Gloria Stanford is found dead in her apartment. She has cheated on the Deaf Man and he has taken his revenge. But he is not finished with the 87th precinct. He has a daring plan to make the precinct, and especially detective Steve Carella, look very stupid. Carella begins getting cryptic notes, some of them Shakespearian quotations, some anagrams, and some palindromes. They are delivered to the station by a succession of druggies and down-and-outers and point to an event happening within the next week. I felt as if I had missed out by not reading earlier 87th precinct novels, and the mental gymnastics of the Deaf Man's notes left me just a bit cold. The fact that I was listening to the story rather than reading it probably ensured that I finished it. Complete & Unabridged 10 CDs with playing time of 10hrs 21 mins. ( )