What do You think about The Big Bad City (2010)?
The story focuses on two cases. The first to appear is a woman found dead in a park blocks away from the precinct. The detectives assigned were Carella and Brown; as they go deeper, they uncover secrets the victim kept (unusual secrets). The second is a string of burglary and robbery perpetrated by The Cookie Boy, who leaves cookies on every crime scene. Besides from these cases, a stalker is closing in on one of the men of the 87th Precinct. This is has been one of the best police procedural I have read since William J. Caunitz's Pigtown.
—Joshua Emil
The forty-ninth entry in the 87th Precinct series (as I close in on the final entries, 55 in all!) and to me a slight disappointment. But even mediocre Hunter/McBain is still pretty derned good stuff. This one involves the mysterious murder of a nun-- with breast implants yet! (Don't ask, go read the darned thing.) There is also the "Cookie Boy,"a burglar who leaves chocolate chip cookies on the pillow of the homes he robs. I started to get the feeling that McBain was tiring of his usual characters, the "boys" of the 87th Precinct. By now he had started to emphasize the obnoxiously fascinating detective Fat Ollie Weeks of the neighboring 88th Precinct and to spend more time on the viewpoints of the other characters in the story. There is still ample "procedural" time as Steve Carella and company uncover the strange labyrinthine background of the deceased sister and her case entwines with that of the Cookie Boy.I only gave three stars to this tale in comparison with the shining lights of the series. Had this book been written by Joe Smith-- I unabashedly confess, I might have given it an extra star!
—Tony Gleeson
This is my second 87th Precinct story. It starts out almost as McBain's anti-fluff-mystery opinion piece but ends up with a strange twist of justice. The dialogue is superb. The action is great. The characters are believable. I'm not a big fan of police procedural but I think, if I wanted to emulate and learn a bit about writing those I'd start with Ed McBain. In a different view of the genre is Michael Donnelly. Both write procedurals but they tell the stories very differently. What I kind of like about McBain is New York City is one of his characters and he's not shy about telling this to the reader. What I also like is this divide between within the city and within the organization. McBain wrote elsewhere that he doesn't try to stay up with the latest cop-stuff but concentrates on the people: victims, cops, bystanders, relatives.
—Charles Moore
