87th Precinct (abridged)

From the nationally best-selling author of Vespers and Widows comes a masterfully plotted, razor-sharp suspense novel. Detective Steve Carella is faced with a wealthy blonde sporting a beautiful body and two attempts on her life. Her stockbroker husband has hired protection for her, but nothing is as it seems in this thriller.

In this 87th Precinct thriller, Detective Steve Carella must track down a killer who's systematically rubbing out all the city's graffiti artists, leaving each victim mischievously splashed with paint and blood. Foul play takes another form when an old nemesis, the Dead Man, taunts Carella and the 87 with riddling clues for solving a crime, or crimes, not yet committed.

Following the exploits of one of Ed McBain's most beloved detectives, this lively and complicated tale - the 52nd in the award-winning 87th Precinct series - is McBain at his best. "Wonderful entertainment," says Booklist.

It should have been the night that launched a new pop idol. Tamar Valparaiso is young and beautiful, with the body and voice of an angel. The stage is set for her to launch her debut album, Bandersnatch, on a luxury yacht in the heart of the city. But halfway through her performance, masked men drag Tamar off the stage and into a waiting speedboat, while the partygoers look on helplessly.

Ed McBain concocts a brilliant and intricate thriller about a master criminal who haunts the city with cryptic passages from Shakespeare, directing the detectives of the 87th Precinct to a future crime, if only they can figure out what he means.