Three Blind Mice

by Ed McBain

When three Vietnamese immigrants are found murdered and savagely mutilated in Calusa, Florida, police finger wealthy landowner Stephen Leeds as the prime suspect. The now-deceased trio had recently been acquitted of raping Leeds’s wife, Jessie. From his jail cell, Leeds insists that, while they may have gotten what they deserved, he didn’t dispense the vigilante justice.

That’s enough for attorney Matthew Hope to take on the case. But every piece of evidence ties his client to the grisly killings, from Leeds publicly vowing to avenge his wife’s assault to the discovery of his wallet at the scene. And it doesn’t help matters that Hope is going up against Assistant State Attorney Patricia Demming, who is dead-set on seeing Leeds fry for the crime.

Acclaimed author and fan favorite Ed McBain blends powerful suspense with master storytelling for a thrilling and charged tale of two men—one whose life hangs in the balance and one who must follow a convoluted trail of secrets, seduction, and sabotage to get to the truth.

Genres: Mystery

317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2012

About the author

"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.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Three Blind Mice,” the ninth book of thirteen in McBain’s Matthew Hope series, where each novel is titled after a familiar nursery rhyme, opens with a jarring, bloody scene. Three Vietnamese men, part of a post-Vietnam War wave of immigration, are dead from stab wounds, eyes removed from sockets, and penises removed and placed in mouths. It is akin to the kind of torture scene too common during the long jungle war.

A wallet is found and traced to its owner, Stephen Leeds, whose wife had been allegedly gang-raped by these three men. The three men had been arrested and tried, but the State couldn’t convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The three walk out of the courtroom free with Stephen Leeds screaming he would kill them all. And this was only three days earlier.

Leeds has an alibi. He was home watching Casablanca with his wife Jessica and didn’t leave the house till morning. But her car – a red Maserati- was seen driving to the marina where, according to the dockmaster, Leeds took his boat out for a late night spin. And his moves traced to the murder scene.

Hope, who had never until recently, practiced criminal law, picks up the case. It is the latest in a growing line of open-and-shut impossible-to-win cases Hope has a knack for getting. He is convinced of his client’s innocence, but no one else in this small city is, not the wicked witch of the west, the new state prosecutor who he keeps running into.

More so than the previous novels, this one focuses on the murder case rather than on Hope’s personal life.

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best Hope book but the story of man accused of murdering 3 Vietnamese men acquitted of raping his wife moves along at pace - read it in one sitting. #68 McBain book - a few still to go!

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked it up hoping for an interesting police procedural; disappointed for the following reasons:

1. The book is gross and creepy in its descriptions of female characters. Women are described mainly in terms of their anatomy. The central female character is a rape victim, and there is a detailed description of this rape that, in this context, made me suspect that the author described it at length for reasons of titillation.

2. The book deals with grave topics - murder, racism, rape - but it has a strangely jocular and light tone that contrasted poorly with these issues.

3. I found it unbelievable that Matthew Hope, the completely forgettable protagonist of this series, would take on Leed's unwinnable case, especially since Hope proclaims to everyone he meets that he only defends the innocent

4. The book is deeply repetitive. How many times do we need to be told we're in Calusa, Florida?

Overall, disappointing and dated. I will be avoiding this author in the future.

[Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one just didn't do it for me. I found that it was poorly written with implausible plot points. I predicted the identity of the murderer about 100 pages in and found myself rolling my eyes at some of the bad dialog. The descriptions of nearly all of the female characters is very sexist and limited. I got tired of characters being described as "twenty-six or twenty-seven" or "five-foot-eight or five-foot-nine." Overall, a pretty tiresome book. I almost gave it one star but, since it kept me reading until the end, I was generous.

[Timothy F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

best Hope mystery yet!

So many racial issues and concerns with women’s rights and issues, with a neat plot and new characters, as well as Warren the PI more firmly connected to Mathew, made this story interesting.

[marita moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring read

I knew in the first few pages who the killer was.
Pretty much predictable
Might try some of his other books

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ninth book in the Matthew Hope series. Hope defends the accused murderer of three Vietnamese immigrant. The author doesn’t play fair with the reader but it was still an engaging read.