Money, Money, Money

I don't know how he does it. McBain, a.k.a. Evan Hunter, author of The Blackboard Jungle, has been turning out excellent police procedurals for half a century. Most are based on a mythical 87th Precinct in an unidentified city resembling New York. All have great plot lines and wonderful dialogue that often borders on the hysterical. It's like having a bunch of guys get together and have them talk at cross purposes in short, staccato phrases that individually make sense, but together have an undercurrent of lunacy or ridiculousness that is very amusing.

That's not to say sex and violence are absent. McBain provides a real sense of the horror, seaminess and corruption that pervade society. This, the 51st in the 87th Precinct series, may show more be one of his best and most convoluted. Detective Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th squad is introduced in this one — to me, anyway, after all I haven't been able to read all of them yet. He gets involved because the leg of a murder victim winds up in his turf, the killers having tried to dispose of the body by throwing her, an ex-military pilot flying drugs across the Mexican border, to the lions. The detectives and SWAT team gather to try to determine how to retrieve what's left before the lion polishes off the remains. "They ran for the guillotine doors, the lion behind them, ran into the tunnel under the moat, and up the ramp, into the run behind the holding cages, startling Hardy, who realized too late that a lion was loose. He stabbed the button that began closing the guillotine doors behind the three vets — but the lion was inside as well. The doors clanged shut. Everyone was suddenly in a long, narrow holding cage with a lion who'd just had his first taste of human flesh. The access door to the work area was at the far end of the cage. Between the door and the lion were four zoo keepers, three veterinarians, two animal behaviorists, two curators, an assistant director, a director, three detectives, and a partridge in a pear tree." Now, that partridge makes that a classic paragraph in my book. The lion goes after Steve Carella, the common thread in the precinct series, who is saved by Fat Ollie Weeks at the last minute. Now Steve owes him one. Ollie is an aspiring novelist and pianist. Anyone who has ever taken piano lessons will appreciate the recital [pun intended:] of his conversation with his teacher. Ollie, who has more self-esteem than realism, declares he is having trouble with the first three notes of the exercise. His teacher, exasperated, suggests perhaps he has no talent, an impossibility in Ollie's book. " 'But those first three notes are one and the same note! Bom, bom, bom,' she said, striking the same note again and again and again. 'It is impossible for you to be having trouble with the identical note struck three times. It is physically impossible, Mr. Weeks. Bom, bom, bom,' she said, hitting the note again. 'It's so simple a rodent could tap it out with his nose.' 'It isn't that I haven't been practicing,' he said." I'll spare you a recitation of the plot. It's wonderful. Suffice to say, it involves counterfeit money, the Secret Service, the FBI, two precincts, Fat Ollie, some Iranian terrorists, an Israeli violinist, a burglar wooing a call girl, and a publishing house that's really a CIA front masquerading as drug smugglers. You can't go wrong with Ed McBain. show less

I think this is the longest beginning of an 87th Precinct book where none of the detectives appear, not till page 41 (Cotton shows up very briefly on page 21)!

The story has a little bit of everything - drugs, burglary, counterfeit money, the Secret Service, terrorists, and a book publisher! And a woman gets eaten by lions! And Fat Ollie Weeks, who has a reprehensible personality, and beliefs that are totally opposite of mine, but I find that I really like when he's in these stories!

This is one of the best 87th Precinct books I've read to date, which is crazy considering it is the 51st of the series! Quite an achievement by the author! Now, on to the next!

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In ‘Money, Money, Money’, McBain does that thing he sometimes does where he tries to weave a different style of book into one of his 87th Precinct mysteries. In ‘Ghosts’ it was supernatural horror, this time around it’s the kind of geopolitical thriller that was big in the 90s. For my money (lol), he makes a better fist of it this time around, but the shift in focus does feel a little jarring at times.
The first third or so of the book is a delight, with loads going on, including burglaries, a naked woman literally thrown it the lions and a random Secret Service agent. It’s wonderfully bewildering and I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling that McBain was show more deliberately messing with my head, combining a number of disparate elements that felt like they couldn’t be related, and yet clearly were.
As the book progresses, and the camera zooms out to give you a broader view, it works less well. The 87th Precinct suddenly feels like just a small part in a much larger world. I found it slightly odd, the sense that the walls surrounding this fictional place that I love were getting smashed down and reality was creeping in. There’s also a sub-plot about Arab terrorism that works to an extent, but feels somewhat less liberal in its outlook than you normally expect from McBain. On the other hand though, he tackles government abuses of power in a way that really works.
Those criticisms aside, it’s a cracking read. The complexities of the plot are handled with aplomb, it’s gripping, funny and compellingly readable. Fat Ollie is back and starting to thinking about starting as a career as a writer (a thread that will be picked up again in the next entry in the series, ‘Fat Ollie’s Book’). He’s as entertaining as ever, and has some brilliant banter with Carella. McBain also examines mortality, with Carella the most fragile we’ve ever seen him. This was at a time in McBain’s life when he was struggling with various health problems that would kill him a few years later. With that hindsight it’s a poignant read at times. show less

Book on CD read by Ron McLarty

This is book # 51 (!) in the 87th Precinct series of police procedurals, set in a fictious large city “back East,” and featuring the detectives of the 87th Precinct. In this novel seemingly unconnected murder victims are ultimately tied together in a conspiracy involving drug-dealing and counterfeiting.

This is the first book by McBain that I’ve read, and it will not be the last! Fast-paced, intricate plotting and colorful characters make for a quick and enjoyable read, despite the high body count. It may be Christmas but the criminals are busy, and so are the police.

I loved that Detective Ollie Weeks is taking piano lessons, and wants to write a novel. And that Steve Carella is nearly eaten by a show more lion! I was interested from page one to the very end.

Ron McLarty does a great job reading the audio book. I particularly liked his voices for “Fat Ollie” and Will Struthers (burglar and hero). show less

This was a really good one, involving counterfeiters, drug deals, conspiracies, and a small time burglar tying it all together. Ollie and Carella are partnered together after a lion in a park that straddles the 87th and 88th precincts mauls a woman. Since she was discovered in between the two, they have to work the case together. Turns out the woman is an ex-marine named Cassandra Ridley, and she flies planes from Texas to Mexico, delivering counterfeit money for very real drugs. A book publisher is a front for a drug ring, and their salespeople are actually dealers. Ollie saves Steve's life not once but twice during the course of their investigation that threatens to bring down the multi-billion dollar drug/counterfeit ring.

Its Christmas and Detective Steve Carella and Fat Ollie Weeks of the 87th Precinct are called to the zoo because the lions are eating the body of a nude woman. Then they have to deal with a burglar who happens to have the fur coats of the victim and also a lot of cash that they think might be counterfeit. Then a book salesman shows up dead in a garbage can.

As the detectives delve further into the case, they discover the publishing company has more going for it than just books no one buys such as the importing and selling of drugs. This is my first Ed McBain and it won't be my last for this was a fast moving narrative with twists and turns including the last minute addition of Arab terrorists into the climax.

2.75 stars. IMHO, while this book had its moments, invariably revolving around Fat Ollie Weeks, who saves Steve Carella's life not once, but twice, the plot was very far fetched. The basic plot revolved around some seemingly unrelated murders and thefts, involved Mexican drug smuggling and counterfeit $100 bills. The conspiracy part of the plot, the Arab terrorists, and involvement of the Secret Service was a real stretch although the sensational murder by ice pick and lion eating was pretty clever. Also, there was little involvement by the rest of the 87th Precinct.