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87th Precinct #49
The Big Bad City
Ed McBain is the only American winner of the coveted Diamond Dagger Award, and he is also a past recipient of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award. So, when a reader picks up the latest installment of McBain's 87th Precinct series, the bar is set pretty high. But with The Big Bad City, McBain meets expectations.
In the opening pages, Steve Carella and Artie Brown return to the department with 9 basketball players (the 10th player was murdered) only to discover a knife fight erupting in a holding cell. It's a steamy August night, and Carella and Detective Parker end up having to shoot one of the fighters to cool things down. Then Meyer and Kling enter the scene; they're hot in pursuit of the Cookie Boy, a thief who leaves chocolate-chip cookies at every crime sight. Before the interminable day is done, Carella and Brown are called out to Grover Park to investigate a homicide. A nun has been strangled to death, but she's no ordinary Sister. She's got signs of a breast augmentation operation that hint at a sordid past. Finally, readers are privy to a conversation between Juju and Sonny. Sonny killed a cop's dad, and Juju is convinced that the police will bend the rules to see that Sonny winds up dead. Juju insists that the only way out of the death trap is to kill the cop first. The officer's name is Steve Carella. And all of this happens in the first 15 pages.
McBain is one of the artists of the police procedural. Though his city is fictional, it breathes with the darkness and gritty reality of many American cities. He enters the minds and hearts of his characters to uncover the daily insecurities that accompany the work of policemen. Readers new to the 87th Precinct will want to venture back to such tales as 1956's Cop Hater, 1964's Ax, and 1965's Doll, among the 47 installments in this series. Those who've been along for the ride will be happy they did not give up their seat. --Patrick O'Kelley
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
98 people are currently reading
524 people want to read
About the author
Ed McBain
677 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 111 reviews
March 18, 2016
Of the first forty-nine entries in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series, this (the forty-ninth) is, I think, the best so far. By now, the cast of characters has been thoroughly established and the members have changed very little through the years. When the first book in the series, Cop Hater, appeared, the detectives of the 87th were all in their middle thirties and they still are. The lead detective, Steve Carella, is dreading the approach of his fortieth birthday, but he's taken forty three years to age from thirty-five to forty, so he really shouldn't complain all that much. By now the precinct house, which also hasn't changed in all that time, should be as familiar to readers of the series as their own homes, as will the neighborhoods of McBain's fictional metropolis of Isola, the Big Bad City.
Given that, these books now must succeed or fail almost solely upon the merits of the story that McBain chooses to tell. Each of these books usually finds the detectives working two or three different cases simultaneously and over the years some of them have been more entertaining than others. The three cases that are interwoven through this book are uniformly very good.
As the book opens, detectives Steve Carella and Arthur Brown are called to the scene of a murder in a city park. A young woman has been strangled and, from the ring on her finger, Carella realizes that the woman was a nun, even though she's dressed in civilian clothes. He and Brown are even more surprised when the autopsy reveals that the murdered nun was sporting a set of expensive breast implants, a surgical procedure that I'm quite sure most of the nuns who taught me at St. Anthony's grade school would never have considered. But there are no witnesses, virtually no clues and even fewer leads in the case and so catching her killer is going to be a challenging piece of work.
While Carella and Brown work the murder case, detectives Meyer Meyer and Burt Kling are on the trail of the Cookie Boy, who breaks into peoples' homes, walks out with their valuables and leaves behind a box of chocolate chip cookies. He understands that it's not exactly a fair exchange, but then he did bake the cookies himself and they're very good cookies; he figures it's the least he can do. The newspapers are raising hell about his exploits, but the two detectives are trailing well behind him.
Finally, this book continues a thread that first appeared a couple of books ago. Without giving anything away, someone committed a serious crime against the family of one of the detectives. However, the person escaped conviction for the offense and has now returned to the scene, again constituting a serious threat.
McBain moves back and forth among these investigations and keeps the reader entertained throughout. As always in these books, there's a fair amount of wry humor mixed in with the blood and gore and the case of the murdered nun is especially interesting to follow. Again, for my money this is the best book in the series thus far, which is saying quite a bit given the very high standard that McBain set early on in the series. Any fan of the 87th Precinct will certainly want to search out this book.
