Re: RARA-AVIS: Ed McBain's best 87th

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 01 Nov 2005


Gary,

Re your question below:

> I have a book group that has asked me which is the
> best of the 87th Precinct
> novels. Anyone want to make a suggestion?

Whyntcha ask me this at Magna?

I have a marked preference for the early entries in this series, and the best of the early entries (and probably the best in the whole series) is THE HECKLER, the first in the sub-series pitting the boys of the 87th against the master criminal known only as The Deaf Man, and the only one of those books, IMHO, in which the gritty realism of the police procedural meshes really well with the concept of a Moriarty figure.

Let me add that, while Mr. Gorman's opinions are ALWAYS worthy of respect, HE WHO HESITATES is likely to be very unsastisfactory to a reading group precisely because it IS so untypical. The boys of the 87th barely make more than a cameo appearance; for practical purposes, it's not REALLY an 87th Precinct novel at all, but simply a novel set in the same universe.

JIM DOHERTY

                
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