Fat Ollie's Book is a clever story that contains a book within a book. When leaving the scene where a councilman was murdered, Detective/First Grade Oliver Wendell Weeks ("Fat Ollie") realizes that he now has to find two perpetrators, the person who killed Councilman Henderson and the person who stole a novel from his squad car during the murder investigation. As the first one from his police precinct (the 88th) on the scene, Ollie becomes the detective in charge and begins his interrogation. Since the councilman lived in the 87th precinct, Ollie works with the officers in the next precinct to help solve the murder. While the guys from the 87th are out interviewing family and colleagues, Ollie is busy looking for his other "perp." The missing novel isn't just any book - Ollie wrote it himself and made the grave mistake of creating it on a typewriter so there are no copies. He was on his way to copy it when he got the call about the murder. Seeing a Gucci dispatch case in the squad car, a thief stole the case unaware that Ollie's manuscript was inside. When the thief discovered the "Report to the Commissioner by Detective/First Grade Olivia Wesley Watts," he began reading it and was convinced that he could find the diamonds alluded to in the report. What the thief didn't realize is that this was Ollie's novel and truly a work of fiction. Since people tend to write what they know, Ollie, naturally, wrote a police procedural. While reading excerpts from the Report to the Commissioner, you can't help but get almost as involved in this secondary mystery. In true police procedural style, Ollie pursues each crime by the book while sharing all of the lingo and tricks of the trade such as how they cut deals with their informers and what the payoff is. Of course, that's not all that Ollie shares. Author Ed McBain makes sure that Ollie shares his traditional "Archie Bunker" style bigotry directed at practically everyone in town in addition to plenty of jabs at popular mystery writers making this one of his funniest books in the series.
Ed McBain is gone. He wrote the book on police procedurals for decades, getting better every year, and he left a treasure trove behind him; I miss him anyway.His novels center around a particular police precinct, so there are several characters that turn up in his novels, developed carefully over the years, that he can limelight, though usually his main man is Carella. Not this time, though.Fat Ollie is a complex character. Contemptuous, racist, unattractive, he is also a really shrewd cop who, despite his unseemly behavior and unlikeable personality, can unravel the most complex crime and put the correct bad guy behind bars.This is the only one of McBain's books (yes, I HAVE read them all) in which Fat Ollie gets to star. McBain handled him with the deftness of an experienced, brilliant writer, which he was.If you are fond of police procedurals and have not read McBain, or if you have read his early (not quite as good) work from the 60's but haven't read his recent work, do so. Give yourself a treat and read this.
What do You think about Fat Ollie's Book (2003)?
Disappointing. The main character in this book is such a buffoon that I had trouble finishing it. I have never ended a conversation with a coworker (or with anyone, actually) by grabbing my crotch, as Ollie does in this book. Would you? Is it a logical or effective way to conclude an argument? Also, there isn't much to the plot, and there are so many characters that I had trouble keeping track of them all.The novel-within-a-novel is atrociously written on purpose, but the humor wore thin. I liked the character of The Needle within Ollie's novel, though. The Needle is a confidential informant who was born in Jamaica and who speaks in rap; he's kind of the Jar Jar Binks of snitches.
—Kirsti
#52 in the 87th Precinct series.87th Precinct mysteries - Murders happen every day in the big bad city. They're not such a big deal, you know. Even when the victim is a city councilman as well known as Lester Henderson. But this is the first time Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct has written a novel, ah yes. Called Report to the Commissioner, it follows a cunning detective named Olivia Wesley Watts, who, apart from being female and slim, is rather like Fat Ollie himself. While Ollie's responding to the squeal about the dead councilman, his leather dispatch case is stolen from the back of his car -- and in it, the only copy of his precious manuscript. Joined by Carella and Kling from the neighboring 87th Precinct, Ollie investigates the homicide with all the exquisite crudeness, insensitivity, and determination for which he is famous. But the theft of his first novel fills Ollie with a renewed passion for old-fashioned detective work.
—Ed
Fat Ollie Weeks (aka Oliver Wendall Weeks) is a detective from the 88th precinct who has shown up in a number of Ed McBain’s 87th precinct stories. He is a good detective but a horrible bigot with poor hygiene and atrocious eating habits. In the previous 87th precinct novel, he decided that he could write a book – a detective mystery. This McBain book is named “Fat Ollie’s Book” not only because he features prominently in it, rather than a secondary character as usual, but because we are also treated to the novel that he has written. His book, “Report to the Commissioner”, has been stolen and the thief is reading the book, not realizing that it is a work of fiction and not a real police report. The book Ollie has written is horrendous. The book Ed McBain has written is very good and creative, but it was really horrible to have to read the drivel that Ollie wrote. As it is difficult for a truly talented singer to sing badly on purpose, but make it sound natural, I wonder how difficult it was for Mr. McBain to deliberately write badly for Ollie – he did it so well, but it was painful to read Ollie’s book. Ed’s was very good – Ollie’s not so much (and that’s being kind). An interesting overall idea and well executed, but not one of my favorite books in the series.
—Cathy
