Murder Among Children

Mitch Tobin #2

by Tucker Coe (Pseudonym), Donald E. Westlake

Mitchell Tobin is back, in a novel as uncompromising, as hard and reflective as his debut in Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death. Dismissed from the New York City Police Department, Tobin wants only to remain at home behind a wall of his own making, but instead finds himself thrust into a case that begins with police harassment of a Village coffee shop and ends in multiple murder.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction

194 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

A pseudonym used by Donald E. Westlake.

Series:
* Mitch Tobin

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder Among Children (The Mitchell Tobin Mysteries) by Tucker Coe (Donald E. Westlake.

I first found out about this series while reading The Burglar Who Met Fredrick Brown by Lawrence Block. It's a 5 book series and not easily found in libraries. You may have better luck than I had in your own library. This was the only book available, but I was able to purchase 2 (so far) from Amazon to my kindle.
Mitch Tobin is a scarred man. His life on the police force has ended and left him shattered. His secure lifestyle as a cop destroyed with no one to blame but himself. Then his wife Kate tells him there's a visitor at the door. His 2nd cousin, Robin Kennely, needs him. There's a rogue cop who's on the take at Thing East in the Village. Thing East is a place a hang out that a few friends are renting. A coffee house they're hoping will work out and if not they have 3 months on their lease.
Robin doesn't know that Mitch is no longer an officer with the authority that goes with that title. Mitch listens to Robin's tale of harassment by Officer Donlon and decides he can at least take a look at the situation first hand.
The next day, Sunday, was when Officer Donlon told Robin he's be back. So Mitch agreed to be there and speak to this rogue cop on the take. But when Mitch arrived things went completely out of control hurling him into a place he never dreamt of entering.
Fabulous story, fabulous book and a series I intend to stay with.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A study of a man building, literally and figuratively, a wall between himself and the rest of the world.
Mitchell Tobin just wants to be left alone to work on the wall in the back yard. He doesn't work or want to interact with the rest of the world, except his wife, since he got fired from the police department for an indiscretion that got his partner killed.
But once again he gets reluctantly into the world to help a second cousin he's never met when she gets accused of murdering her boy friend and a prostitute. The murders start to add up the deeper he gets into it.

[Allen Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes this such a sensational story is that the protagonist is an incredibly flawed character who is struggling to function after life-changing trouble of his own making. A reluctant detective, Mitch Tobin has no desire to be involved in bringing this case to a resolution but presses on despite himself. Society has changed since this book was written, but human nature has not, and this is an interesting tale well told.

[David Fears · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Coe's straightforward style. This is a "locked room" mystery that flawed ex-copy Mitchell Tobin solves...eventually. A murder takes place in a coffee house and Tobin is called on to solve it. But there's no way in or out of the murder room and the cops are stumped.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first one in the series but this one was kind of a drag, mainly because Donald Westlake, while trying to be empathetic, approaches the 60s countercultural movement with a Kids These Days perspective that annoyed me. It's fun watching Mitch rove around New York, and there are moments where the case highlights the struggles in his personal life that feel more authentic than the average Haggard Male PI story, but I feel like this could have been better.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer this kind of almost self-contained book in series that I can read out of order; read this #2 after #3. The narrator still has withdrawn socially, to build a wall around his house. I'd forgotten how last century's under 30's "children" could now sound so silly with their "hip" jargon. Couldn't a killer fake suicide by shooting gun with dead hand for powder?

[Dan Seitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is genuinely surprising, not least for the protagonist, a former police detective struggling with depression. It makes this series oddly modern in some ways, and it stands out among Westlake's books.

[Trish Lawlor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Michael Tobin mysteries I have read. His involvement in getting a distant cousin released after she is accused of murder is interesting. It is a locked room kind of scenario where two bodies are found , she is covered in blood, nd has no recollection of the crime. Fast read.

[William E. Ferreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprising ending

This series is not as enjoyable, to me, as the others but still worth reading. Rather depressing. Kindle had a sale on the first 3 books in the series so I guess I'll pay the normal price for the final 2.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end is a bit anticlimactic. The book ends at 86% and the rest is a sample of the next book, which I already have. To me Tobin seems like a prototype Matthew Scudder.

[Robert Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice quick fun investigation story from the master Westlake. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Spiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting departure for Westlake. His (or "Coe"'s) protagonist, Mitch Tobin, is a former cop, kicked off the NYPD after his partner was killed while Tobin was shacking up with a con's wife. Tobin spends his days building a literal wall around his Queens home, and erecting psychic walls to keep the world out. His walls are breached by a distant female relative, asking for his aid in dealing with a corrupt Manhattan cop.
This series is closer to Parker that the typical Westlake romp, but here and there bits of Westlake's humor poke through. The book affords a fun glimpse of New York in the late 1960's.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh...it was a quick read...Donald Westlake pseudonym...its strengths--strong sense of character, and that's why I stayed with it. The rest of it...eh...don't know why Ed Gorman called it "one of the most perfectly wrought mystery novels I've ever read." I'm definitely taking some pointers from it, though, so it's not a loss...just a bit of a disappointment.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disgraced ex-cop mitch tobin finds himself thrust into a case that begins with police harrassment of greenwhich village coffee house and ends in multiple murder

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but an abrupt ending.