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Matthew Hope #10
Mary, Mary
Book by McBain, Ed
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
100 people are currently reading
326 people want to read
About the author
Ed McBain
715 books671 followers"Ed McBain" is one of the pen names of American author and screenwriter Salvatore Albert Lombino (1926-2005), who legally adopted the name
Evan Hunter
in 1952.
While successful and well known as Evan Hunter, he was even better known as Ed McBain, a name he used for most of his crime fiction, beginning in 1956.
He also used the pen names John Abbott, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon, Dean Hudson, Evan Hunter, and Richard Marsten.
While successful and well known as Evan Hunter, he was even better known as Ed McBain, a name he used for most of his crime fiction, beginning in 1956.
He also used the pen names John Abbott, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon, Dean Hudson, Evan Hunter, and Richard Marsten.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
April 26, 2020
Did retired schoolteacher Mary Barton go on a three-day killing spree, murdering and mutilating three young girls and then burying them in her garden in the dead of night? That's the charge that Florida attorney Matthew Hope needs to disprove in this swift but talking and watery legal procedural, tenth in the series. And the weakest so far.
May 16, 2014
There are 13 books in the Matthew Hope series. There aren't that many reasons I enjoy the series but here is a list off the top of my head:
1) I enjoy Ed McBain's writing (McBain was born as Salvatore Albert Lombino and in his writing career aka Hunt Collins, Curt Cannon, Dean Hudson, Richard Marsten, Ezra Hannon, John Abbott and there may be a few others. He legally changed his named to Evan Hunter in 1952.)
2) I have a special affinity for books set in Florida, fictitious places or not.
3) Series...well, I get hooked on them and must (when I can) read them in order.
4) I grab any book written by a writer who was nominated and/or received the Edgar Award. (Received the Grand Master Award of Mystery Writers of America in 1986.)
This is book number 10 in the series of 13 and while it was pretty good, the ending was (to me) apparent. No surprise but it was good nevertheless.
If it wasn't in a series would I read it again? Probably not.
1) I enjoy Ed McBain's writing (McBain was born as Salvatore Albert Lombino and in his writing career aka Hunt Collins, Curt Cannon, Dean Hudson, Richard Marsten, Ezra Hannon, John Abbott and there may be a few others. He legally changed his named to Evan Hunter in 1952.)
2) I have a special affinity for books set in Florida, fictitious places or not.
3) Series...well, I get hooked on them and must (when I can) read them in order.
4) I grab any book written by a writer who was nominated and/or received the Edgar Award. (Received the Grand Master Award of Mystery Writers of America in 1986.)
This is book number 10 in the series of 13 and while it was pretty good, the ending was (to me) apparent. No surprise but it was good nevertheless.
If it wasn't in a series would I read it again? Probably not.
April 1, 2020
Mary, Mary (1992) is the first non-87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain I’ve read. Unlike the 87th Precinct police procedural works, it’s a criminal courtroom procedural. Obviously, because this kind of book contains a lot of court interrogation, it reads fast and is quite thrilling.
The setting is a small Florida town. Everything I read by McBain was set in fictitious New York City, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find McBain branched out of Isola. His research and knowledge of the Sunshine State showed well throughout the book.
McBain did a super job of setting up defense attorney Matthew Hope. This was my first reading of the character and I was very impressed given that he was from another side of the justice system. I’d come to rely on McBain’s excellent portrayal of police detectives, but with Hope, he showed his stamina as a writer. I can attest he could never be accused of creating cardboard characters!
He did a great job of creating Mary Barton the accused. I was utterly empathetic with Hope’s portrayal of her innocence. Although she had an excellent background and friends from the past willing to testify on behalf of her character, there were doubts in my mind as to whether she was innocent.
The trial was interesting, but the jury’s finding turned me off. Not because I didn’t appreciate that juries don’t always get things right. In this case they were very correct only the reader wasn’t given the information to see it coming.
The twist was too screwy and the justification for it was pathetic. Was it plausible? I suppose, however it would have gone down better if I’d had an idea that it was possible.
