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An 87th Precinct novel - Certain that someone is trying to kill her, Emma Bowles turns to another killer for protection, and only a dedicated cop trapped in a defective legal system can save her.
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First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
Ed McBain
716 books672 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 101 reviews
December 14, 2015
Two plots thread their way through this novel of the 87th Precinct. In the first, a beautiful woman named Emma Bowles appears at the station house to report that a man has attempted to kill her. Twice.
Emma recognizes the attacker as a man who used to drive for the limo service that her husband uses. Detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer go looking for the man Emma has accused only to find him shot to death and hanged, apparently for good measure, in the basement of the apartment house where he lived.
Emma's husband, a wealthy stockbroker, professes to be horrified by the attempts on his wife's life and he insists on hiring a private detective from out of town to protect his wife, even though the man who attempted to kill her is now dead. All of this seems pretty strange to Steve Carella and as he and Meyer investigate the case, it becomes even more convoluted.
Meanwhile, in a plot line carried over from the previous McBain novel, Widows, the man accused of killing Carella's father goes on trial. Against Carella's advice, his mother insists on attending the trial and the chapters detailing the trial are interspersed with the chapters describing the investigation. Both take a toll on Carella, but both are interesting and this is a very good entry in the 87th Precinct series.
Emma recognizes the attacker as a man who used to drive for the limo service that her husband uses. Detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer go looking for the man Emma has accused only to find him shot to death and hanged, apparently for good measure, in the basement of the apartment house where he lived.
Emma's husband, a wealthy stockbroker, professes to be horrified by the attempts on his wife's life and he insists on hiring a private detective from out of town to protect his wife, even though the man who attempted to kill her is now dead. All of this seems pretty strange to Steve Carella and as he and Meyer investigate the case, it becomes even more convoluted.
Meanwhile, in a plot line carried over from the previous McBain novel, Widows, the man accused of killing Carella's father goes on trial. Against Carella's advice, his mother insists on attending the trial and the chapters detailing the trial are interspersed with the chapters describing the investigation. Both take a toll on Carella, but both are interesting and this is a very good entry in the 87th Precinct series.
April 28, 2018
No 44 in the 87th Precinct series with two different narratives - a woman who had two attempts on her life, and the trial for the murder of Carella's father, murdered in the previous book. Gripping, and written in McBain's usual impressive style - credible, realistic, emotive, with depth.
January 6, 2018
This is McBain at the peak of his prowess. The 87th Precinct novels started in 1956, and they grew and matured as McBain grew and matured. At this point (1992), the books were rich with color, setting, character development, social commentary, and of course, clever and engrossing plots.
In _Kiss_, it's comforting to see our friends: Carella, Meyer Meyer, Fat Ollie. McBain once said that he thought of the 87th Precinct as a family: It grows, it evolves, it changes. You can feel how deeply vested he is in these characters.
There are are two plots in _Kiss_. One involves a married women who has been a victim of two murder attempts for no apparent reason. Not trusting the cops to pursue the matter, her husband hires a private detective--and the plot thickens considerably. The second involves the murder trial for the man who shot Carella's father. This family tragedy continues through three books in the series and reaches its sad conclusion here.
I read crime novels a lot, I guess because I like the classic "good guys against the bad guys" scenario. I've read them all: Parker, Pronzini, Westlake, Block, Lutz, Grafton, et al. But McBain is simply the boss. As Robert Parker said, "It's hard to think of anyone better at what he does. In fact, it's impossible."
In _Kiss_, it's comforting to see our friends: Carella, Meyer Meyer, Fat Ollie. McBain once said that he thought of the 87th Precinct as a family: It grows, it evolves, it changes. You can feel how deeply vested he is in these characters.
There are are two plots in _Kiss_. One involves a married women who has been a victim of two murder attempts for no apparent reason. Not trusting the cops to pursue the matter, her husband hires a private detective--and the plot thickens considerably. The second involves the murder trial for the man who shot Carella's father. This family tragedy continues through three books in the series and reaches its sad conclusion here.