Given that, these books now must succeed or fail almost solely upon the merits of the story that McBain chooses to tell. Each of these books usually finds the detectives working two or three different cases simultaneously and over the years some of them have been more entertaining than others. The three cases that are interwoven through this book are uniformly very good.
As the book opens, detectives Steve Carella and Arthur Brown are called to the scene of a murder in a city park. A young woman has been strangled and, from the ring on her finger, Carella realizes that the woman was a nun, even though she's dressed in civilian clothes. He and Brown are even more surprised when the autopsy reveals that the murdered nun was sporting a set of expensive breast implants, a surgical procedure that I'm quite sure most of the nuns who taught me at St. Anthony's grade school would never have considered. But there are no witnesses, virtually no clues and even fewer leads in the case and so catching her killer is going to be a challenging piece of work.
While Carella and Brown work the murder case, detectives Meyer Meyer and Burt Kling are on the trail of the Cookie Boy, who breaks into peoples' homes, walks out with their valuables and leaves behind a box of chocolate chip cookies. He understands that it's not exactly a fair exchange, but then he did bake the cookies himself and they're very good cookies; he figures it's the least he can do. The newspapers are raising hell about his exploits, but the two detectives are trailing well behind him.
Finally, this book continues a thread that first appeared a couple of books ago. Without giving anything away, someone committed a serious crime against the family of one of the detectives. However, the person escaped conviction for the offense and has now returned to the scene, again constituting a serious threat.
McBain moves back and forth among these investigations and keeps the reader entertained throughout. As always in these books, there's a fair amount of wry humor mixed in with the blood and gore and the case of the murdered nun is especially interesting to follow. Again, for my money this is the best book in the series thus far, which is saying quite a bit given the very high standard that McBain set early on in the series. Any fan of the 87th Precinct will certainly want to search out this book.
November 14, 2025
An 87 Precinct novel that just doesn't gel. A hick comes to the big city, a thief leaves a package of cookies behind at all of his scores, and someone is stalking a police officer with bad intentions. None of it really seems to come together.
July 10, 2018
An 87th story published in 1998, with Steve Carella fretting about facing 40 (more than 40 years after he first appears in the series). Like some other long-running series, the characters become ageless, even as the cultural references and the technology move along with the times. A murder of a nun, a series of burglaries and the re-emergence of the murderer of Carella's father are the key themes which run parallel in this good book - the usual reliable police procedural from the 87th.
July 13, 2008
A few pages into this book I realized that I'd listened to it on tape a couple of years ago. I started to close the covers, then realized I was enjoying the read, and proceeded to finish it.
So I can encapsulate my review of the book by stating, with authority, that it is good enough to read twice.
Being one of the 87th Precinct novels, if you love one, you'll love the all, and vice versa, but the vice versa would be hard for me to imagine.
So I can encapsulate my review of the book by stating, with authority, that it is good enough to read twice.
Being one of the 87th Precinct novels, if you love one, you'll love the all, and vice versa, but the vice versa would be hard for me to imagine.
October 9, 2017
Well, I finished out the year on a good note with another 87th precinct novel from McBain, He is a master of police dialogue and procedural mystery, and knows how to keep it all moving while making the reader laugh out loud along the way. This book had all the ingredients and while not a deep or dark tale (unlike the Nordic Noirs), was entertaining throughout. A bit of lighthearted reading on which to end 2015.
Happy New Year to all.
Happy New Year to all.
December 20, 2021
"First thing you had to understand about this city was that it was big. [...] This city was dangerous too. [...] Bad things happened in this city every hour of the day or night, and they happened all over the city. [...] In this city, things were happening all the time, all over the place, and you didn't have to be a detective to smell evil in the wind."
August in the big city. Oppressive heat despite the late hour. Chaos in the 87th Precinct house. An altercation between two suspects in custody results in one of them getting wounded. The detectives are forced to shoot at the attacker. At the same time, nine handcuffed basketball players are led into the precinct house - the tenth has been killed, and all nine are the suspects.