The setting is a small Florida town. Everything I read by McBain was set in fictitious New York City, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find McBain branched out of Isola. His research and knowledge of the Sunshine State showed well throughout the book.
McBain did a super job of setting up defense attorney Matthew Hope. This was my first reading of the character and I was very impressed given that he was from another side of the justice system. I’d come to rely on McBain’s excellent portrayal of police detectives, but with Hope, he showed his stamina as a writer. I can attest he could never be accused of creating cardboard characters!
He did a great job of creating Mary Barton the accused. I was utterly empathetic with Hope’s portrayal of her innocence. Although she had an excellent background and friends from the past willing to testify on behalf of her character, there were doubts in my mind as to whether she was innocent.
The trial was interesting, but the jury’s finding turned me off. Not because I didn’t appreciate that juries don’t always get things right. In this case they were very correct only the reader wasn’t given the information to see it coming.
The twist was too screwy and the justification for it was pathetic. Was it plausible? I suppose, however it would have gone down better if I’d had an idea that it was possible.
January 7, 2017
The first Matthew Hope novel I’ve read. A fairly typical courtroom mystery, with a little humor. Even though first published in 1992, this book is pretty clearly set in the 1970’s. Not as satisfying as McBain’s 87th precinct novels. The reader should be able to see the denouement coming up 6th Avenue. In fact, the author gives it away fairly early. No plot summary could do it justice without spoiling it. Suffice it to say, it’s probably exactly what you’d expect if you read the other reviews. McBain gives a shout out to himself using his birth name, and his more famous alter ego Evan. A fast entertaining read, but nothing special. I would, however, read another one. Just not right away.
April 1, 2015
A woman is accused of murdering three children and burying them in her garden, so a criminal defense lawyer does his best to defend her and has an affair with another lawyer. The affair and some of the side stories are interesting throw ins, but unnecessary. Unfortunately, I analyzed and determined the denouement quite early. It was an easy enjoyable read, but overall only okay.
August 10, 2011
This is an older book and sometimes that makes them a little weird with the technology being behind. It's interesting reading books where people don't have cell phones and facebook!
Anyway, I really enjoy Ed McBain. Love the idea of a lawyer that won't take "guilty" clients.
Anyway, I really enjoy Ed McBain. Love the idea of a lawyer that won't take "guilty" clients.
January 26, 2008
I love Ed McBain. He's the master of twisted mystery.
October 27, 2017
I like novels on trials,,,the wit and the way the lawyers cross the witnesses to get at the truth or to twist the perception of the truth This book has a really good twist in it,,really good read
February 15, 2025
Mary, Mary, Ed McBain [Warner Books, 1992].
Florida attorney Matthew Hope defends Mary Barton—a retired school teacher charged with the shocking and horrific murder of three little girls. Hope—with an optimism befitting his name—believes in his client’s innocence, while the state makes a convincing argument for conviction.
***
Ed McBain [1926-2005], is the prolific author of the long-running 87th Precinct series, whose 1965 installment, Doll, was included in a recent Library of America collection, Crime Novels of the 1960s, and will be available for perpetuity. Under the name Evan Hunter, McBain wrote the iconic novel The Blackboard Jungle and adapted Daphne DuMaurier’s story “The Birds” for Hitchcock’s classic film. He died in Connecticut in 2005.
Florida attorney Matthew Hope defends Mary Barton—a retired school teacher charged with the shocking and horrific murder of three little girls. Hope—with an optimism befitting his name—believes in his client’s innocence, while the state makes a convincing argument for conviction.
***
Ed McBain [1926-2005], is the prolific author of the long-running 87th Precinct series, whose 1965 installment, Doll, was included in a recent Library of America collection, Crime Novels of the 1960s, and will be available for perpetuity. Under the name Evan Hunter, McBain wrote the iconic novel The Blackboard Jungle and adapted Daphne DuMaurier’s story “The Birds” for Hitchcock’s classic film. He died in Connecticut in 2005.
