A collection of twenty short stories from the legendary crime author and creator of the 87th Precinct series.Ed McBain was one of the most admired and prolific crime writers of the twentieth century. His long-running 87th Precinct series helped define the gritty police procedural. In The McBain Brief, he presents a series of short stories where desperation, greed, and violence lead to bad ends.A collector who loves his porcelain more than his daughte...

A police detective hunts for a pattern in a puzzling murder spree in this mystery by "a master" ( Time).A blind violinist taking a smoke break. A cosmetics sales rep cooking an omelet in her own kitchen. A college professor trudging home from class. A priest contemplating retirement in the rectory garden. An old woman walking her dog. These are the seemingly random targets, all shot twice in the face. But most serial killers don't use guns. Most serial kil...

A "gripping" collection of crime stories from the author of the acclaimed 87th Precinct novels ( People).Ed McBain's 87th Precinct is "perhaps the finest police procedural series of all time" ( Publishers Weekly). But before he turned to novels, McBain wrote short crime fiction under various names, for pulp magazines including Manhunt and Argosy. Collected in this anthology are twenty-five of these early stories, organized under ...

Police hunt for a perp who's picking off politicians in this "triumph" ( Chicago Sun-Times).The detectives of the 87th Precinct have gotten a call threatening the life of the city's parks commissioner unless a five-thousand-dollar ransom is paid. It seems like an obvious crank call. The deadline soon passes—and the parks commissioner is shot in the head as he leaves a concert.Soon, another anonymous warning follows and the deputy mayor is blown up ...

Ed McBain concocts a brilliant and intricate thriller about a master criminal who haunts the city with cryptic passages from Shakespeare, directing the detectives of the 87th Precinct to a future crime -- if only they can figure out what he means.The 87th Precinct gets a visit from one of the city's most accomplished criminals -- a thief known as the Deaf Man. Because he might be deaf. Or he might not. So little is known about the man who is harassing Detective Stev...

It is Christmas in the city, but it isn't the giving season. A retired Gulf War pilot, a careless second-story man, a pair of angry Mexicans, and an equally shady pair of Secret Service agents are in town after a large stash of money, and no one is interested in sharing.The detectives at the 87th are already busy for the holidays. Steve Carella and Fat Ollie Weeks catch the squeal when the lions in the city zoo get an unauthorized feeding of a young woman's body. And then there's a ...

This lively novel—the fifty-second in the award-winning 87th Precinct series—follows the exploits of Ed McBain's most beloved and foul-mouthed detective, Fat Ollie Weeks.All at once, Fat Ollie Weeks had a truly brilliant idea...But as any real writer could tell you, that's how inspiration strikes -- with the sudden force of a violent crime. Known more for his foul mouth and short temper than his way with words, Detective Weeks has written a novel. ...

It's not a mystery, it's a story of survival and triumph. That's what some people say about Romance, a would-be hit play about an actress pursued by a knife-wielding stalker. But isn't it romantic! Before the show can open, the leading lady is really attacked, outside the theater. And before the detectives of the 87th can solve that crime, the same actress is stabbed again. This time for keeps. A.D.A. Nellie Brand moves in for a murder conviction, but Detective Steve Carella is sure she's ...

A former PI returns to the field in this noir gem full of murder, deceit, and femme fatales—from the crime fiction legend whose 87th Precinct series set the benchmark for police procedurals.Detective Matt Cordell was happily married once, and gainfully employed—and sober. But that was before he caught his wife cheating on him with one of his operatives and took it out on the man with the butt end of a .45.Now Matt makes his home on the streets of New York a...

He’d been a promising piano prodigy, once. Now he was just an addict, scraping to get by, letting his hunger for drugs consume him. But a man’s life can always get worse - as Ray Stone discovers when he wakes up beside a beautiful nightclub singer only to find her dead... and 16 ounces of pure heroin missing. On the run from the law, desperate to prove his innocence and find a killer, Ray also faces another foe, merciless and unforgiving: his growing craving for a fix...

When a Man’s Partner is Killed,He’s Supposed to Do Something About It.Maybe no one liked Del Gilbert a whole lot, not the men he ruthlessly did business with, not the women who discovered his other lovers, not even his partner in the Gilbert and Blake literary agency – me. But when I found him shot to death on the floor of his office, I had no choice. I had to track down the person responsible. And not just to lay Del to rest, either. Next to his body, the office safe was wi...

It should have been the night that launched a new pop idol. Tamar Valparaiso is young and beautiful, with the body and voice of an angel, and the stage is set for her to launch her debut album, Bandersnatch, on a luxury yacht in the heart of the city. But halfway through her performance, while the partygoers look on helplessly, masked men drag Tamar off the stage and into a waiting speedboat.Detective Steve Carella is just showing up for the graveyard shift...