ED MCBAIN
In anticipation of the upcoming BIG TV COPS WEEKEND over at THE TAINTED ARCHIVE blog (in which I will have several featureed posts), I’m going for a double play this week because, to paraphrase the famous potato chip jingle, when it comes to McBain’s 87th Precinct novels, I bet you can’t read just one . . .
I discovered McBain’s 87th precinct novels in the mid-seventies, picking my first, Cop Hater, off a drugstore paperback rack. I read the novel straight through, heading out early the next morning to find more titles.
Over the years I’ve read a lot of McBain, enjoying his Mathew Hope novels and his tales based on warped fairytales, but it was always the boys of the 87th Precinct who were my first love. McBain just got cops. He understood them as human beings, warts and all, without judgment. The cops of the 87th are real because they make mistakes, show prejudices, and get hurt – both physically and emotionally – yet they are always there for each other.
McBain also understood the multi-stranded nature of detective work. Unlike other police procedural novels where the focus is usually on a single case, McBain was a master of weaving multiple strands from multiple cases into a seamless mix.
My favorite 87th Precinct novels featured McBain’s only returning villain, the Deaf Man. The boys of the 87th always had to rise to the occasion as the deaf man taxed them to the max. When the Deaf Man turned up like a bad penny, readers knew they were in for a hell of a ride along with the detectives.
I believe Eight Black Horses is the last appearance by the Deaf Man, and while it doesn’t pack as much humor as some of his earlier appearances – with each successive appearance the Deaf Man gets more dangerous – the tension is ratcheted up significantly.
EIGHT BLACK HORSES
It all got terribly confusing when the Deaf Man put in an appearance….
…and the criminal mastermind is making his presence known by the dead bodies that are turning up around Isola. Then there are the notes - with cryptic patterns including eight black horses dancing across a page - that look like they mean nothing. But Detectives Kling, Carella, and Meyer know that with the Deaf Man, the seemingly meaningless always means something. Something bad. And as late fall hurtles toward Christmas, the Deaf Man is counting down the days, luring the cops of the 87th Precinct with a series of taunting clues - all leading toward a horrifying act of revenge orchestrated by a psychopathic killer.
WITH McBain’s passing, the last book in the 87th Precinct series, Fiddlers, is a bittersweet tale for longtime fans, but serves as a good introduction for new readers. All of the 87th’s disparate crew of detectives has a role or puts in a cameo appearance during the investigation.
FIDDLERS
A killer living the high life is exacting the last full measure of revenge.
As his victims pile up, the 87th falls prey to the FMU or first man up rule. Since the initial victim, a blind violinist shot in the face, was done on the 87th's turf, all subsequent murders are theirs as well.
More are not long in arriving; each victim shot in the face at close range with the same 9mm Glock.
The whole cast of the 87th is stretched thin trying to track down clues in geographically disparate killings. This gives McBain license to update us on such matters as the romance between Bert Kling and Sharyn Cooke and Fat Ollie Weeks's courtship of Patricia Gomez. All are searching for the one lead that will pan out gold.
WHILE McBain had expressed his desire for the 87th Precinct to close down when he did, I don’t believe he intended Fiddlers to be the last novel in the series. While there are intimations of the end in Fiddlers, too many of the characters’ personal storylines are left open and ongoing – Carella is faced with teenage trouble on the home front; perpetual ladies man Bert Kling has his love life explodes with disastrous consequences; and Fat Ollie Weeks finds his inbred prejudice at risk as he falls in love with Patricia Gomez and the loss of his essential Ollie-ness.
Usually, these issues would be wrapped up or continued in the next 87th novel, but will now go unresolved. However, Fiddlers, is a perfect example of why the 87th Precinct series has become iconic. McBain created multi-dimensional characters – cops are engaged in a never-ending fight against the darkness, yet somehow never become dark themselves. They are basically good, decent, public servants who do their jobs and do them well, despite the frustrations and lack of monetary rewards.
TV COPS VS. REALITY!
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