I read crime novels a lot, I guess because I like the classic "good guys against the bad guys" scenario. I've read them all: Parker, Pronzini, Westlake, Block, Lutz, Grafton, et al. But McBain is simply the boss. As Robert Parker said, "It's hard to think of anyone better at what he does. In fact, it's impossible."
April 5, 2025
I have read everyone of his books in this series and Matthew Hope series !! All of them are Outstanding and was heartbroken when he died .....
March 25, 2024
Pretty good volume in this series. A couple of surprises at the end of the book that I didn't see coming, so that was nice.
January 15, 2015
Best yet. Some of the suspense reminded me of Jeffery Deaver's great books. My daughter let slip that one of the cops I like dies in one of the books, and I'm waiting with tenterhooks for this to happen.It hasn't happened yet, and she might have been teasing me. Only ten books to go!
November 25, 2022
McBain is definitely on form with this entry in the series, back to the format of having more than one story going on at the same time. Here we have two attempted murders that involve into a complicated case while Carella is also dealing with the trial resulting from his murdered father in a previous book.
In the end there was in interesting twist of the kind where I knew something was up but hadn't quite figured it out.
Two stories along the theme of law and justice do not always equate to the same thing.
In the end there was in interesting twist of the kind where I knew something was up but hadn't quite figured it out.
Two stories along the theme of law and justice do not always equate to the same thing.
May 31, 2013
This is yet another of the great books in the 87th precinct series. The
F-bomb drops like rain in a cloud burst here, so if profanity in your books
is problematic, avoid this book. These characters are portrayed so
memorably that while there are scores of these 87th precinct books out
there, you remember them vividly.
As usual with these books, this one contains several plots that keep you
enthralled and eagerly reading on. As this book opens, you are on a subway
platform standing near Emma Bowles. She's pretty, rather well healed, and
she's about to die. In the opening pages you will have one of those
gut-wrenching moments as someone pushes her off the platform and onto the
track where an oncoming train is drawing ever closer. This is so vividly
written that you almost cry out in the hope that she can somehow pull
herself up and onto the platform before the train crushes her. This scene
actually nauseated me a bit, to be truthful, because it is so vividly
written. Clearly, someone wants her dead, and she has a little talk with
some of the guys at the 87th to see if they can help her figure out who it
is and why.
If that's not enough, Detective Steve Carella's dad was murdered prior to
this book's beginning, and Carella, his sister, and his mother must attend
the trial.
In short, my friends, this is McBain at his best. Of course, all of these
books are pre-cell phone in their setting, and the quaint historical setting
actually adds to the book.
F-bomb drops like rain in a cloud burst here, so if profanity in your books
is problematic, avoid this book. These characters are portrayed so
memorably that while there are scores of these 87th precinct books out
there, you remember them vividly.
As usual with these books, this one contains several plots that keep you
enthralled and eagerly reading on. As this book opens, you are on a subway
platform standing near Emma Bowles. She's pretty, rather well healed, and
she's about to die. In the opening pages you will have one of those
gut-wrenching moments as someone pushes her off the platform and onto the
track where an oncoming train is drawing ever closer. This is so vividly
written that you almost cry out in the hope that she can somehow pull
herself up and onto the platform before the train crushes her. This scene
actually nauseated me a bit, to be truthful, because it is so vividly
written. Clearly, someone wants her dead, and she has a little talk with
some of the guys at the 87th to see if they can help her figure out who it
is and why.
If that's not enough, Detective Steve Carella's dad was murdered prior to
this book's beginning, and Carella, his sister, and his mother must attend
the trial.
In short, my friends, this is McBain at his best. Of course, all of these
books are pre-cell phone in their setting, and the quaint historical setting
actually adds to the book.