The body of a strangled young woman is found in a city park. Detectives Carella and Brown lead the investigation. Detectives Meyer and Kling are trying to find the perpetrator in a string of residential burglaries. Sonny, a small criminal, who had killed Carella's father during a robbery ( Widows), is out of prison early. He plans to kill Carella so the detective does not kill him in the act of revenge. The three main story lines of the novel are thus set up.
While it turns out that the strangled young woman was a nun some details soon discovered seem incompatible with the finding. I don't usually pay much attention to the plot, but I have to admit that this story line is captivating, superbly paced and structured, and its denouement is quite logical and plausible, unlike the silly artificial twists and turns in most crime novels. Furthermore, there is yet another story nested within this plot thread.
The perpetrator of residential thefts is known as Cookie Boy in the media because of his "signature" - in the burglarized apartments he leaves a box of cookies he baked himself. Yet his newest burglary does not go as planned and the reader gets a fascinating story within a story about how things go monstrously wrong.
Carella is turning 40, which may bring the reader to realize that the 87th Precinct series time runs much slower than in the real world. Carella was in his late twenties in 1956, when the first novel in the series ( Cop Hater) was published, so it took him 43 years to age about 10 years.
In my view, Big Bad City (1999) is a very good novel, one of the best installments in the series!
Four stars.
August in the big city. Oppressive heat despite the late hour. Chaos in the 87th Precinct house. An altercation between two suspects in custody results in one of them getting wounded. The detectives are forced to shoot at the attacker. At the same time, nine handcuffed basketball players are led into the precinct house - the tenth has been killed, and all nine are the suspects.
The body of a strangled young woman is found in a city park. Detectives Carella and Brown lead the investigation. Detectives Meyer and Kling are trying to find the perpetrator in a string of residential burglaries. Sonny, a small criminal, who had killed Carella's father during a robbery ( Widows), is out of prison early. He plans to kill Carella so the detective does not kill him in the act of revenge. The three main story lines of the novel are thus set up.
While it turns out that the strangled young woman was a nun some details soon discovered seem incompatible with the finding. I don't usually pay much attention to the plot, but I have to admit that this story line is captivating, superbly paced and structured, and its denouement is quite logical and plausible, unlike the silly artificial twists and turns in most crime novels. Furthermore, there is yet another story nested within this plot thread.
The perpetrator of residential thefts is known as Cookie Boy in the media because of his "signature" - in the burglarized apartments he leaves a box of cookies he baked himself. Yet his newest burglary does not go as planned and the reader gets a fascinating story within a story about how things go monstrously wrong.
Carella is turning 40, which may bring the reader to realize that the 87th Precinct series time runs much slower than in the real world. Carella was in his late twenties in 1956, when the first novel in the series ( Cop Hater) was published, so it took him 43 years to age about 10 years.
In my view, Big Bad City (1999) is a very good novel, one of the best installments in the series!
Four stars.
August 14, 2018
Ed McBain is the King of police procedural books. I haven't read him in quite a while, but seeing as this is #49 in the series, I guess it's time to start again! In this novel as always there are two stories going on at the same time. Steve is being persured by the the man that killed his father and there is a burglar called "The Cookie Man" who Meyer Meyer and company are after. Great read!
October 19, 2023
Police procedural set in the 87th. Precinct. The story covers three crimes: the Cookie Boy burglar, the murder of a nun, and an assassin out to get one of the detectives. Well-written, with interesting characters.
December 21, 2009
The forty-ninth entry in the 87th Precinct series (as I close in on the final entries, 55 in all!) and to me a slight disappointment. But even mediocre Hunter/McBain is still pretty derned good stuff. This one involves the mysterious murder of a nun-- with breast implants yet! (Don't ask, go read the darned thing.) There is also the "Cookie Boy,"a burglar who leaves chocolate chip cookies on the pillow of the homes he robs. I started to get the feeling that McBain was tiring of his usual characters, the "boys" of the 87th Precinct. By now he had started to emphasize the obnoxiously fascinating detective Fat Ollie Weeks of the neighboring 88th Precinct and to spend more time on the viewpoints of the other characters in the story. There is still ample "procedural" time as Steve Carella and company uncover the strange labyrinthine background of the deceased sister and her case entwines with that of the Cookie Boy.
