After years and years of crime-novel reading, I finally read
my first 87th Precinct novel a couple of years ago (right
after seeing an obscure film based on Cop Hater). I started
at the top of the series (The Mugger, I think--Cop Hater is
second, IIRC). I liked it pretty well and enjoyed the police
procedure stuff. I've read about six so far and have no
intention of stopping. Haven't been bored yet, and have quite
liked several. (Of course, I read them partly for relaxation
between books in my current project of reading biographies of
each U.S. president, from first to now, so any light reading
is going to be fairly enjoyable even if it isn't quite
Twain.)
I've never had the urge to throw one in the trash can (a book
in a trash can--my idea of obscenity), nor have I yet been as
disappointed as I ultimately got with Robert Parker (and even
him I haven't quit yet).
Jim Beaver
> Pursuing my current mad project of investigating all
my personal 20th
> century crime writing gaps, I recently bought a 2nd
hand paperback of an
> old 87th Precinct novel called - wait a minute while
I look in the waste
> paper basket - Cop Hater (1956). A long time ago,
admittedly. I believe
> that the author went on to write a number of others,
and that a lot of
> people liked them??
>
> Is or was Ed McBain a real person, or a syndicate?
As the series
> continued, did the books become more
interesting/less adolescent? Could
> some enthusiast here suggest a probably-more-recent
title which I could
> try without being assured of groaning repeatedly and
falling asleep in
> Chapter 6, right in the middle of the unconvincing
sex scene?
>
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