The Mugger (1956)

"The mugger was special. He preyed only on women. He waited in the darkness, coming from behind to snatch their purses. He punched his victims, told them not to scream and, as the women reeled with pain and fear, he bowed, and said 'Clifford thanks you, madam.' The cops in the 87th Precinct are not amused. Especially when he puts one victim in hospital - and the next one in the morgue. The dead girl was pretty, and lone seventeen. And patrolman Bert Kling has a personal reason to go after her murderer. A reason that becomes a burning obsession and an easy way for a cop to get killed…"

3. The Pusher (1956)

"Most suicides don't realize the headaches they cause... Two a.m. in the bitter cold of winter: the young Hispanic man's body was found in a tenement basement. The rope around his neck suggested a clear case of suicide - until the autopsy revealed he'd overdosed on heroin. He was a pusher, and now a thousand questions pressed down on the detectives of the 87th Precinct: Who set up the phony hanging? Whose fingerprints were on the syringe found at the scene?Who was making threatening phone calls, attempting to implicate Lieutenant Byrnes' teenage son?"

4. The Con Man (1957)

"Somebody was pushing the 87th Precinct hard, and Detective Steve Carella and Lieutenant Peter Byrnes have to push back harder - before a frightening and deadly chain tightens its grip. "

5. Killer's Choice (1957)

6. Killer's Payoff (1958)

7. Killer's Wedge (1958)

8. Lady Killer (1958)

9. 'til Death (1959)

"Steve Carella’s sister is getting married. But the wedding soon becomes a deadly game of hide-and-seek for Steve and the boys of the 87th Precinct. Someone is out to murder the groom, and Steve has only a few hours to find the killer. But how do you find a murderer with hundreds of wedding guests to choose from? The best man has a motive – he’d collect everything the groom owns if the killer finds his mark. Or what about the man who loves the bride, and will do anything to get her back? Or the crazy ex-GI with more than wedding celebrations on his mind . . ."

10. King's Ransom (1959)

"Half a million dollars – or a boy’s life . . . But what if that boy isn’t your own son? And what if paying the ransom will ruin the biggest deal you ever made? What do you do then? Throw away your future or sacrifice someone else’s child? That was the dilemma facing wealthy Douglas King. Detective Steve Carella of the 87th Precinct can only keep trying to find the kidnappers, and hope that Doug King will decide to give them the payoff. Because if he doesn’t, Carella will have a case of cold-blooded murder on his hands."

11. Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (1960)

12. The Heckler (1960)

13. See Them Die (1960)

14. "Lady, Lady, I Did It" (1960)

15. The Empty Hours (1960)

27. Lets Hear It for the Deaf Man (1961)

"The criminals who invade the 87th Precinct aren't particularly known for their intelligence. Their crimes are usually brutal, stupid, and rash. But every once in a while, the 87th gets a good bad guy to hunt down. 'WITH YOUR ASSISTANCE, I'M GOING TO STEAL $500,000 ON THE LAST DAY OF APRIL.' So wrote the Deaf Man, the 87th Precinct's own private nemesis. Carella, Kling, Hawes, and Brown know the Deaf Man is trying to make them look stupid. Unfortunately, they have to deal with crimes already committed -- including one that introduces Kling to the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. But the last of April is fast approaching, and the men of the Eight-Seven can't deny that they're dying to find out what the Deaf Man has cooked up this time..."

16. Like Love (1962)

17. Ten Plus One (1963)

18. Ax (1963)

19. He Who Hesitates (1965)

20. Doll (1965)

21. Eighty Million Eyes (1966)

22. Fuzz (1968)

"In the 87th Precinct hardened killers cross paths wish bad bays out on a lark; muggers rub shoulders with bank robbers and pickpockets. The cops know that fighting crime is a master of priorities. Here, in FUZZ -- the basis of the classic film -- they take what they can get... They're up against a master criminal. A man so slick that no one knows how to stop him, or whom he will kill next. Now, with the murders of two prominent citizens to his credit, the infamous Deaf Man is about to unveil his piece de resistance of extortion and homicide. But the 87th Precinct cops have been out pounding the frozen streets, lying in stinking alleyways, making calls, tapping phones, wearing disguises. They deserve a break. Or at least a chance to came home alive..."

23. Shotgun (1968)

"Usually, killers are in a hurry. Sometimes they are in a rage. And in the 87th Precinct, when the first cops come to the murder scene, they see the chaos and the horror left behind. Then they see the clues... Nothing makes more of a mess than a shotgun to the face. And in this case it happened twice, thinly disguised as a murder/suicide. Once they're over the shock, Detectives Carella and Kling quickly line up a suspect and start hunting him down. But then another murder strikes the 87th Precinct and someone robs the dead couple's apartment. Now the truth behind a double shotgun slaying is turning even messier-and deadlier than before..."

