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A police detective hunts for a pattern in a puzzling murder spree in this mystery by "a master" (Time).A blind violinist taking a smoke break. A cosmetics sales rep cooking an omelet in her own kitchen. A college professor trudging home from class. A priest contemplating retirement in the rectory garden. An old woman walking her dog. These are the seemingly random targets, all shot twice in the face. But most serial killers don't use guns. Most serial killers don't strike five times in two show more weeks. And most serial killers' victims have something more in common than just being over fifty years of age.
Now it falls to Det. Steve Carella and his colleagues in the 87th Precinct to find a connection that will crack this case—before another body is found.
As Entertainment Weekly said about this long-running, much-loved police procedural series: "Imagine your favorite Law & Order cast solving fresh mysteries into infinity, with no reruns, and you have some sense of McBain's grand, ongoing accomplishment."
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The last novel of the 87th Precinct. Number 55. I can't believe the series is over for me. I'm gonna miss this town, and these people...
“Q: Why did you kill these people?
A: They fiddled with my life.”
“The Glock Murders” - first a blind violin player outside a nightclub, and then a woman cooking an omelet in her own apartment.
Fat Ollie gets the last sentence of the last book in the series:
“Hey, Patricia,” he said, “come on in.”
“The city in these pages is imaginary.
The people, the places are all fictions.”
Not for me they weren’t. Not for me.
“Q: Why did you kill these people?
A: They fiddled with my life.”
“The Glock Murders” - first a blind violin player outside a nightclub, and then a woman cooking an omelet in her own apartment.
Fat Ollie gets the last sentence of the last book in the series:
“Hey, Patricia,” he said, “come on in.”
“The city in these pages is imaginary.
The people, the places are all fictions.”
Not for me they weren’t. Not for me.
i really enjoyed being back with these characters. it's been so long since i've read one of these and i'd forgotten first of all how genuinely good the mysteries are, and how the characters feel like old friends, even if i don't actually like them much. i felt so good to be back at the 87th precinct, and really enjoyed everything about this.
I feel I've read this one before. I enjoyed mostly the occasional appearance of other McBain characters in the telling of the story. A serial killer is shooting a wide variety of victims twice in the face. The solving of the case really seems to wander, but still enjoyable to listen to.
My first McBain, a series of murders happen and through gun forensics, they are linked. Steve Carella and the 87th precinct realize they have a serial killer, but how and why are the victims chosen? Since this is the 57th book in the 87th precinct line, I'm thinking there was gold here at one time. This particular book was okay, I read it mostly to watch and learn about dialogue.
I will give Ed McBain the benefit of the doubt. I don't think a publisher would have hung in there with Ed if he wasn't good. I'm chalking this one up as a clunker. Not horrible, but not fantastic. Average.
I will give Ed McBain the benefit of the doubt. I don't think a publisher would have hung in there with Ed if he wasn't good. I'm chalking this one up as a clunker. Not horrible, but not fantastic. Average.
McBain had master his 87th Percinct approach by this point, this being the last one, master class in investigatory technique
Still very dry; very procedural; limited characterization
Every time I think I've exhausted the Ed McBain canon, I find another one. This one is another classic novel of the 87th Precinct.
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Books - McBain, Ed: 87th Precinct
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Author Information
364+ Works 32,497 Members
Ed McBain is a pen name for Evan Hunter who was born in 1926 in East Harlem, New York on October 15, 1926. Hunter was born with the name Salvatore Albert Lombino, and he legally adopted the name Evan Hunter in 1952. During World War II, Hunter joined the Navy and served aboard a destroyer in the Pacific. He graduated from Hunter College, were he show more majored in English and psychology, with minors in dramatics and education. He was a prolific writer who also wrote under the names of Ed McBain, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon, and Richard Marsten. His first major success came in 1954 with the publication of The Blackboard Jungle, which was later adapted as a film. He published the first three books in the 87th Precinct series in 1956 under the name of Ed McBain. He also wrote juvenile books, plays, television scripts, and stories and articles for magazines. He won the Mystery Writers of America Award in 1957 and the Grand Master Award in 1986 for lifetime achievement. He died of laryngeal cancer on July 6, 2005 at the age of 78. (Bowker Author Biography) Ed McBain is the only American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers Association's highest award. He also holds the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Grand Master Award. His books have sold over one hundred million copies, ranging from his most recent, "The Last Dance", to the bestselling "The Blackboard Jungle", the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" & the bestselling "Privileged Conversation", written under his own name, Evan Hunter. He lives in Connecticut. (Publisher Provided) Ed McBain, aka Evan Hunter, wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and has written many novels. He is the only American to be awarded Britain's coveted Diamond Dagger Award, the highest honor a suspense writer can achieve. He lives in Connecticut. (Publisher Provided) show less
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Fiddlers
- Original title
- Fiddlers
- Original publication date
- 2005
- People/Characters
- Fat Ollie Weeks; Steve Carella; Cotton Hawes; Bert Kling; Sharyn Cooke; Charles Purcell (show all 8); Teddy Carella; April Carella
- Important places
- New York, New York, USA
- Dedication
- This is for my wife,
DRAGICA--
Here, now, forever - First words
- The manager of Ninotchka was a wiseguy named Dominick La Paglia.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Hey, Patricia," he said, "come on in."
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 493
- Popularity
- 60,976
- Reviews
- 11
- Rating
- (3.47)
- Languages
- 5 — Czech, English, French, Italian, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 29
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 9
