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87th Precinct

The 87th Precinct is a series of police procedural novels and stories by American author Ed McBain (a writing pseudonym of Evan Hunter). McBain's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television on several occasions.

87th Precinct series
AuthorEd McBain
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genrepolice procedural
PublisherOriginal US editions:
Published1956-2005
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
No. of books55

Setting

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The series is based on the work of the police detective squad of the 87th Precinct in the central district of Isola, a large fictional city obviously based on New York City. Isola is the name of the central district of the city (it fulfills the role of the borough of Manhattan within New York City). Other districts in McBain's fictionalized version of New York broadly correspond to NYC's other four boroughs, Calm's Point standing in for Brooklyn, Majesta representing Queens, Riverhead substituting for the Bronx, and Bethtown for Staten Island.

Other recognizable locations that correspond to New York City landmarks are Grover Park (Central Park), Sand's Spit (Long Island), the rivers Harb (Hudson) and Dix (East River), neighborhoods such as The Quarter (The Village), Devil's Break (Spuyten Duyvil), Stewart City (Tudor City), and Diamondback (Harlem), and specific places such as Buena Vista Hospital (Bellevue), Ramsey University (New York University), Hall Avenue (Fifth Avenue), Jefferson Avenue (Madison Avenue), and the Stem or Stemmler Avenue (Broadway).

The 87th Precinct has 16 detectives on its regular roster and is said to have the highest crime rate in the city and the busiest Fire Department in the world. Every single 87th Precinct novel begins with a disclaimer:

"The city in these pages is imaginary.
The people, the places are all fictitious.
Only the police routine is based on established investigatory technique."

Characters

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The books feature a large ensemble cast, often but not always centered on about half a dozen police detectives and other supporting characters. Detective Steve Carella is a major character in the series, alongside officers Cotton Hawes, Hal Willis, Bert Kling, the ambitious youngster, the hot-tempered Roger Havilland, and comic relief from the unfortunately named Meyer Meyer. A mysterious antagonist known as The Deaf Man appears occasionally over the years. The Deaf Man is a master criminal, who is "a little hard of hearing" and whose identity is never revealed. He is the precinct's, and, specifically, Carella's nemesis, and appears in the novels The Heckler, Fuzz, Let's Hear it for the Deaf Man, Eight Black Horses, Mischief, and Hark!

Main Characters

  • Detective Stephen Louis "Steve" Carella
  • Detective Meyer Meyer
  • Detective Cotton Hawes
  • Detective Bert Kling
  • Detective Hal Willis
  • Detective Arthur Brown
  • Detective-Lieutenant Peter Byrnes, squad commander

Recurring Characters

  • Detective Eileen Burke
  • Detective Andy Parker
  • Detective Dick Genero
  • Detective Bob O'Brien
  • Detective Tack Fujiwara
  • Dave Murchison, Desk Sergeant
  • Sergeant Alf Miscolo, Clerical Office
  • Monoghan and Monroe, Homicide Detectives
  • Oliver Wendell "Fat Ollie" Weeks (Detective from the 83rd Precinct)
  • William "Fats" Donner and Daniel "Danny Gimp" Nelson, informants
  • Sam Grossman, Head of the Police Lab
  • Paul Blaney, Chief Medical Examiner, and his twin brother, Carl, also a M.E.
  • Cliff Savage, newspaper reporter
  • Teddy (Theodora) Carella née Franklin, Steve Carella's wife
  • The Deaf Man

The 87th Precinct Mysteries

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  • Cop Hater (1956)
  • The Mugger (1956)
  • The Pusher (1956)
  • The Con Man (1957)
  • Killer's Choice (1957)
  • Killer's Payoff (1958)
  • Lady Killer (1958)
  • Killer's Wedge (1959)
  • 'til Death (1959)
  • King's Ransom (1959)
  • Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (1960)
  • The Heckler (1960)
  • See Them Die (1960)
  • Lady, Lady I Did It (1961)
  • The Empty Hours (1962) - three novellas
  • Like Love (1962)
  • Ten Plus One (1963)
  • Ax (1964)
  • He Who Hesitates (1964)
  • Doll (1965)
  • 80 Million Eyes (1966)
  • Fuzz (1968)
  • Shotgun (1969)
  • Jigsaw (1970)
  • Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here (1971)
  • Sadie When She Died (1972)
  • Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (1973)
  • Hail to the Chief (1973)
  • Bread (1974)
  • Blood Relatives (1975)
  • So Long as You Both Shall Live (1976)
  • Long Time No See (1977)
  • Calypso (1979)
  • Ghosts (1980)
  • Heat (1981)
  • Ice (1983)
  • Lightning (1984)
  • Eight Black Horses (1985)
  • Poison (1987)
  • Tricks (1987)
  • Lullaby (1989)
  • Vespers (1990)
  • Widows (1991)
  • Kiss (1992)
  • Mischief (1993)
  • And All Through the House (Novella - 1994)
  • Romance (1995)
  • Nocturne (1997)
  • The Big Bad City (1999)
  • The Last Dance (2000)
  • Money, Money, Money (2001)
  • Fat Ollie's Book (2002)
  • The Frumious Bandersnatch (2003)
  • Hark! (2004)
  • Fiddlers (2005)

Short stories and novellas

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  • And All Through the House (1984), later published as a 40-page novella in 1994
  • Reruns (1987)
  • Merely Hate (2005) a novella in the anthology titled Transgressions, edited by Ed McBain

The following books excerpted chapters from 87th Precinct novels:

  • McBain's Ladies (Short Stories) (1988)
  • McBain's Ladies, Too (Short Stories) (1992)

Novelette

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  • The Jesus Case (1974) - this is actually an excerpt from "Let's Hear It For The Deaf Man"

Other media

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Theatrical films

TV series and TV films

Literature

  • 87th Precinct (1962) (Comic Book series)
  • Polishataren (Cop Hater) (1990), a Swedish graphic novel written by Claes Reimerthi and drawn by Martin Sauri
  • The Stand: the Complete & Uncut Edition (1990) by Stephen King has a minor character, "Edward M. Norris, lieutenant of police, detective squad, in the Big Apple's 87th Precinct" (pg 71). Steve Carella is briefly mentioned.
  • The Last Best Hope (1998), a novel in McBain's Matthew Hope series, features Steve Carella as a supporting character.
  • Stephen King novella, "The Mist", one of the major characters is named Ollie Weeks, a detective from the neighboring 83rd Precinct.

Podcasts

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  • Hark! The 87th Precinct Podcast(2016 - ongoing) [Audio Podcast] A podcast dedicated to a book-by-book exploration of the 87th Precinct series, its adaptations and spin-offs. The podcast also explores some other works by Evan Hunter and has featured interviews with Otto Penzler (writer and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York)[1] and James Naughtie (British radio presenter and writer).[2]
  • Paperback Warrior (2019) [Audio Podcast] features a segment on Ed McBain's 87th Precinct. The episode delves into the author's bibliography and explores his police procedural series as well as the debut novel Cop Hater. Co-Hosts Tom Simon and Eric Compton both suggest that the 87th Precinct was influenced by the television show Dragnet.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Interview with Otto Penzler (July 2018)".
  2. ^ "Interview with James Naughtie (November 2018)".
  3. ^ Compton, C.E., Simon, T.J.(Hosts).(2019, November 18).Paperback Warrior Podcast: Ed McBain [Audio podcast]
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