June 28, 2019
#71 Ed McBain book for me, but not the best - the courtroom scenes are a bit turgid and the ending was predictable from the clues quite early on
September 4, 2016
Three elementary-school-age girls are dead in Florida. They were found buried in a garden belonging to a former teacher now retired. The girls’ genitalia has been mutilated and brutalized with a knife, and their faces are broken and battered. Whoever did this meant business in the most horrific way. The state thinks Mary Barton did it, and it has accrued a bevy of witnesses who can put her at the site of the murder and in the door of a dry cleaner where she took a clearly blood-spattered dress.
But Matthew Hope never defends anyone unless he’s sure of that person’s innocence. It is so with Mary Barton. There’s that unwritten hard-to-codify something that assures him she’s innocent. The positive part of this book is that you keep reading and reading, watching Hope and his client fall deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of guilt, and the author writes it skillfully enough that you will read on wondering how Hope can ever hope to prove the innocence of this particular client.
I’m a bit less enthusiastic about this because it just wasn’t a book whose characters appealed to me at all. There’s a love subplot here, and even that felt a bit lackluster. I never came to care much for the defendant, so it was hard for me to hope for her innocence. I figured out how it would end way, way early, and that’s always a bit of a downer for me.
But Matthew Hope never defends anyone unless he’s sure of that person’s innocence. It is so with Mary Barton. There’s that unwritten hard-to-codify something that assures him she’s innocent. The positive part of this book is that you keep reading and reading, watching Hope and his client fall deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of guilt, and the author writes it skillfully enough that you will read on wondering how Hope can ever hope to prove the innocence of this particular client.
I’m a bit less enthusiastic about this because it just wasn’t a book whose characters appealed to me at all. There’s a love subplot here, and even that felt a bit lackluster. I never came to care much for the defendant, so it was hard for me to hope for her innocence. I figured out how it would end way, way early, and that’s always a bit of a downer for me.
October 19, 2009
A fine breezy detective/mystery story by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter). A reclusive ex-teacher is accused of killing three young girls and burying them in her yard next to her prize garden. There's lots of airtight evidence to convict her; among other things, a neighbor saw her do it. Our hero, defense attorney Matthew Hope, takes her case and away we go.
One of the things that made this so entertaining for me is that the story really could have gone any number of ways, some ending in guilt, some not. Somehow McBain even got me to thinking I'd spotted a surprise that he was plotting for the reader, but I think he meant for me to think that. That's a pretty good trick. And if I hadn't gotten drawn into that, here were other leads lurking for me. (Well, not for me specifically, but for all of us.)
One of the things that made this so entertaining for me is that the story really could have gone any number of ways, some ending in guilt, some not. Somehow McBain even got me to thinking I'd spotted a surprise that he was plotting for the reader, but I think he meant for me to think that. That's a pretty good trick. And if I hadn't gotten drawn into that, here were other leads lurking for me. (Well, not for me specifically, but for all of us.)
July 23, 2014
Good, but not great. Not one of McBain's best. "Tricks" is by far my favorite book by him.
June 30, 2017
My first time reading a Matthew Hope novel by Ed McBain and I am hooked!
October 31, 2017
Strange
Was a really good book hard to put down but never guessed the ending was thinking in a totally different direction so really got a surprise
Was a really good book hard to put down but never guessed the ending was thinking in a totally different direction so really got a surprise
August 26, 2025
En fait c'était la sœur jumelle qui avait fait le coup.
L'auteur parvient à rendre le procès intéressant et haletant, on reconnaît son amour du policier procédural mais il arrive à lui donner un truc en plus étant donné qu'on suit un avocat de la défense en Floride plutôt qu'un brave flic du 87e district de New York.
Le livre donne l'impression que c'est des personnages déjà existants au milieu d'une série (ou alors c'est le début d'une série ?) et que l'histoire est juste un "trial of the week" complétement décorrélé de ce qui se déroule dans la vie personnelle des personnages.
Mention spéciale aux deux scènes de bagarre qui sont très cool (souvent Ed McBain arrive à les rendre intéressantes et claires) mais qui ne servent vraiment pas à grand chose.