January 16, 2017
You know an author is good when another well respected author (Stuart Kaminsky) references one of the former's best loved series (87th precinct series) via his protagonist (Porfiry Rustnikov) multiple times. Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter) is the master of police procedurals, and even more so, writing believable dialogue. You always feel a part of the conversation when reading the exchanges between his characters. And many of my favorites were here-- detectives Carella and Meyer (whose first name is also Meyer), and even the love-to-hate-him, "Fat" Ollie Weeks.
The story is two-pronged, dealing with murder for hire and the courtroom trial of the murderer of Carella's father.
I thought this would be just a solid four star story until the last quarter, when McBain uncorks his full creative juice and winds things up in the most unexpected of ways. I closed this book grinning and muttering "that guy knows how to write a good book." And he does, indeed. Enjoy.
The story is two-pronged, dealing with murder for hire and the courtroom trial of the murderer of Carella's father.
I thought this would be just a solid four star story until the last quarter, when McBain uncorks his full creative juice and winds things up in the most unexpected of ways. I closed this book grinning and muttering "that guy knows how to write a good book." And he does, indeed. Enjoy.
December 1, 2012
Ed McBain is a really good writer. I probably like his 87th Precinct stories for the same reasons (whatever they are) I like the TV show Law and Order about NYC homicide detectives.
Kiss is about crimes of passion and crimes for money, and the virtues and foibles of very real cops. There's also a song called Kiss.
Kiss is about crimes of passion and crimes for money, and the virtues and foibles of very real cops. There's also a song called Kiss.
May 8, 2017
After a killer made several attempts to kill a woman, she asked the officers at the 87th Precinct for help and her husband hired a bodyguard to protect her. There is more than meets the eye to the murder attempts on the woman’s life. Ed McBain is one of the kings when it comes to writing police crime thrillers! David Colacci’s storytelling performance added to making Kiss a great read!
January 14, 2021
Oukej, tak tohle je zatím nejnasranější díl z celého 87. revíru. Sice tu vyřeší asi tři případy, ale ani jeden nedopadne příliš uspokojivě… a do toho se ještě příběhem táhne proces s vrahem otce Steva Carelly, který taky nekončí zrovna vítězstvím dobra nad zlem. Člověk si říká, jestli to víc reflektuje americkou situaci, nebo to, jak McBain přechází do fáze „nasranej dědek“ - což znamená, že jeho postoj ke světu je dost negativní. Nebo, jak říkám my, v podobného věku - realistický.
Všeobecně se zdá, že život policistů je v posledních knihách o dost horší, každý vrah vlastně najednou jen „projevuje svou identitu“ a je „obětí systému“, případně nevinným terčem policejní zvůle. Humor už skoro vymizel, přibývá pocit bezvýchodnosti.
Přesto je případ zajímavý. Jako by se autor rozhodl vydat opačnou cestou a místo překvápek hraje s otevřenými kartami. Někdo chce zabít ženu bohatého podnikatele… a všichni automaticky tuší, že je vrahem její manžel. Ten najme na její ochranu detektiva… a policistům netrvá dlouho zjistit, že inkriminovaný typ vůbec žádný detektiv není. Není problém pachatele odhalit – je větší fuška postarat se o to, aby je někdo taky odsoudil. A aby skončili ve vězení na delší dobu, než na týden.
Na druhou stranu, policie je tady už poměrně schopná a Carella s Mayerem jdou zatknou chlápka a nikdo je přitom nezmlátí, nepostřelí ani nezapálí! Dobře oni!
Všeobecně se zdá, že život policistů je v posledních knihách o dost horší, každý vrah vlastně najednou jen „projevuje svou identitu“ a je „obětí systému“, případně nevinným terčem policejní zvůle. Humor už skoro vymizel, přibývá pocit bezvýchodnosti.
