Rating: 
Summary: Money, Money, Money
Review: "Money, Money, Money" is the 51st 87the Precinct novel by the master of the police procedural, Ed McBain. Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer from the 87th Precinct and Fat Ollie Weeks from the 88th are called to the Grover Park Zoo to investigate the death of a woman who has been eaten by lions. They find out that she is Cassandra Ridley, a former Gulf War pilot. They also learn that she had recently made a drug run to Mexico. They also find out that she was paid a tip with "super-bills", bogus $100 bills. The plot to this one is rather complex with drugs, bogus money, murder, and a bombing at Clarendon Hall. More attention is given to the criminal element than is usual in McBain's novels. The characters are all well-drawn, especially a drug dealer named "Wiggy the Lid", a man you would not wish to meet. This is another excellent addition to a series that began in 1956. I have 45 of them, and I have not read a bad one yet.
Rating:
Summary: McBain is Back, and Better than Ever.....
Review: "Detective Steve Carella wished that one of the lions hadn't dragged the victim's left leg into the 88th Precinct. That was what brought Fat Ollie Weeks into the case." It's Christmas week in fictional Isola, and despite the holiday, business at the 87th Precinct is brisk. The unfortunate young lady being consumed by lions turned out to be Army Lieutenant Cassandra Jean Ridley, a pilot in the Gulf War. Her death starts a wild chain of events that leads the boys of the detective squad to an unusual assortment of uncooperative characters, including the Secret Service, terrorists, counterfeiters, drug runners and petty criminals. As the body count continues to rise, Carella and Weeks are having a hard time getting a handle on the case, and find it's nearly impossible to tell the good guys from the bad..... It's hard to believe that after 40 some odd years, a series could remain fresh and entertaining, but Ed McBain has beaten the odds, and his latest, Money, Money, Money, doesn't disappoint. This is a fast-paced, intriguing police procedural, full of crisp, spare writing, unrivaled dialogue, vivid scenes, and brilliant characterizations. This is the master at work, and nobody does it better. Mr McBain weaves the varied and seemingly unrelated threads of his fascinating and complex story line, effortlessly, and then ties them all together into a neat, logical and very satisfying package at the end. For those new to Ed McBain and the boys of the 87th Precinct, start with some of his earlier books to get the flavor of this wonderful series. For those who are already fans, Money, Money, Money deserves all the awards it's about to win.
Rating: 
Summary: A intricate 57th Precinct marred by Fat Ollie and Carella!
Review: A nice solid procedural about counterfeiting is constantly interrupted by silliness. Escaped lions at the zoo, Carella's anger and whining (so out of character) about his mother and sister's choice of beaus, and of course, any story featuring Ollie Weeks is guaranteed to be filled with its share of stupidity. McBain's books are always worth a read, as they are well-constructed, with rock solid plots and a storylines that are always filled with enough complexity to be satisfying, but this is a fairly weak entry.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast Paced Investigation
Review: Drug-running, counterfeiting rackets and terrorism are all combined and land in the lap of the 87th Precinct. They are called into action after trouble in the lion enclosure at the zoo. Circumstances conspire to ensure that Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct is also brought into the case, livening up proceedings no end.Steve Carella and Ollie Weeks join forces to head up the homicide investigation, which becomes a lot more involved as they uncover more about the victim. Counterfeit $100 notes are found that are somehow linked to the victim, as are drugs - a lot of drugs, actually. The irreverent Ollie Weeks provides the lighter moments of the book as he imposes his charm on the unsuspecting public. Steve Carella still has family problems as well as personal ones, providing a more sober and darker sub-plot. This is yet another strong case for the cops from the 87th Precinct combining a fast-paced story with amusing banter from the investigating officers as they go through their standard police procedures. I get the feeling that Ed McBain is becoming more and more happy with his creation of Ollie Weeks and seems to have delighted in developing his character over recent books. His personal hygiene, interviewing techniques and view on minority groups are all so bad, it's good.
Rating:
Summary: The master strikes again
Review: Ed McBain is a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. His body of work truly makes him a living legend. Whether writing under the name Ed McBain or his alterego Evan Hunter, his name on a book assures it of a certain style and the highest degree of quality writing. His most famous creation has to be the cops in the 87th precinct. Steve Carella, Cotton Hawes, Meyer Meyer have been with us for over forty five years. They have aged very slowly over the decades. Yet the all the cases remain immediate to this day. As a body of work, the fifty previous books have been a bit uneven. Some were merely good and some are true masterpieces (such as Nocturne). MONEY, MONEY, MONEY represents the fifty first volume of this classic series. It is not the very best one but still is far better than the vast majority of books written last year. Cassandra Jean Ridley, ex- Gulf War pilot, is trying to make a quick buck. She has agreed to fly drugs out of Mexico under radar for a cool quarter of a million dollars. The work, though not without risk, appears quite easy. In fact, life is great until Cass is robbed by a burgler who makes off with two of her fur coats and some cash she was given. This eventually leads to a run in by the burgler with the treasury department questioning whether the cash is counterfeit. All roads lead back to Cass. Carella and Fat Ollie Weeks investigate the death of a woman mauled and eaten by the lions in the local zoo. Her death appears drug related and after finding the body of a bookseller in Diamondback, the "almost exclusively black section of the city" their investigation takes them to the doors of Wadsworth and Dodds , a book publishing company that sells books that nobody wants to read. One of the major strengths of Ed McBain's writing style is his propensity for creating unforgettable characters. He does so through dialogue and descriptions. For example, Steve Carella is always described as having "eyes that slant downward giving him a sort Chinese appearance, though he certainly wasn't Oriental". Meyer is bald and Cotton has a white stripe through his red hair where he suffered a knife injury many years ago. The dialogue is extremely realistic and powerful. The story is quite fast paced which is another McBain trademark vs. the more languid introspective writing of Evan Hunter. In this volume, however, I think McBain may have been attempting to do a bit too much as another plot gets intertwined into the primary investigation. This leads to some improbable coincidences. Nonetheless, nobody writes as good as McBain even when he is not quite at his best.
Rating:
Summary: Money Makes The Eight-Seven Go Round
Review: Ed McBain's 51st entry in the 87th Precinct series shows the author in fine fettle, robust even. It's an enjoyable, somewhat unusual novel, a good page-turner as McBains nearly always are. If it's less than his best, it's not from lack of trying. Someone is moving funny money through the streets of Isola. A woman gets fed to the lions. A guy turns up dead in a garbage can. A peaceful burglar gets an odd visit from a Secret Service agent. A group of terrorists from the Middle East plot an explosion at a city landmark. Just another day at the office for the 87th Precinct. There's a lot to chew on here, and like the poor woman in the lions' cage, it ends up getting scattered in many directions. Focus is usually one of McBain's strengths, but after a promising start, it kind of gets lost. Perhaps it is because he wanted to tell a story that had little to do with the 87th Precinct, a story about counterfeiters and spies and terrorists. The novel begins rather oddly on a dirt runway in the American Southwest, and the 87th Precinct detectives don't even show up until the book is well underway. They take a back seat for much of the ensuing narrative, while McBain focuses his attentions on one of his more interesting villains, a nasty coked-out drug dealer named Wiggy The Lid, and a white-shoe publishing house where all is not as it seems. Even this gets tangled up, however. I'm not sure I understand what happened in the novel, why this person did that, but as best I can tell, the pieces don't all connect in the end the way these books usually do. The resolution feels muddy. There's some noises made about government conspiracies, which frankly reeks of Oliver Stone paranoia but grabs you all the same, then it's just dropped without further mention. "Money, Money, Money" feels like an experiment, at times a worthy one, but as a novel it's more than a den of lions can chew on. The introduction of a terrorist subplot is notable. The copyright of "Money, Money, Money" is 2001, and I suspected McBain threw the subplot in because of a wish to acknowledge 9/11. Yet "Money, Money, Money" hit the bookstores earlier that summer, which renders his take on a group of al-Qaeda operatives plotting to detonate a bomb in a concert hall rather eerie. "We are teaching them we can strike anywhere, anytime," the terrorist leader explains. "We are telling them they are completely vulnerable." More eerie is the fact this subplot has no apparent purpose in the novel. It doesn't connect with the other plot threads, except that it seems this particular al-Qaeda group has the benefit of counterfeit cash in funding their deadly work. McBain just throws the terrorist plot in there, it seems, because he sensed it was something important that needed to be dealt with. He was right, of course. But "Money, Money, Money" is not a better book for this Nostradamian turn. It's certainly interesting, vibrant, readable, at times funny, with Fat Ollie Weeks, the miserably uncouth and bigoted cop, getting more center-stage attention than usual. Reading "87th Precinct" novels is always worthwhile, and this is no exception. But this is no standout, either, however elevated its ambitions.