I only gave three stars to this tale in comparison with the shining lights of the series. Had this book been written by Joe Smith-- I unabashedly confess, I might have given it an extra star!
I only gave three stars to this tale in comparison with the shining lights of the series. Had this book been written by Joe Smith-- I unabashedly confess, I might have given it an extra star!
June 7, 2011
My very first McBain novel. Totally dug it. I can see why people who love Parker's books would love this series. Good atmosphere, interesting characters, quick dialogue. Great summer read!
February 8, 2012
As usual this book was as good as the rest of the 87th pct series, I read this book many years ago and forgot, but it was a good reread.
May 12, 2021
Noone will ever do this better
February 23, 2021
Tohle už mi přišel jako slabší díl, možná ale kvůli překladu. Knihu jsem četl ve vydání Baronetu a přišlo mi, že překlad je trochu těžkopádnější a styl jazyka úplně nesedí k obsahu. Ale skutečně jde čistě o styl.
Tentokrát se všechno soustředí na vraždu jeptišky. Což by nebylo nic zase tak divného, kdyby ta jeptiška neměla prsní implantáty. Policisté se začínají pouštět do její minulosti a postupně odkrývat její životní příběh. Což je samo o sobě zajímavé a vede to do nových prostředí. A ani nevadí, že finále zase tak převratné není. Do toho je vpašovaný příběh zloděje, který svým obětem na oplátku nechává doma cukroví. Jenže samozřejmě, jedna vykrádačka se trochu vymkne z ruky. No a aby tam bylo trochu drama, je tu vrah Carellova otce, který se rozhodne, že bezpečnější bude, když zabije i Carellu. Tohle je trochu cucané z prstu a podložené čistě idiocií postavy (čili vlastně celkem reálné), ale je to tam čistě spíš jen aby bylo nějaké napětí a na konci se to odmázlo.
A samozřejmě, je tu olie Ollie Weeks, R2-D2 87. revíru. (Jak si má žena všimla, tenhle robot je asi ta nejdůležitější postava celé ságy – není situace, kterou by právě on nakonec nevyřešil. Kam se hrabe Síla.) A to nejen vzhledem a tím, že by se většina toho, co řekne, mělo vypípávat. Spíš tím, že nakonec je obvykle tím, kdo – mezi rasistickými poznámkami – všechno vyřeší.
Tentokrát se všechno soustředí na vraždu jeptišky. Což by nebylo nic zase tak divného, kdyby ta jeptiška neměla prsní implantáty. Policisté se začínají pouštět do její minulosti a postupně odkrývat její životní příběh. Což je samo o sobě zajímavé a vede to do nových prostředí. A ani nevadí, že finále zase tak převratné není. Do toho je vpašovaný příběh zloděje, který svým obětem na oplátku nechává doma cukroví. Jenže samozřejmě, jedna vykrádačka se trochu vymkne z ruky. No a aby tam bylo trochu drama, je tu vrah Carellova otce, který se rozhodne, že bezpečnější bude, když zabije i Carellu. Tohle je trochu cucané z prstu a podložené čistě idiocií postavy (čili vlastně celkem reálné), ale je to tam čistě spíš jen aby bylo nějaké napětí a na konci se to odmázlo.
A samozřejmě, je tu olie Ollie Weeks, R2-D2 87. revíru. (Jak si má žena všimla, tenhle robot je asi ta nejdůležitější postava celé ságy – není situace, kterou by právě on nakonec nevyřešil. Kam se hrabe Síla.) A to nejen vzhledem a tím, že by se většina toho, co řekne, mělo vypípávat. Spíš tím, že nakonec je obvykle tím, kdo – mezi rasistickými poznámkami – všechno vyřeší.
