Two murders at the beginning of this book. A beautiful, young woman. And Detective Steve Carella’s father. A lot of sex in the first plotline, a lot of sadness in the second. Both plotlines were good reads and felt like the regular 87th Precinct stories!

For me, the Eileen plot strand was not a good fit in this book. Especially her therapy sessions. It felt very interrupting, sort of stopping the flow of the two murder investigations. When those parts came up, I skimmed over them. Barely.

And what was up with the last four pages of the book? Huh?? Were they supposed to be for this story, or were they part of something else? Weird. ( )

Entirely solid entry in the 87th Precinct series that wraps together a good but not outstanding central plot with a couple of more personal storylines about Burke and Carella that end up intertwining. It’s not as good as some of the other books, but it’s still completely gripping and enjoyably gritty. ( )

A young beautiful blonde has her throat cut and face slashed, with the only clue a series of sexually explicit love letters. Then a man is shot to death along with his dog, and another set of similar unsigned letters is found in his safety deposit box along with two tickets to Europe in the two victim's name. But then his new wife and ex-wife are shot too, creating quite a mystery for the detectives. Meanwhile, Steve Carella's father is killed during a robbery of his bakery, and Steve's pregnant sister is convinced her husband is having an affair. Finally, Eileen Burke is trying to transfer to the hostage rescue team as a negotiator and resolving her problem with Bert Kling. Eileen has to negotiate over a hostage with the killer of Carella's dad. Good one. ( )

A beautiful young woman and an older man, both dead in a penthouse apartment - she's been stabbed 32 times, he's been shot four times. The man leaves four grieving women - his present wife, his ex-wife and two daughters; four mourners, four suspects. Another cracking tale from the 87th Precinct,; McBain is the master of all police procedural fiction. ( )

jilted lover kills man, mistresses and wife and ex-wife, even dog. Carellas father killed in holdup.