GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #59

THE 87th PRECINCT

Creator Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) specifically stated that the 87th Precinct was not located in NYC, but the fictitious city of Isola was obviously Manhattan.  His starkly realistic police procedural novels dealt with social problems at the street level.  His tales had a range of subjects and approaches - from intangible terror to physical brutality to slapstick humor.  The most prominent member of the detective squad is Steve Carella, whose beautiful wife Teddy is a deaf-mute.  Other members of the squad are Lieutenant Peter Byrnes, Detective Cotton Hawes (a giant of a man with a white streak in his hair), Detective Meyer Meyer (whose father thought it would be amusing to give his son the same first name and surname), Detective Andy Parker (a braggart with few redeeming social qualities), Desk Sergeant Dave Murchison, and Detective Bert Kling (the youngest member of the team).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ed McBain (1926-2005) was born in New York as Salvatore Lombino and legally changed his name to Evan Hunter after attending Evander Childs High School and Hunter College.  Hunter had several jobs including teaching at two vocational high schools in 1950.  The experience provided him with the background for his most famous book, "The Blackboard Jungle" (1954), a grim picture of violence and racial tension in New York secondary schools.  He wrote for the pulps and paperback originals under several pseudonyms including Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, and Richard Marsten.  But his best known books were the 87th Precinct series as Ed McBain.

NOVELS

1956 "Cop Hater"/  1956 "The Mugger"/  1956 "The Pusher" (Manhunt Feb. 1957)/  1957 "The Con Man"/  1957 "Killer's Choice"/  1958 "Killer's Payoff"/  1958 "Lady Killer"/  1959 "Killer's Wedge" (Manhunt Feb. 1959)/  1959 "Til Death"/  1959 "King's Ransom"/  1960 "Give the Boys a Great Big Hand"/  1960 "The Heckler"/  1960 "See Them Die"/  1961 "Lady, Lady, I Did It!"/  1962 "Like Love" (Argosy Aug. 1962)/  1962 "The Empty Hours" (3 novellas)/  1963 "Ten Plus One" (Argosy July 1963)/  1964 "Ax"/  1965 "He Who Hesitates"/  1965 "Doll"/  1966 "Eighty Million Eyes" (s.s.)/  1968 "Fuzz" (Saturday Evening Post Sept. 21, 1968)/  1969 "Shotgun"/  1970 "Jigsaw" (Star Weekly June 27, 1970)/  1971 "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!" (Argosy Nov. 1971)/  1972 "Sadie When She Died" (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Jan. 1973)/  1972 "Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man" (Argosy July 1972)/  1973 "Hail to the Chief"/  1974 "Bread" (Argosy May 1973)/  1975 "Blood Relatives" (Argosy Apr. 1975)/  1976 "So Long as You Both Shall Live"/  1977 "Long Time No See"/  1979 "Calypso"/  1980 "Ghosts"/  1981 "Heat" (Playboy Nov. 1981)/  1983 "Ice"/  1984 "Lightning"/  1985 "Eight Black Horses"/  1987 "Poison"/  1987 "Tricks" (Playboy Dec. 1987)/  1989 "Lullaby" (Penthouse Jan. 1989)/  1990 "Vespers"/  1991 "Widows"/  1992 "Kiss"/  1993 "Mischief"/  1994 "And All Through the House" (novella, Playboy Dec. 1984)/  1995 "Romance"/  1997 "Nocturne"/  1999 "The Big Bad City"/  2000 "The Last Dance"/  2001 "Money, Money, Money"/  2002 "Fat Ollie's Book"/  2003 "The Frumious Bandersnatch" (Maxim Dec. 2003)/  2004 "Hark!"/  2005 "Fiddlers"

SHORT STORIES

"Empty Hours" (Ed McBain's Mystery Book #1, 1960)/  "J" (Argosy May 1961)/  "Murder On Ice" (Argosy Nov. 1961)/  "Eighty Million Eyes" (Argosy Feb. 1963)/  "Nightshade" (EQMM Aug. 1970)

FILMS

"Cop Hater" United Artists, 1958.  Robert Loggia (Carella), Gerald O'Laughlin, Ellen Parker, Shirley Ballard.  Director: William Berke.  Within a few weeks two police detectives have been killed in the 87th Precinct.  When his own partner is the next victim, Steve Carella begins to suspect the murderer is not a crazed cop hater, but someone trying to cover up a specific target by killing several people.