May 11, 2023
Book #48 of the series and the first one that have listened to on audio. Somewhere I picked up a copy of this book on audio CD, read by the author. This appears to be a rare item, it's not even listed on Amazon.
A solid addition to the series and back to the tried and trusted format of more than one case being worked on at the same time. The author does a pretty good job narrating the book and it was nice to finally put a voice to the picture I have seen on all 50+books.
Only half dozen books left to read so I hope I can finish off this mammoth series this year.
A solid addition to the series and back to the tried and trusted format of more than one case being worked on at the same time. The author does a pretty good job narrating the book and it was nice to finally put a voice to the picture I have seen on all 50+books.
Only half dozen books left to read so I hope I can finish off this mammoth series this year.
November 25, 2014
Unmistakeable McBain - a murdered nun, a quirky burglar who leaves cookies for his victims and the man who killed Carella's father is egged on to get Carella before Carella gets him. The stories are masterfully orchestrated with dark sly wit written in a voice that is by turns mordant, comic and grim, evoking the sprawl of seedy, homey, squalid humanity in the Big Bad City. Like, say, Lansdale, McBain is the closest approximation to an experience of skilled oral storytelling on the printed page.
February 4, 2013
First Ed McBain book that I have read and I enjoyed his humor and the way the story unfolded. I didn't feel too lost, having not read any of the previous books in the series, but there was some things that I was missing from the story. Not the greatest mystery, but the characters were well rounded and McBain made me want to know all of them better. Would read more in the series.
November 7, 2016
A police procedural with a good storyline well done.
July 21, 2018
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book in this series. Nice to know they still hold up.
April 6, 2010
Sunday evening turned a rosy pink and then a deeper blush and then a reddish-lavender-blue and then purple and black, the golden day succumbing at last to night.
It was time to go buy a gun.
Synopsis: Three inter-locking cases in the 87th Precinct: a dead nun, an unhinged stalker and a burglar who bakes chocolate-chip cookies. Go.
In the course of one very long, hot August in the city, the 87th Precinct has to contend with a dead nun with breast implants and a baking burglar whose career gets away from him in a very big way. Oh, and someone's trying to kill one of the detectives.
It's hard to talk about this novel without giving away the whole plot. Suffice it to say, it's the 87th Precinct. The same detectives, the same measured pace and gritty realism, but this time with a bittersweet note of time passing, things lost. Carella's turning forty. He's not well with that. To some extent, I think you could complain that this book becomes The Steve Carella Show, with a majority of the action focusing on him and his case, his angst, his family. But his case is the twistiest, the most difficult and the one that yields the fewest answers.
I had been totally trying to read a different book right now, about Russian exiled royalty, trying to off each other all over 1920s Paris, Egypt and Shanghai, but as soon as this book made it into the house, I had a hard time staying away from it. I just love this series, even when it's a little older, a little slower, a little obsessed with the twilight. It has a right to be.
July 9, 2016
After tearing through a young adult alien invasion series, a very down to earth cops and crime book seemed a good change of pace, and McBain hit the spot. This was a very straightforward set of semi-intertwining stories around one group of homicide detectives. You get a good feel for the cops personal lives without it being overbearing on the meat of the matter, which are the crimes and the policework involved. Everything was pretty "normal" in the grand scheme of things - a burglary gone sideways, a killing over minimal amounts of money that really was about much more, and the long lasting impacts violence can hold over people, usually resulting in more violence.
In today's climate, a book where cops and criminals are presented very honestly as just people doing their "jobs", with various flaws and shading and little that is black and white, is refreshing as acknowledging this is very hard at times, particularly these times ("guy had a record - so what he got shot" / "all cops are just looking to shoot people"). For the most part, no one in McBains story is perfect or evil - just all on various points in the scale, much like real life.
There was a certain "this is kinda like one of those cop shows of the 90's" and maybe they were based on this in that there were three or so stories, with the view going back and forth - and you know what, that isn't the worse thing in the world... some of those shows were pretty good, and so was the book. Worth the read when you've had enough of fantasy or romance and need a few hours of just on the streets cops and robbers.
