This double-shot containing the first two entries in the 87th Precinct series from Ed McBain is a great way to become acclimated to Isola and the boys of the 87th. It is one of the great series in crime fiction, and while some of the investigative techniques may be dated, that's part of its overall charm.


COP HATER

Gritty, lean, and at times surprisingly romantic, the first entry in the 87th Precinct series remains one of the best. Evan Hunter, author of The Blackboard Jungle and screenwriter for Hitchcock’s, The Birds, is better known today as Ed McBain because of the 87th Precinct series. He wrote Cop Hater in 1955 in hopes of filling a void being created at Pocket Books by the slightly diminishing output of the prolific Erle Stanley Gardner. The 87th Precinct novels not only filled that void, they broke new ground, creating the first and finest of all police procedurals.

It seems old-hat today, tagging along with Carella, Kling, Meyer Meyer, Hawes and the rest of the 87th Precinct cops as they tried to solve multiple crimes so they could make it home to their sweethearts or go find one, but when Cop Hater was written, it stood alone as something unique. Despite it being imitated over the decades in various ways by a lot of authors, some of them very good in their own right, it still does. Reading it now, it needs to be judged within that context, and when it is, it shines.

In Cop Hater we are introduced for the first time to Detective Steve Carella, a mainstay of the revolving rotation of cops working out of the 87th Precinct that we would come to know over the next few decades. Carella was in love with the deaf Teddy in this one, and she’ll end up playing a major role as the search for a cop killer turns very deadly and perhaps fatal for some members of the 87th Precinct.

Set in the fictional Isola, which mirrored New York City, Isola is its own character here, McBain giving it a pulse and a heartbeat. When one of their own is slain, the boys of the 87th doggedly pursue every avenue they can to discover who is out there killing cops. The tawdry and seedier aspects of Isola’s underbelly is shown while we follow Carella and the boys as they augment police procedures with hunches and persistence. But two more cops are slain before Carella figures out almost too late, that this particular cop hater is hiding a lot more than a .45.

McBain doesn’t cheat the reader during the fast and involving narrative. We see everything the cops do, including an intimate scene we read as wrong as one of the cops does. Filled with humor and grit, and more than a bit of tenderness, Cop Hater is one of McBain’s finest, despite some outdated police techniques. Like John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series and Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm series, McBain always gets right into the story, and in no time you’re in Isola with Carella and the boys. You don’t have to start with Cop Hater to enjoy this series, but you don’t want to miss it either. A real winner.



THE MUGGER

“Here, bludgeoned by poverty, exploited by pushers and thieves and policeman alike, forced into cramped and dirty dwellings, rescued occasionally by the busiest fire department in the entire city, treated like guinea pigs by the social workers, like aliens by the rest of the city, like potential criminals by the police, here were the Puerto Ricans.”


McBain would often begin writing with only a title in mind, then wing it. But here, he had written a story for Manhunt Magazine called Now Die in It. He culled from the plot and situation of that story, adapting it to fit this fine second outing for the boys of the 87th Precinct. It is clear from the opening moments that McBain wants to make the city of Isola a living thing in this one; the first seven paragraphs is beautifully descriptive prose likening the city to a woman, after all. McBain also, by design, made the entire squad room the hero of the series. To that end, he places Carella off-screen in this entry, on vacation. Carella doesn’t return until the very end, just in time to listen to the story about the cats.

A violent mugger calling himself Clifford is running loose in the 87th Precinct. Hal Willis’ efforts to catch him will eventually encompass female officer, Eileen Burke. She will be the bait in an effort to trap Clifford before anyone else takes a sock on the jaw. This is the main story-line, but there is another. This was a device often used by McBain, and it was very rare that there weren’t at least two or three investigations ongoing, keeping it interesting — and realistic — for readers.

Kling, a name readers of the 87th Precinct novels know well, is still a beat cop here. He has no sooner been released from the hospital where he’s recovering from a bullet wound in his shoulder, than an old acquaintance wants him to talk to his young and sexy sister-in-law. When Kling tries to talk with her, she blows him off. Then the teenage knockout gets knocked off. Something clutched in her hand will tie the two cases together.

Bert Kling dates Claire Townsend in this one, but I can’t say more in case you’ve not read any further than The Mugger. Written after Cop Hater, this fills in some of the backstory of characters, as well as being a fine - if early - 87th Precinct novel. Robert B. Parker, Tony Hillerman and Elmore Leonard were all admirers of Ed McBain and his 87th Precinct novels. Once you’ve read the first two, you’ll most likely be hooked. ( )