Přesto je případ zajímavý. Jako by se autor rozhodl vydat opačnou cestou a místo překvápek hraje s otevřenými kartami. Někdo chce zabít ženu bohatého podnikatele… a všichni automaticky tuší, že je vrahem její manžel. Ten najme na její ochranu detektiva… a policistům netrvá dlouho zjistit, že inkriminovaný typ vůbec žádný detektiv není. Není problém pachatele odhalit – je větší fuška postarat se o to, aby je někdo taky odsoudil. A aby skončili ve vězení na delší dobu, než na týden.
Na druhou stranu, policie je tady už poměrně schopná a Carella s Mayerem jdou zatknou chlápka a nikdo je přitom nezmlátí, nepostřelí ani nezapálí! Dobře oni!
January 6, 2022
Emma Bowles walks into the 87th to report to Steve Carella that two attempts have been made to kill her. She names the man but he is then found dead but is Emma still in danger? Carella and Meyer Meyer are uncertain of how to proceed but events march on quickly. As a side story, the trial has started of the man accused of shooting dead Steve's father and his mother has insisted on attending and hearing all the details.
Often in these books, the plots have some connection but not the case here and that left me feeling as if there were two short stories linked and I am not a fan of courtroom dramas. The endings however are a surprise and quite a good twist. The timbre of the writing makes me feel that Steve and the detectives are running out of steam amid rising crime and increasing racial tension.
I dithered between 3 and 4 stars and came down on 3 in the end.
Often in these books, the plots have some connection but not the case here and that left me feeling as if there were two short stories linked and I am not a fan of courtroom dramas. The endings however are a surprise and quite a good twist. The timbre of the writing makes me feel that Steve and the detectives are running out of steam amid rising crime and increasing racial tension.
I dithered between 3 and 4 stars and came down on 3 in the end.
March 21, 2025
McBain is unsurpassed.
November 25, 2022
In this novel, McBain develops only a couple of threads. The first about the trial of the murderer of Carella’s father. Marred by racial riots, downbeat, cynical, the trial is a major downer. Especially if you don’t enjoy courtroom drama, you may soon get bored with the Q&A... as in:
“Is that the gun you saw that night?”
“Looks like the gun”
“How can you be sure? It was dark, you were drunk”
“I wasn’t. I just had a sip”
“Define sip”,
....and so on for many pages.
The second plot is way more interesting and clever. Rich Emma Bowles has two attempts made on her life and asks for police protection. Loving hubby Martin decides to hire a bodyguard/PI for extra safety. Only, PI Andrew comes from Chicago and he is lying through his teeth.
This plot development did come as a surprise and made up for the courtroom scenes.
On a personal side note, I sort of enjoy the novels better when they focus on different cops, instead of being stuck with Carella. I found that plot development for Kling, Hawes and Willis added depth to saga. But in this instalment, we’re stuck with Carella and race riots (disturbing and still very much here). McBain was clever enough to notice the obnoxiousness of fomenting hate and division, but his words of wisdom did not go far.
“Is that the gun you saw that night?”
“Looks like the gun”
“How can you be sure? It was dark, you were drunk”
“I wasn’t. I just had a sip”
“Define sip”,
....and so on for many pages.
The second plot is way more interesting and clever. Rich Emma Bowles has two attempts made on her life and asks for police protection. Loving hubby Martin decides to hire a bodyguard/PI for extra safety. Only, PI Andrew comes from Chicago and he is lying through his teeth.
This plot development did come as a surprise and made up for the courtroom scenes.
On a personal side note, I sort of enjoy the novels better when they focus on different cops, instead of being stuck with Carella. I found that plot development for Kling, Hawes and Willis added depth to saga. But in this instalment, we’re stuck with Carella and race riots (disturbing and still very much here). McBain was clever enough to notice the obnoxiousness of fomenting hate and division, but his words of wisdom did not go far.
January 2, 2016
This is another superior entry in the greatest American police procedural series.
One of the best things about reading McBain is the crossing story lines. The two main threads include the trial in the homicide of Detective Carella's father; and a well to do woman who reports the same man has made two clumsy attempts to kill her. Her husband strangely hires a private detective from Chicago to come to the city to protect her.