24. Jigsaw (1970)

"Every day the men of the 87th Precinct solve puzzles. Of lives interrupted, lives intertwined, and lives gone wrong on the streets of the city where they work. Sometimes the clues come easy. Sometimes they come covered in blood... Six years ago four men robbed a bank. Then a shootout left them dead, and 750 grand missing. Now Detectives Carella and Brown are finding pieces of a photograph, each piece tied to a name, each name tied to a murder, each murder tied to the bank robbery six years ago. The 87th Precinct cops know than the complete picture will lead them to the money. They just don't know how many people still have to die -- before the last piece falls into place."

25. "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here" (1971)

"There are 186 patrolmen and a handful of detectives in the 87th Precinct, but it's never quite enough. Because between petty crimes and major felonies, between crimes of hate and crimes of passion, the city never sleeps -- and for these cops, a day never ends... The night shift has a murdered go-go dancer, a firebombed black church, a house full of ghosts, and a mother trying to get her twenty-two year-old to come home. The day shift: a naked hippie lying smashed on the concrete, two murderous armed robbers in Halloween masks, and a man beaten senseless by four guys using sawed-off broom handles. Altogether, it's a day in the life. But for a certain cop in the 87th Precinct, it could just be his last..."

26. "Sadie, When She Died" (1972)

"The victim had a knife plunged in her chest. The husband was glad, and didn't hide it. From the beginning, Detective Carella is sure someone was hired to make the murder look like an interrupted robbery. Then the dead woman's secrets begin to come out of the closet. Now happily married, Steve Carella and unhappily single Bert Kling are entering a city's sexual underground to find out which is more dangerous: a world where anything goes or a husband with secrets of his own."

28. Hail to the Chief (1973)

29. Bread (1974)

"It's the heat of the summer. Kids are playing in open hydrants. The water pressure is sinking, and tempers are rising. The cops of the 87th Precinct know that someone out there is fighting fire with fire. And as usual, it's all about... BREAD. The bread in this case is money. Lots of money. Money lost in a warehouse fire. Money gained in an extraordinarily successful, important business. Money waiting in the check-printing machine of an insurance company. Carella and Cotton Hawes have taken over the arson case from indolent Andy Parker. But...at they find behind a tale of fire and money is murder. Lots of it..."

30. Blood Relatives (1975)

31. So Long As You Both Shall Live (1976)

32. Long Time No See (1977)

33. Calypso (1979)

34. Ghosts (1980)

35. Heat (1981)

36. Ice (1983)

"The path to the truth is as slippery as ice – in a city whose heart is just as cold. The cops of this precinct know that anyone can be a victim. Anyone can be a perp. And killers keep killing until you put them on... ICE. Once she'd been a dancer. Now she lies on a sidewalk, her blood seeping into the snow. Detectives Carella, Kling, Meyer, and Brown are learning all about ice: in a multimillion-dollar showbiz scam, in the glittering diamonds that spill out of a dead man's vest, in the veins of a small-time pusher. As the cops scramble for evidence, as the city shivers, a killer is one step ahead, and the heat is still up."

37. Lightning (1984)

38. Eight Black Horses (1985)

"It all got terribly confusing when the Deaf Man put in an appearance ... and the criminal mastermind is making his presence known by the dead bodies that are turning up around Isola. Then there are the notes - with cryptic patterns including eight black horses dancing across a page - that look like they mean nothing. But Detectives Kling, Carella, and Meyer know that with the Deaf Man, the seemingly meaningless always means something. Something bad. And as late fall hurtles toward Christmas, the Deaf Man is counting down the days, luring the cops of the 87th Precinct with a series of taunting clues - all leading toward a horrifying act of revenge orchestrated by a psychopathic killer."

39. Poison (1987)

40. Tricks (1987)

--->Tricks/Ice/Eight Black Horses (3-in-1) (1987)

--->McBain's Ladies: The Women of the 87th (1988)

"a jumble of excerpts from his bestsellers about the 87th Precinct"

41. Lullaby (1989)

"New Year's, a sinister song of death and destruction echoes through the 87th Precinct, and it isn't Auld Lang Syne…"

42. Vespers (1989)

The cops of the 87th Precinct must cast the first stone in the bizarre case of murdered priest and a parish torn apart by the deadliest of sins.

--->McBain's Ladies Too (1989)

"Ardent fans probably won't care why he compiled these excerpts about the 'women of the 87th Precinct'; they will also relish the inclusion of complete stories, unlike the entries in the first collection. From Killer's Wedge (1959), the selection on Virginia Dodge still stands as an epic in suspense. She is the 'lady' armed with nitroglycerin who threatens to blow up the station house and the detectives if they try to prevent her from killing Carella, whom she blames for her husband's death in prison. Other females deadlier than the male reinforce McBain's reputation for delivering irresistible adventures year after year."

43. Widows (1991)

"Summer in the city, and the brutal slaying of a lawyer and his mistress is heating up the 87th Precinct."

