Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York: Warner, 1996
Description
A woman is murdered in a liquor store, hurtling the men from the 87th Precinct into an investigation of her secret lives and many possible enemies. "The 87th Precinct is] one of the great literary accomplishments of the last half-century." --Pete Hamill, Newsday "McBain forces us to think twice about every character we meet...even those we thought we already knew." --New York Times Book Review
User reviews
LibraryThing member jtck121166
As said elsewhere, yes: short 'n' snappy. Does the job. It's effective, efficient, even entertaining. One can imagine the author as extremely good company: the writing comes easily, the story rattles along, he clearly writes as he speaks - fluently and amusingly ... but perhaps not very profoundly.
Perhaps I shouldn't have started here?
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And this is now a period piece, without quite yet achieving 'historical novel' status. The milieu of late-fifties NYC seems dated, and its inhabitants with it. There are universals in police procedural, for sure, but there is little here to excite a new reader. The plot, too, while clever(-ish), is, shall we say, formulaic, to the point of predictable.Perhaps I shouldn't have started here?
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LibraryThing member smichaelwilson
Carella and Kling team up to track down the killer of a woman that becomes more of a mystery than her death. Carella and Kling make an interesting pair, as Kling's young and almost naive rookie appearance clashes with yet compliments Carella's experience and certainty. This is the first real
This novel also sees the exit of Roger Havilland and the introduction of Cotton Hawes, the latter of which attempts to track down the killer of the former after a shaky start at the 87th casts doubt upon his credibility in the department. Meyer also makes his appearances, but mostly he is relegated to the background.
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Rashomon-style story in the 87th series, a theme that McBain will return to again and again to effectively illustrate the difficulty in discovering the truth when it's very definition is more than subjective. Conflicting testimonies and descriptions raise many questions about the true nature of the victim's personality, and many of these mysteries remain unsolved beyond the closing of the case, adding a dizzying perspective to the difficulty the detectives face in sorting relevant facts and clues from personal opinion and self serving dishonesty.This novel also sees the exit of Roger Havilland and the introduction of Cotton Hawes, the latter of which attempts to track down the killer of the former after a shaky start at the 87th casts doubt upon his credibility in the department. Meyer also makes his appearances, but mostly he is relegated to the background.
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LibraryThing member bekkil1977
"Killer's Choice" was an early one, the one where we meet Detective Cotton Hawes, who was supposed to take over as the "hero" of the series, since McBain's editor determined that women would not find a married man like Carella an appealing hero. He was an idiot, whoever he was. I like Hawes well
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enough, but Carella and Meyer are my favorites, and they are both married. Anyway, this one is about a woman named Annie Boone who is murdered, and the detectives have to figure out which one of her was killed in order to find the killer. See, Annie Boone was a different person to everyone who knew her: her ex-husband thought she was brilliant and vivacious and missed her dreadfully; her mother thought she was a dimwit; one boyfriend said she played billiards with the best of them and was really fun; another boyfriend thought she was a very refined lady who enjoyed ballet. In other words, a normal woman. Show Less
LibraryThing member jtck121166
As said elsewhere, yes: short 'n' snappy. Does the job. It's effective, efficient, even entertaining. One can imagine the author as extremely good company: the writing comes easily, the story rattles along, he clearly writes as he speaks - fluently and amusingly ... but perhaps not very profoundly.
Perhaps I shouldn't have started here?
Show More
And this is now a period piece, without quite yet achieving 'historical novel' status. The milieu of late-fifties NYC seems dated, and its inhabitants with it. There are universals in police procedural, for sure, but there is little here to excite a new reader. The plot, too, while clever(-ish), is, shall we say, formulaic, to the point of predictable.Perhaps I shouldn't have started here?
Show Less
LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco
“… and the moon hung in the sky like a whore’s belly button…”
Ahh, nighttime in the city, specifically, it’s 87th precinct! This book welcomes Cotton Hawes to the fold, and bids goodbye to Roger Havilland. And the main case is the murder of Annie Boone, a woman who seems to have had many
"The car went silent. The men breathed the hot summer air. Slowly, the car threaded its way uptown to the precinct and the squad room."
Ahh, nighttime in the city, specifically, it’s 87th precinct! This book welcomes Cotton Hawes to the fold, and bids goodbye to Roger Havilland. And the main case is the murder of Annie Boone, a woman who seems to have had many
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'faces'. (Havilland's murder is the secondary story) I enjoyed this fifth offering of the series, and look forward to number six! I also really like the ending:"The car went silent. The men breathed the hot summer air. Slowly, the car threaded its way uptown to the precinct and the squad room."
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LibraryThing member ericlee
The fifth book in Ed McBain’s classic 87th Precinct series introduces a new character to the detective squad — Cotton Hawes. Hawes has been transferred over from one of the richer parts of the city (based loosely on New York) and has had little experience with homicide. The veteran detectives
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of the 87th have had plenty. During the course of a murder investigation, Hawes makes a terrible mistake, nearly costing the life of one his colleagues. But he learns quickly. And as McBain had promised, one of the detectives we met in the first four books the series loses his life in this book. And so it continues, as McBain builds up a group of memorable characters, a collective hero for the series, characters who can be killed, or transferred — just like in real life. He has invented a whole new genre here — the police procedural — and watching it being born is wonderful. Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1957
Physical description
180 p.; 17.53 cm
ISBN
0446601446 / 9780446601443