A suspect is found both shot and hanged.
Stir in a sultry jazz singer, a grateful mobster, a Santa Clause-like defense attorney, and one of McBain's most suspenseful climactic action scenes.
You will enjoy this one.
One of the best things about reading McBain is the crossing story lines. The two main threads include the trial in the homicide of Detective Carella's father; and a well to do woman who reports the same man has made two clumsy attempts to kill her. Her husband strangely hires a private detective from Chicago to come to the city to protect her.
A suspect is found both shot and hanged.
Stir in a sultry jazz singer, a grateful mobster, a Santa Clause-like defense attorney, and one of McBain's most suspenseful climactic action scenes.
You will enjoy this one.
May 4, 2013
I've always enjoyed Ed McBain (AKA Evan Hunter) and this novel of the 87th Precinct is no different.
What is hard to read is that this book deals with the follow up of the murder of Steve Carella's father and the apprehension of the suspect. In this, as he and his partner Meyer Meyer investigate a murder of a hit man/limo driver and gather information about the second assassin, Carella attends the trial of his father's murderer. Both show you the ins and out, and traps within a murder case. A great read and one that was hard to put down.
What is hard to read is that this book deals with the follow up of the murder of Steve Carella's father and the apprehension of the suspect. In this, as he and his partner Meyer Meyer investigate a murder of a hit man/limo driver and gather information about the second assassin, Carella attends the trial of his father's murderer. Both show you the ins and out, and traps within a murder case. A great read and one that was hard to put down.
March 15, 2015
Re-reading an old classic. It's like meeting up with an old friend and instantly starting up where you left off. Even if years have passed in between.
You haven't read it, you've got to find a copy and add it to your TBR pile. Always good to read the touch of a master writing in his genre.
You haven't read it, you've got to find a copy and add it to your TBR pile. Always good to read the touch of a master writing in his genre.
May 13, 2013
Two attempts have been made on the life of a beautiful woman despite her husband's hired security. Detective Carella has to deal with the cheating husband and the wife's infatuation with himself as he tries to protect her.
January 29, 2008
I actually attended a book reading when this book was released. I still have my copy which was autographed by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter).
May 14, 2012
A satisfying procedural with crossing storylines. Murder, mayhem and passion meet in the 87th Precinct Detective Squad.
August 7, 2012
Good old Ed McBain and his 87th Precinct books. A hard-boiled, down and dirty crime story.
January 15, 2013
Superb twist! Will have to read McBain's other work!
July 15, 2016
It is so tempting to tell you about this story. But if I do, I know I'll let in something that will spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that this was a great read.
July 2, 2019
I know I enjoyed this book a lot more the first time I read it. Now, there's no way to see it that isn't watching Ed McBain/Evan Hunter, clearly a New Deal Great Society Democrat, lose faith in the NYC of 1992. The prior novels could be bleak (befitting the pedestrian murders of the Police Procedural) but this one his hopeless, depicting the drug and crime riddled city choking under the peak of the the crime wave caused by dosing out children with airborne neuro-toxins via auto emissions for decades. Combined with the social changes away from McBain's personal "America as Melding Pot/eventually we're all Americans, not hyphenated Americans" philosophy to today's more mosaic approach, and his clear distaste with for Al Sharpton & Louis Farrakhan's political tactics, and you see a man very unhappy with the state of the world.
Since McBain lived to 2005 he saw the wave break and fall, saw the city he loved start to heal, but looking back on this tame capsule (as all of the 87th Precinct books are) is painful.
The main mystery throughline is fine, but it too is bleak.
Since McBain lived to 2005 he saw the wave break and fall, saw the city he loved start to heal, but looking back on this tame capsule (as all of the 87th Precinct books are) is painful.
The main mystery throughline is fine, but it too is bleak.
