Fuzz
Posted: 2018/09/17 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, book lust i, book review, crime, Ed McBain, Fiction, murder, mystery, september, series Leave a commentMcBain, Ed. Fuzz. New York: Warner Books, 2000.
Reason read: to finish the series started in July in memory of McBain’s passing.
McBain is a master of character development and dialogue detail.
The 87th Precinct has met its match in Fuzz. After a prominent citizen of a fictitious New York City is gunned down witnesses can only say they saw a man wearing a hearing aid. Dubbed the Deaf Man, it isn’t long before he strikes again. His modus operandi is to call the precinct to extort a sum of money or else someone is going to die. In the case of Parks Commissioner Cowper, it was $5,000. The next threat was aimed at the deputy mayor for $50,000. Finally, it was the mayor’s turn to die. Meanwhile on a different assignment, Steve Carella tries to figure out who is setting homeless people on fire. Dressed as a derelict Carella puts himself in danger and isn’t fast enough to get out of harm’s way…
Quotes I liked, “In a city notorious for its indifference, the citizens were obviously withdrawn now, hurrying past each other without so much as eyes meeting, insulating themselves, becoming tight private cocoons that defied the cold” (p 23),
Author fact: So, here’s a really odd one. McBain can describe the weather so well the heat detailed on the page can send trickles of sweat down your back or the lack of it can freeze your fingertips. Impressive, considering all the while you are in the comfort of your own temperature controlled home.
Book trivia: Fuzz was made into a movie in starring Burt Reynolds.
Nancy said: I read Fuzz and Big Bad City out of order because Pearl listed Big Bad City before Fuzz. I should have known better than to trust Pearl to put the series in the order in which they should be read. It’s an attention to detail I would have appreciated.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 120).
Big, Bad City
Posted: 2018/08/29 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, august, book lust i, book review, Ed McBain, murder, mystery, series Leave a commentMcBain, Ed. Big Bad City. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Reason read: to continue the series started in July in memory of McBain’s passing (2005). Confessional: I don’t know how I continue to do this, but I read Big Bad City out of order. Big Bad City was published in 1999.
As with Cop Hater, the locale in Big Bad City bears a strong resemblance to gritty real-life New York City. While McBain never writes the words “New” or “York” together readers can imagine a 1990s version of the Big Apple. The three different story lines weave around each other like a Celtic knot in The Big Bad City: first, a young nun with breast implants is discovered murdered on a park bench. Unbeknownst to Carella, the man who murdered his father has been stalking him, waiting for the right time to gun him down survival-of-the-fittest style; and speaking of guns, how did notorious Cookie Boy the burglar go from petty theft to two counts of murder in fell swoop? Precinct 87 has their hands full with these seemingly unrelated crimes.
Quotes I liked enough to mention here, “Do it. do it, but he had not done it, he had not killed the man who’d killed his father because he’d felt somewhere deep inside him that becoming a beast of prey was tantamount to having been that beast all along” (p 54), and “…and he drew his own nine at once, so there were three nines on this bright September morning, all facing each other with nowhere to go but murder” (p 270).
Author fact: Have you seen the number of things McBain has written? The list goes on and on and on. Most surprising was the screenplay for “The Birds.”
Book trivia: This was the first time I had seen COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) referenced in a mystery novel.
Nancy said: nothing specific about Big Bad City.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p ).
Cop Hater
Posted: 2018/07/27 Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, book lust i, book review, crime, Ed McBain, Fiction, july, mystery, series Leave a commentMcBain, Ed. Cop Hater. New York: Pocket Books, 1999.
Reason read: McBain died in the month of July; read Cop Hater in his memory.
Someone is going around killing cops. One right after another in quick succession, three plain-clothed detectives are gunned down. At first glance Joe Public assumes someone out there is a serious cop hater. That seems to be the only connection between the three victims. They are all law enforcement. So, someone must really hate the fuzz, right? The only other common denominator is the heat. It’s summertime and every day is blazing hot, hot, hot. Tempers are flaring but is it hot enough to drive someone to murder? That’s what protagonist Detective Steve Carella needs to find out.
What I loved about McBain’s style is how he drops clues along the way. Once you know “whodunit” you can go back and see the answers peeking out way before the individual crimes are solved. While the details are a little dated and police procedures are very different than they were in the 50s, Cop Hater is still an entertaining read.
I forgot to mention my favorite line, “The elevator crawled up the intestinal track of the building” (p 92). Great image!
Author fact: Ed McBain is actually Evan Hunter and Cop Hater is his first 87th Precinct book of the series.
Book trivia: Cop Hater was originally published in 1956 and made into a movie in 1958. The funny thing is, as I was reading it I thought it would make the perfect crime series for television. Turns out, McBain modeled Cop Hater after the television show, Dragnet.
Nancy said: Nancy said Cop Hater takes place in New York City. I am guessing she didn’t read McBain’s introduction because he makes a point of explaining the Eighty-seventh Precinct is based on a New York City precinct. Cop Hater actually takes place in the fictional city of Isola.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the huge chapter “I Love a Mystery” (p 120).
July’s Pages Upon Pages
Posted: 2018/07/02 Filed under: audio book, E-Books, Early Review, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: Alice Mattison, Arnaldur Indridason, audio books, Caroline Preston, chick lit, childrens book, cookbook, cooking, crime, David Halberstam, e-books, Early Review, Ed McBain, Elizabeth David, Elizabeth Lowell, Fiction, hurricane, Iceland, James Stewart, japan, Joan Aiken, Kate Walbert, Korean War, librarything, Lizzie Borden, Mediterranean, mystery, NonFiction, romance, series, Tristram Korten, Walter Satterhwait, war 1 CommentI have a prediction for July. I will read a crap load of books. Actually, I am cheating. It’s not a prediction because I already know I will. Case in point – yesterday my husband and I spent seven hours on the water. He fished. I read. Yesterday was July 1st so I was already knee-deep in the July Challenge list and thanks to an iPad I had five books with me. I made a decent dent in the “Boat” books:
Fiction:
- Jackie by Josie by Caroline Preston – in honor of Jacqueline O. Kennedy’s birth month.
Nonfiction:
- The Coldest Day: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam – in honor of July being the month the Korean War ended.
- The Book of Mediterranean Cooking by Elizabeth David – in honor of July being picnic month.
Series Continuation:
- The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason – to continue the series started in June.
- Midnight in Ruby Bayou by Elizabeth Lowell – to continue the series started in April.
Others on the list:
Fiction:
- Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken – in honor of July being Kids Month.
Nonfiction:
- Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart – in honor of July being Job Fair month (odd choice, I know).
Early Review for LibraryThing:
- Into the Storm: Two Ships, a Deadly Hurricane, and an Epic Battle for Survival by Tristam Koten.
If there is time:
- Gardens of Kyoko by Kate Walbert – in honor of Japan’s Tanabata Festival.
- Animals by Alice Mattison – in honor of Mattison’s birth month.
- Miss Lizzie by Walter Satterthwait – in honor of Lizzie Borden’s birth month.
- Cop Hater by Ed McBain – to honor McBain’s passing in the month of July.