Le twist final est vraiment pas original, j'ai l'impression que ça a été fait 10.000 fois depuis le XIXe siècle.
P.S. : nique George Bush.
L'auteur parvient à rendre le procès intéressant et haletant, on reconnaît son amour du policier procédural mais il arrive à lui donner un truc en plus étant donné qu'on suit un avocat de la défense en Floride plutôt qu'un brave flic du 87e district de New York.
Le livre donne l'impression que c'est des personnages déjà existants au milieu d'une série (ou alors c'est le début d'une série ?) et que l'histoire est juste un "trial of the week" complétement décorrélé de ce qui se déroule dans la vie personnelle des personnages.
Mention spéciale aux deux scènes de bagarre qui sont très cool (souvent Ed McBain arrive à les rendre intéressantes et claires) mais qui ne servent vraiment pas à grand chose.
Le twist final est vraiment pas original, j'ai l'impression que ça a été fait 10.000 fois depuis le XIXe siècle.
P.S. : nique George Bush.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2018
This book followed a court case from beginning to end about a woman, Mary Barton, accused of killing three little girls and burying them in her garden. She claims she is innocent. She was at home when the girls were abducted and asleep when a neighbor saw her burying the girls in the garden. But how could a grocery store checker, a man at a park, a man shopping, a woman at a picnic, and a man who owns a dry cleaners all have seen Mary with the little girls or bringing in a blood stained dress and be mistaken? I thought perhaps Mary had multiple personalities, but all along it was just her twin sister, Mary Jo, who had been causing trouble since they were little girls, and finally caught up with her in Florida. Thankfully all will work out; Mary Jean will be released, and Mary Jo, insane, admitted that it was her who killed the girls.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2021
Mary, Mary takes place over Christmas so I thought it would be a good December read. I've read early McBain, 87th precinct novels but nothing more recent. Mary, Mary is a Matthew Hope novel written in the 90's so this was new for me. Since Hope is a defense lawyer, Mary, Mary is very much a court proceedings novel. I haven't read too many books where the courtroom takes the center stage. I found reading the court proceedings a little dull and repetitive. Much of the book is banter between the lawyer and the witnesses. The story itself is pretty good but the twist disappointed me. It was signaled early on and then 300 pages later we finally get to a very quick, unsatisfying twist. I did find the book entertaining and it read quick, I just wanted a little less court and a little more story.
August 16, 2023
Twist and Turns!
This Ed McBride novel outdid the other novels with its final big twist and turns. Who is the real Mary Barton? You will just have to read it as I won’t tell you. It’s Mathew Hope at his worst and his finest with great private investigators working for him.
For another great Ed McBride read, definitely read this one!
This Ed McBride novel outdid the other novels with its final big twist and turns. Who is the real Mary Barton? You will just have to read it as I won’t tell you. It’s Mathew Hope at his worst and his finest with great private investigators working for him.
For another great Ed McBride read, definitely read this one!
February 1, 2021
Too much dialogue from the courtroom scenes. Loved the ending, but McBain should’ve spent more time on that thread rather than page after page of objections, bench conferences and repetitive questions.
July 18, 2017
Worth avoiding
November 4, 2017
Not a very good book, no depth, too simple
June 7, 2019
A 2 hour read no depth obvious ending
July 27, 2021
A Matthew Hope tale. Woman accused of murder has a double. A true 2 stars -- just OK.
August 4, 2021
Bel romanzo giudiziario, con uno sviluppo molto originale.
August 27, 2021
This book reminded me that popular fiction is not my thing.
August 25, 2022
It was a good court case book. I thought the ending came on abruptly. I think there should have been a little more suspense.
May 19, 2024
The trial was boring. Not exciting and intense until the last chapter. Then the story was very perdictable. Not his best writing
August 6, 2025
I enjoyed this book!
September 29, 2025
Big fan of McBain's 87th Precinct novels, and although the Matthew Hope novels don't compare, they're still worth reading. McBain's writing is faultless.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews