Rating: 
Summary: Ed McBain scores again
Review: The police officers of the 87th precinct have a new homicide to work. The two detectives on the case, Carella and Hawes figure that this is anopen and shut case. All the evidence points to an attempted robbery turned into the murder of a poor elderly citizen. The two detectives are a little surprised to learn the victim was Svetlana Dyalovich, a once renowned classical pianist. Still the case remains simple enough until the officers learn that Ms. Dyalovich had withdrawn $125,000 from her bank that very day she was murdered. There are suddenly too many suspects who might be willing to do anything to obtain such a quick windfall. ...... At about the same time, another officer from the precinct, "Fat Ollie" Weeks is investigating the killing of a pimp, drug dealer, and a hooker. As the evidence accumulates in this case, it crisscrosses with the Carella-Hawes investigation. The police better find their culprit soon because no one seems safe on the city streets as long as this killer is loose. ... The 87th precinct series has been on going for over four decades and still Ed McBain continues to write some of the freshest police procedurals on the market today. Fans of the series will love NOCTURNE because it is the usual fantastic gritty who-done-it that brings alive the city streets and the officers, criminals, and civilians living on them. For any mystery fan who has not read a McBain novel, this is a great place to start - it will be one reading experience that will prove to be worth your dead presidents. ........Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Unputdownable!
Review: When I started reading, I found it hard to close it. This is the book that got me bitten by the reading bug!McBain has delivered a virtual roller-coaster of thrills, twists, characters, events... the whole works. Equally commendable is the author's decision to resist the temptation to attempt to tie together all the story lines in the book, and believe me, there are a few! Because of this, the cases described are that much more credible. My only gripe is the author's inclination toward morbidity and gore in some parts of the story. But I guess that is part of life in the precinct!
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