In today's climate, a book where cops and criminals are presented very honestly as just people doing their "jobs", with various flaws and shading and little that is black and white, is refreshing as acknowledging this is very hard at times, particularly these times ("guy had a record - so what he got shot" / "all cops are just looking to shoot people"). For the most part, no one in McBains story is perfect or evil - just all on various points in the scale, much like real life.
There was a certain "this is kinda like one of those cop shows of the 90's" and maybe they were based on this in that there were three or so stories, with the view going back and forth - and you know what, that isn't the worse thing in the world... some of those shows were pretty good, and so was the book. Worth the read when you've had enough of fantasy or romance and need a few hours of just on the streets cops and robbers.
September 20, 2007
The Big Bad City - G
Ed McBain
In the opening pages, Steve Carella and Artie Brown return to the department with 9 basketball players (the 10th player was murdered) only to discover a knife fight erupting in a holding cell. It's a steamy August night, and Carella and Detective Parker end up having to shoot one of the fighters to cool things down. Then Meyer and Kling enter the scene; they're hot in pursuit of the Cookie Boy, a thief who leaves chocolate-chip cookies at every crime sight. Before the interminable day is done, Carella and Brown are called out to Grover Park to investigate a homicide. A nun has been strangled to death, but she's no ordinary Sister. She's got signs of a breast augmentation operation that hint at a sordid past. Finally, readers are privy to a conversation between Juju and Sonny. Sonny killed a cop's dad, and Juju is convinced that the police will bend the rules to see that Sonny winds up dead. Juju insists that the only way out of the death trap is to kill the cop first. The officer's name is Steve Carella. And all of this happens in the first 15 pages.
McBain is the master of Police Procedurals.
Ed McBain
In the opening pages, Steve Carella and Artie Brown return to the department with 9 basketball players (the 10th player was murdered) only to discover a knife fight erupting in a holding cell. It's a steamy August night, and Carella and Detective Parker end up having to shoot one of the fighters to cool things down. Then Meyer and Kling enter the scene; they're hot in pursuit of the Cookie Boy, a thief who leaves chocolate-chip cookies at every crime sight. Before the interminable day is done, Carella and Brown are called out to Grover Park to investigate a homicide. A nun has been strangled to death, but she's no ordinary Sister. She's got signs of a breast augmentation operation that hint at a sordid past. Finally, readers are privy to a conversation between Juju and Sonny. Sonny killed a cop's dad, and Juju is convinced that the police will bend the rules to see that Sonny winds up dead. Juju insists that the only way out of the death trap is to kill the cop first. The officer's name is Steve Carella. And all of this happens in the first 15 pages.
McBain is the master of Police Procedurals.
January 3, 2012
The story focuses on two cases. The first to appear is a woman found dead in a park blocks away from the precinct. The detectives assigned were Carella and Brown; as they go deeper, they uncover secrets the victim kept (unusual secrets). The second is a string of burglary and robbery perpetrated by The Cookie Boy, who leaves cookies on every crime scene.
Besides from these cases, a stalker is closing in on one of the men of the 87th Precinct.
This is has been one of the best police procedural I have read since William J. Caunitz's Pigtown.
Besides from these cases, a stalker is closing in on one of the men of the 87th Precinct.
This is has been one of the best police procedural I have read since William J. Caunitz's Pigtown.
January 19, 2016
THE BIG BAD CITY
I am always amazed at how much detail is in these books. They are correct in information about what was happening in the world and guess what? It fits today perfect! Nothing is new!
I am always amazed at how much detail is in these books. They are correct in information about what was happening in the world and guess what? It fits today perfect! Nothing is new!
April 30, 2010
Another fast paced 87th Precinct mystery. Recommended for all readers.
September 20, 2010
ed mcbain is a good story teller. an 87th precinct story. life in the big bad city. an entertaining read.
October 23, 2010
McBain is popcorn for the brain. This is one of the better ones. I read them to find out how his characters' lives progress.