"The Mugger" United Artists, 1958.  Kent Smith, Nan Martin, James Franciscus, Leonard Stone.  Director: Berke.  A dance hall girl is killed, the eleventh victim in a series of recent muggings but the first fatality.  A police psychiatrist believes that the killer and the mugger are two different people.

"The Pusher" United Artists, 1960.  Robert Lansing (Carella), Kathy Carlyle, Felice Orlandi, Douglas Rodgers.  Director: Gene Milford.  A detective investigating the murder of a heroin addict discovers that there is a connection between the junkie and the detective's fiance, who is his boss' daughter.

"High and Low" A 1963 Japanese film based on the novel "King's Ransom".  It stars Toshiro Mifune and was directed by Akira Kurosawa, but with Japanese locations and police methods, it really can't be considered an 87th Precinct film.  Still, an excellent movie well-worth watching.

"Without Apparent Motive" 20th Century Fox, 1972.  Jean-Louis Trintignant (Carella), Dominique Sanda, Laura Antonelli, Erich Segal.  Director: Phillipe Labro.  Based on "Ten Plus One".  A mad sniper is on the loose.  Only when his mistress is one of the victims does a police detective stumble upon the link between all the targets and the sniper's bizarre motive.

"Fuzz" 20th Century Fox, 1972.  Burt Reynolds (Carella), Yul Brynner, Raquel Welch, Tom Skerritt.  Director: Richard A. Colla.  A rapist, some teens who are setting sleeping vagrants afire, and spectacular political extortion attempts by a luxury-loving supercriminal called "the Deaf Man", are all in a day's work at the precinct.

"Blood Relatives" French Canadian, 1978.  Donald Sutherland (Carella), Stephane Audran, David Hemmings, Donald Pleasance.  Director: Claude Chabrol.  Homicide detective Carella is trying to solve the brutal murder of a 17-year old girl.  The victim's younger cousin, who saw the killer and barely escaped with her life, helps him.  However, the case soon takes a bizarre turn.

TELEVISION

"The 87th Precinct" aired on NBC, September 25, 1961 to April 30, 1962, producing thirty one-hour programs.  Robert Lansing was Detective Carella (he also played him in the 1960 theatrical film "The Pusher").  Gena Rowlands was his deaf wife Teddy.  Norman Fell played Det. Meyer Meyer and Gregory Walcott appeared as Detective Havilland.  Some of the episodes were adapted from the novels "Lady Killer", "Killer's Payoff", "Til Death", "Give the Boys a Great Big Hand", "King's Ransom", and "Killer's Choice".

Two episodes of the popular NBC series "Columbo" were based on the novels "So Long as You Both Shall Live" and "Jigsaw".

"Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Lightning"  TV-movie, March 19, 1995.  Randy Quaid (Carella), Ving Rhames.  Director: Bruce Paltrow.  Two homicide detectives investigate the slayings of several young women whose bodies have been left in obvious places to taunt the police.

"Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice"  TV-movie, February 18, 1996.  Dale Midkiff (Carella), Joe Pantoliano, Michael Gross.  Director: Bradford May.  The detectives are learning about all kinds of ice - in a multi-million dollar showbiz scam, in the glittering diamonds that spill out of a dead man's vest, and in the veins of a small-time pusher.

"Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave" TV-movie, January 12, 1997.  Midkiff, Gross, Ian Clark, Erika Eleniak.  Director: Douglas Barr.  Based on the novel "Heat".  Detectives endure record-breaking heat while seeking a rapist/killer who assaulted a female officer during a stakeout.

COMICS

Dell Publishing produced two comic books as part of their Four Color comics line, both with a TV-tie-in.  Both books sported photo covers from the series, with art by Bernie Krigstein.  The books were released in April and July of 1962.