Sadie When She Died

I chose to read Sadie When She Died by Ed McBain because it appears on the British Crime Writers Assoc. Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time and the H.R.F. Keating 100 Best Crime and Mystery Books. This is the 26th book in the author’s 87th Precinct series that features the police and detectives of a precinct in an imaginary American city.

I can certainly see why this book appears on both lists, as it is another gem in the police procedural genre. It features Detective Steve Carella as he follows his hunch as to who killed Sarah Fletcher, the junkie burglar who left his fingerprints on the knife or Sarah’s husband who openly rejoices in her death. There is also a side story that follows Detective Bert Kling as he recovers from a recent show more breakup with his girlfriend and becomes intrigued by one of the witnesses in the Fletcher case.

While there isn’t really a mystery to be solved here, the book paints a realistic picture of policing in the 1970s. It is set in the days leading up to Christmas and I enjoyed both the descriptions of the cold weather and the seasonal crimes that the precinct had to deal with. Sadie When She Died is fast paced and offers some great dialogue that immerses the reader in the story. As it was written and published in the 1970s it is somewhat dated, especially in it’s treatment and description of women but overall, this was a very good read. show less

A full throated murder mystery masterpiece. Utterly transporting and riveting, no small thing considering it's set at Christmastime (which I usually HATE). Fully inspired me to start 87th Precinct from the beginning.

"Sadie When She Died", but Sarah Fletcher when she was alive. And her husband seems happier about the former! And even stranger, he begins to wine and dine Detective Carella after the murder, as the investigation is in full effect, with Carella fully convinced that the man murdered his wife - throwing even more suspicion on him! “Fletcher seemed to be playing a dangerous game, in which he taunted Carella with bits and pieces of knowledge, and dared him to fit them together into a meaningful whole that would prove he had slain Sarah.” Idiot!

A good story, and pretty much just the one case. Kling has a romance or two to work out, but they aren't really cases, per se. And, for a little something different in this series, Kling takes the show more terrible beating and gets knocked out, NOT Carella! Nice for Steve, eh? Not so much for Bert...

"...and he thought of a despairing junkie in a prison cell, who had taken his own life without ever having known he had not taken the life of another. It was Christmas Day. Sometimes, none of it made any goddamn sense at all." show less

Victim Sarah Fletcher has a knife in her chest, and her husband lawyer Gerald tells Steve Carella that he is glad she is dead. Despite a confession in Chapter 2, Carella is sure that the husband is guilty and starts to investigate further, discovering that Sarah is acutally a precursor to Looking for Mr. Goodbar, published a few years later. Meanwhile, Bert Kling is having relationship problems with Cindy and dating a witness from this case. Probably 2.5 stars.

A fun read. Nothing too amazing in the way of plot, but McBain seems more settled as a writer for this series. One plot thread is left unresolved, which seemed odd.

Great dialogue, flawless plotting , making the difficult appear easy; a wonderful example of great skill and humor: that is just what you expect from Ed McBain. A Christmas-winter theme provides the atmosphere that limns each of his novels.

Seasonally appropriate procedural with some mixed up notions of love and addiction and the things that drive men to murder.

Poor Bert Kling, so unlucky in love.