May 24, 2012
It's always a good police-procedural read when I check in with Steve Carella and the guys of the 87th Precinct and ride along as they solve a couple of cases.
July 4, 2012
I've never read a McCain I didn't like, and The Big Bad City is no exception. He's a master of dialogue and moving the story forward.
March 5, 2016
Wonderful -- I loved it and can't wait for more 87th stories.
September 14, 2019
“So if you came here thinking, Gee, there’s going to be a neat little murder takes place in a town house and some blue-haired lady will solve it in her spare time when she isn’t tending her rose garden, then you came to the wrong city at the wrong time of the year. In this city, things were happening all the time, all over the place, and you didn’t have to be a detective to smell evil in the wind.” (The Big Bad City, Page 32)
The detectives of the 87th precinct, let alone the other precincts of New York City have their hands full. That was before a suspect in the precinct cage knifed a fellow suspect before being shot by Detective Carella. That resulted in two teams of paramedics being brought in and the obligatory visit from Internal Affairs Detectives on a mission to determine what the heck happened. It doesn’t help that it is August and the air conditioning in the precinct house is seriously on the fritz.
Then there are the murders.
One murder is the dead young lady found in Grover Park in front of a park bench. One could tell by looking at her throat she had been strangled. Detectives Brown and Carella had been ready to call it a day and go home when their boss, Lieutenant Brynes sent them out on the case. A case that is going to become incredibly complex.
The burglar nicknamed “The Cookie Boy” continues to do his deal of breaking into places and stealing stuff before leaving a container of homemade chocolate chip cookies behind. Detectives Mayer and Kling have been on that case quite a while. A case that may now involve two murders.
The detectives are not the only ones on the hunt in the city. So too is a man bent on revenge. His target is one of the detectives of the 87th precinct. Like some of the other two legged predators that travel through New York City, murder is on his mind.
The Big Bad City: A Novel Of The 87th Precinct is a complicated police procedural with many moving parts. Like others in the series, it is a solidly good read. As noted in the above quote, this is not a read for cozy readers who prefer sanitized language and situations.
The Big Bad City: A Novel Of The 87th Precinct
Ed McBain
https://www.edmcbain.com
Simon & Schuster
https://simonandschuster.com
January 1999
ISBN# 0-684-85512-7
Hardback (also available in various formats including paperback and digital)
272 Pages
$25.00
My reading copy came from the downtown branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2019
The detectives of the 87th precinct, let alone the other precincts of New York City have their hands full. That was before a suspect in the precinct cage knifed a fellow suspect before being shot by Detective Carella. That resulted in two teams of paramedics being brought in and the obligatory visit from Internal Affairs Detectives on a mission to determine what the heck happened. It doesn’t help that it is August and the air conditioning in the precinct house is seriously on the fritz.
Then there are the murders.
One murder is the dead young lady found in Grover Park in front of a park bench. One could tell by looking at her throat she had been strangled. Detectives Brown and Carella had been ready to call it a day and go home when their boss, Lieutenant Brynes sent them out on the case. A case that is going to become incredibly complex.
The burglar nicknamed “The Cookie Boy” continues to do his deal of breaking into places and stealing stuff before leaving a container of homemade chocolate chip cookies behind. Detectives Mayer and Kling have been on that case quite a while. A case that may now involve two murders.
The detectives are not the only ones on the hunt in the city. So too is a man bent on revenge. His target is one of the detectives of the 87th precinct. Like some of the other two legged predators that travel through New York City, murder is on his mind.
The Big Bad City: A Novel Of The 87th Precinct is a complicated police procedural with many moving parts. Like others in the series, it is a solidly good read. As noted in the above quote, this is not a read for cozy readers who prefer sanitized language and situations.
The Big Bad City: A Novel Of The 87th Precinct
Ed McBain
https://www.edmcbain.com
Simon & Schuster
https://simonandschuster.com
January 1999
ISBN# 0-684-85512-7
Hardback (also available in various formats including paperback and digital)
272 Pages
$25.00
My reading copy came from the downtown branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2019
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