April 5, 2025
I miss Ed McBain. He really was a master at police procedurals. This one is full of different emotions, all of them at full force, driving the various story lines in this book. A slice of humanity viewed in the life of a cop.
August 7, 2019
I listened to the abridged version, and after forty or solo books, this one has a new narrator. He didn’t sound like any of the characters I know so well. Not his fault, just different; also, everybody was unidentifiable. A chopped plot and you don’t know anybody.
June 10, 2020
So for your ultimate 87th Precinct Novel experience you really want to be reading from the mid-1950s on to the mid-1960s, maybe a little later. Why? Because McBain is really mastering his composite hero and his fictionalized portrayal of New York City in these earlier novels
Also, while the plots and crimes often seem far-fetched, they're really still credible, and underlying them is a sense that NYC is moving forward over all, making progress to a better city.
By the time you get to a novel such as Kiss, McBain seems in despair, convinced that the evils of drugs and of ethnic groups for which he doesn't have the inherent sympathy he feels for Steve Carella's immigrant Italians are ruining the evolving American he had hoped for.
He sees things going downward, and it changes the tone of the novels radically. One of the plots of this book involves the trial of Carella's father's killer, who killed for no particularly reason one can discern, and in the court procedures in which one doesn't see justice, but manipulation. (This also happens with the plea bargain that settles the other main plot line.)
There's still room for a killer plot reversal and a lot of other writerly skill, but the real heart of the novel is a description of a formerly lovely small farmers' market, made over into the garages and gas pumps of a limousine service.
These become despairing, despairing novels.
Also, while the plots and crimes often seem far-fetched, they're really still credible, and underlying them is a sense that NYC is moving forward over all, making progress to a better city.
By the time you get to a novel such as Kiss, McBain seems in despair, convinced that the evils of drugs and of ethnic groups for which he doesn't have the inherent sympathy he feels for Steve Carella's immigrant Italians are ruining the evolving American he had hoped for.
He sees things going downward, and it changes the tone of the novels radically. One of the plots of this book involves the trial of Carella's father's killer, who killed for no particularly reason one can discern, and in the court procedures in which one doesn't see justice, but manipulation. (This also happens with the plea bargain that settles the other main plot line.)
There's still room for a killer plot reversal and a lot of other writerly skill, but the real heart of the novel is a description of a formerly lovely small farmers' market, made over into the garages and gas pumps of a limousine service.
These become despairing, despairing novels.
October 2, 2012
Another good book in the series. In this one, a woman survives two murder attempts; the man she says tried to kill her winds up dead. That should be the end of her problems, but is it? Along with that story, we have the trial for the man who killed Detective Steve Carella's father in the last book. Interesting comparison of the investigation that goes on before the arrest and the trial that follows after. The story of the trial wasn't as gripping as the story in the previous book ("Widows") in which Steve's father is killed - the emotions and investigations in that book were a bit better, the trial was actually a little dry, although I am a big fan of courtroom drama. So, good book, but others in the series were better.
February 23, 2021
Solid late era McBain. The main plot is a good one, I could see the twist coming but I'm fairly sure that I remembered it from reading it 20+ years ago.
The courtroom sections continue the slightly soap-like ongoing plotting that has characterised the last several books much more than the rest of the series up until now. They were good but I do prefer the straight up crime procedural stuff.
This is a pretty dark book, again following on from the previous few. It feels like he's cut back on the unnecessary dirty old man sex stuff here, there's still a bit though.
It's a bit hard to say more about McBain at this stage in my reread but he's still great and this is a good McBain book.
The courtroom sections continue the slightly soap-like ongoing plotting that has characterised the last several books much more than the rest of the series up until now. They were good but I do prefer the straight up crime procedural stuff.
This is a pretty dark book, again following on from the previous few. It feels like he's cut back on the unnecessary dirty old man sex stuff here, there's still a bit though.
It's a bit hard to say more about McBain at this stage in my reread but he's still great and this is a good McBain book.
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