--->Lullaby/Vespers/Widows (3-in-1) (1991)

44. Kiss (1992)

"Plot One is the trial of the psychopath-punk who killed Detective Steve Carella's old baker-father in a brutal holdup. Plot Two is a sex-triangle melodrama: someone is trying to kill rich, beautiful Emma Bowles. Is it her stockbroker-husband? And can she trust the handsome private eye her husband has hired to protect her? "

45. Mischief (1993)

46. And All Through the House (1994)

47. Romance (1995)

"The 87th Precinct is where criminals and cops share secrets, tricks, and truths, where strangers meet, fall in love, and sometimes kill.Romance is a would-be hit play about an actress in a hit play pursued by a knife-wielding stalker. Until the leading lady is stabbed outside the theater. Before the detectives of the 87th Precinct can solve that crime, the actress is stabbed again. This time for keeps. A.D.A. Nellie Brand moves in for a murder conviction, but Carella is sure the wrong guy is taking the rap. While blond Bert Kling grills suspects ranging from the show's producers to the leading lady's lovely understudy, he's falling in love with a doctor–who happens to be black. Romance is in the air. And only a very determined killer doesn't seem to care."

48. Nocturne (1997)

"They hear the music of the streets. The breaking glass and the breaking hearts. They whistle tunes from twenty years ago, and follow a haunting melody of lies, truths, and clues ... Someone played a little night music. What remained behind for the cops was the body of a woman who had once performed on the great stages of Europe, now with two bullets in her chest in the hallway of her apartment. For Carella and Hawes the long, dark night has just begun–while somewhere in the city, another woman is dying for the price of a song..."

49. The Big Bad City (1998)

"In this city, you have to pay attention. In this city, things are happening all the time, all over the place, and you don't have to be a detective to smell evil in the wind. Take this week's tabloids: the face of a dead girl is splashed across the front page. She was found sprawled near a park bench not seven blocks from the police station. Detectives Carella and Brown soon discover the girl has a most unusual past. Meanwhile, the late-night news tracks the exploits of The Cookie Boy, a professional thief who leaves his calling card -- a box of chocolate chip cookies -- at the scene of each score. And while the detectives of the 87th Precinct are investigating these cases, one of them is being stalked by the man who killed his father."

50. The Last Dance (1999)

"In this city, you can get anything done for a price. If you want someone's eyeglasses smashed, it'll cost you a subway token. You want his fingernails pulled out? His legs broken? You want him hurt so bad he's an invalid his whole life? You want him ...killed? Let me talk to someone. It can be done. The hanging death of a nondescript old man in a shabby little apartment in a meager section of the 87th Precinct is nothing much in this city, especially to detectives Carella and Meyer. But everyone has a story, and this old man's story stood to make some people a lot of money. His story takes Carella, Meyer, Brown, and Weeks on a search through the city’s seedy strip clubs and to the bright lights of the theater district. There they discover an upcoming musical with ties to a mysterious drug and a killer who stays until the last dance."

51. "Money, Money, Money" (2001)

"It's Christmas time in the city and all the naughty boys and girls in Ed McBain's gaily wrapped crime caperknow exactly what they want from Santa: the $1.9 million payoff from a sweetly executed drug deal in Mexico... McBain plays fair and square with the complications that arise from this clever setup. Over and over, he keeps telling us to keep an eye on the money, which slips through more hands than a third-grade bathroom pass once you factor in the Harlem drug deals, Mexican gangsters, Arab terrorists, United States government agents and small-press publishers (don't ask) who feel entitled to this mother lode of all Christmas presents. At the same time, McBain throws in such hilarious distractions that you might forget the calendar and think it was April Fool's Day.' Marilyn Stasio New York Times Book Review "

52. Fat Ollie's Book (2003)

"Lester Henderson has it all. Widely tipped to be the next mayor he faces a glorious future – until he is gunned down by person or persons unknown. At that point he becomes Ollie Weeks’ problem. Uncharacteristically first to the scene, Ollie lands the murder of the decade. But the crime is overshadowed by a deed even more repugnant. Ollie’s life’s work is his novel. Honed by countless rejection letters, it is finally ready to be inflicted on the nation when the one and only manuscript is stolen from Weeks’ car by a thief who is convinced that Ollie’s opus contains the secret location of a hoard of diamonds . . ."

53. The Frumious Bandersnatch (2004)

"Bison Records' self-styled impresario Barney Loomis runs into a snag in his effort to catapult his newest performer, Tamar Valparaiso, to stardom. As Tamar is lip-synching the provocative video of her first album aboard a rented yacht, two men in Saddam Hussein and Yasir Arafat masks snatch her before a stunned audience. With his usual expert pacing, McBain alternates the action among a number of characters, including the kidnappers and Tamar; series stalwart Steve Carella, who must endure political maneuvering within a Joint Task Force of police bigwigs and FBI agents; and misogynist Ollie Weeks and his new amour, Det. Patricia Gomez.' Publisher's Weekly."

54. Hark! (2004)

"Recovered from his wounds, the Deaf Man is bent on revenge and determined to rub the collective face of the 87th in the dust of his brilliance in McBain's latest zany romp. After striking first at the woman who betrayed him, the Deaf Man turns to tauntin"

55. Fiddlers (2005)