Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here

This was my first 87th precinct novel, and it definitely has me looking forward to more. This actually reads more like an episode of NYPD Blue, than a mystery novel, but it is a solid introduction to a group of characters I was not familiar with. The book is short and flies quickly. It is a 24 hour segment, covering both the night and day shift and 3-4 crimes that the detectives deal with and solve during their shift. If this seems like a cliche at all, realize that this was written before Hill Street Blues, or Homicide, or NYPD Blue so this format is years ahead of that television trend and is before Joseph Wambaugh's similar style. I highly recommend this book. It'll go quick and will have you in search of more McBain books.

After producing 87th Precinct crime novels regularly for fifteen years, Ed McBain issued this one in 1971. He uses a variant on the usual formula. Crimes investigated by most of the sixteen detectives on the Police Squad in one twenty-four hour period are presented. Robbery, prostitution, paedophilia, suicide, drug offences, assassination, murder, missing persons, ghosts - all these things come to the attention of the regular officers that feature in McBain's books. The cross-cutting and the editing techniques now so familiar to viewers of TV police procedural programs are here initiated by McBain. As usual, McBain displays unerring skill at presenting scenes and characters vividly and economically. Especially realistic is the dialogue. Readers who wish to be introduced to an Ed McBain crime novel are recommended to start with this one. Shorter than most, but tightly-packed, it provides the reader with quick access to the realism, sleaze and sensation that comprise the McBain formula.

With this book (first published in 1971), McBain brings the varied crew of the 87th Precinct togther in one story at the same time. This is the format that all later period 87th Precinct books would follow. There are a total of four plots in this one, each investigated by a different detective from the precinct. A murder, a suicide, a jewel heist and a bombing each get their due treatment. This is one of the better entries in the 87th Precinct series and a must read for any McBain fan.