Rating:
Summary: Follow the Money
Review: How does he do it? This 51st 87th precinct mystery has all the snap and crackle of a brand new series and is as up to date as the evening news. Edgar-nominated "Money, Money, Money" effortlessly weaves an eerily prophetic terrorist plot, a CIA-like sting, a routine burglary, and a complex drug empire into an explosive read. The dialogue is crisp and frequently hilarious. The only thing that stays the same is the perennial youthfulness of the continuing characters. To those of us who have read all or almost all of the series, it does bring a smile to read that Bert Klinger, who was a rookie detective since 1960, has no memory of pop stars pre-1970. Steve Carella displays some rarely seen human failings. He cannot get over his bitterness at his father's violent death and refuses to accept his family's moving forward with life. Also, he exhibits a classic case of job burnout. My secret favorite, the despicable Ollie Weeks carries his non-political correctness to new heights. The purity of his intolerance is breathtaking; not one minority group does he find acceptable. His manners and appearance are atrocious, and his one saving grace is he that he is an excellent cop. It is hard to rank the villains in this story except the amoral, cold-blooded egocentric CIA-types. The burglar is a quite likeable guy, the drug dealers are frequently funny in their ignorance and casual violence, and even the terrorists are given human faces. How McBain set up Ollie Week's (of the 88th precinct) participation in the investigation has to be an instant classic. The initial incident is the zoo lions eating a human body. The zoo, more precisely the lion's veldt, is the dividing line between the 87th and 88th precinct. One young lion carried off the victim's leg to a private corner. Therefore, it was decided that ΒΌ of the crime took place in the 88th precinct, Ollie's responsibility. I would rank "Money, Money, Money" right up there with my all-time favorite 87th Precinct mystery, "Kiss." A real pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding McBain, as always
Review: It is such a pleasure to read McBain. He is consistently entertaining and exciting and, here and elsewhere, often funny. Money, Money, Money involves a more complex plot and is possibly longer than some other 87th precinct novels, but it is every bit as good. Considering that this was apparently written just prior to 9/11, the terrorism content is even a bit prescient, and certainly relevant. McBain has a style all his own, and we're lucky to have him.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: This has to be one of the best Ed McBain books ever. The
story is complex, and the characters keep on parading through
the story, with enough eccentricities to keep the readers on
their toes.
The lead detective is Fat Ollie, and the worst of the foul criminals is Wiggy the Lid, and their are intermediate characters equally odd, and the characters peopling this story
remind us of some of the Damon Runyon stories.
The story is, basically, about a drug deal gone wrong, and
drug wholesalers and retailers fight it out among themselves,
as well as various federal and local cops, as well as a mysterious organization that might be criminal, or it might be
law enforcement. Who knows? The local cops sure don't, and they struggle to identify the good and bad guys as the killings
continue.
It's quite a mish-mash of characters, but that is what makes
this story so interesting and readable.
The story leaps forward throughout the book, and this is one
you genuinely hate to put down in the middle.
Plot twists mixed with humor make this a real winner.
Rating:
Summary: Really, very entertaining.
Review: This was my first McBain book and I loved it. As an old-time fan of Joseph Wambaugh, I found much entertainment in the character, Fat Ollie. He was animated, but real. I find myself chuckling as I think about him, even while I write this review. The plot was interesting, although the Al-Qaida connection is very spooky (released before 9/11). I am headed out to get another McBain book as soon as I'm done with this review (Fat Ollie's Book)
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