87th Precinct

Last updated
87th Precinct series
Author Ed McBain
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre police procedural
PublisherOriginal US editions:
Published1956-2005
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
No. of books55

The 87th Precinct is a series of police procedural novels and stories by American author Ed McBain (a writing pseudonym of Evan Hunter). McBain's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television on several occasions.

Contents

Setting

The series is based on the work of the police detective squad of the 87th Precinct in the central district of Isola, a large fictional city obviously based on New York City. Isola is the name of the central district of the city (it fulfills the role of the borough of Manhattan within New York City). Other districts in McBain's fictionalized version of New York broadly correspond to NYC's other four boroughs, Calm's Point standing in for Brooklyn, Majesta representing Queens, Riverhead substituting for the Bronx, and Bethtown for Staten Island.

Other recognizable locations that correspond to New York City landmarks are Grover Park (Central Park), Sand's Spit (Long Island), the rivers Harb (Hudson) and Dix (East River), neighborhoods such as The Quarter (The Village), Devil's Break (Spuyten Duyvil), Stewart City (Tudor City), and Diamondback (Harlem), and specific places such as Buena Vista Hospital (Bellevue), Ramsey University (New York University), Hall Avenue (Fifth Avenue), Jefferson Avenue (Madison Avenue), and the Stem or Stemmler Avenue (Broadway).

The 87th Precinct has 16 detectives on its regular roster and is said to have the highest crime rate in the city and the busiest Fire Department in the world. Every single 87th Precinct novel begins with a disclaimer:

"The city in these pages is imaginary.
The people, the places are all fictitious.
Only the police routine is based on established investigatory technique."

Characters

The books feature a large ensemble cast, often but not always centered on about half a dozen police detectives and other supporting characters. Detective Steve Carella is a major character in the series, alongside officers Cotton Hawes, Hal Willis, Bert Kling, the ambitious youngster, the hot-tempered Roger Havilland, and comic relief from the unfortunately named Meyer Meyer. A mysterious antagonist known as The Deaf Man appears occasionally over the years. The Deaf Man is a master criminal, who is "a little hard of hearing" and whose identity is never revealed. He is the precinct's, and, specifically, Carella's nemesis, and appears in the novels The Heckler, Fuzz, Let's Hear it for the Deaf Man, Eight Black Horses, Mischief, and Hark!

Main Characters

Recurring Characters

The 87th Precinct Mysteries

Short stories and novellas

The following books excerpted chapters from 87th Precinct novels:

Novelette

Other media

Theatrical films

TV series and TV films

Literature

Podcasts

Related Research Articles

Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have some degree of speaking ability, but choose not to speak because of the negative or unwanted attention atypical voices sometimes attract. Such people communicate using sign language. Some consider it to be a derogatory term if used outside its historical context; the preferred term today is simply deaf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Hunter</span> American author and screenwriter

Evan Hunter was an American author of crime and mystery fiction. He is best known as the author of 87th Precinct novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain, which are considered staples of police procedural genre.

The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agencies as the protagonists, as contrasted with other genres that focus on non-police investigators such as private investigators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Beck</span> Fictional Swedish police detective

Martin Beck is a fictional Swedish police detective and the main character in a series of ten novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, collectively titled The Story of a Crime. Frequently referred to as the Martin Beck stories, all have been adapted into films between 1967 and 1994. Six were adapted for the series featuring Gösta Ekman as Martin Beck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Lansing (actor)</span> American actor (1928–1994)

Robert Lansing was an American stage, film, and television actor.

<i>Strike Force</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

Strike Force is an American action-adventure/police procedural television series that aired on ABC during the 1981–1982 television season, and was produced by Aaron Spelling Productions. The program starred Robert Stack as Capt. Frank Murphy, the leader of a specialized unit of detectives and police officers whose job is to stop violent criminals at any cost.

<i>Cop Hater</i> 1956 novel by Ed McBain

Cop Hater (1956) is the first 87th Precinct police procedural novel by Ed McBain. The murder of three detectives in quick succession in the 87th Precinct leads Detective Steve Carella on a search that takes him into the city's underworld and ultimately to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head.

<i>87th Precinct</i> (TV series) American TV series or program

87th Precinct is an American crime drama starring Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, Ron Harper, Gregory Walcott and Norman Fell, which aired on NBC on Monday evenings during the 1961–1962 television season.

<i>Fuzz</i> (film) 1972 film by Richard A. Colla

Fuzz is a 1972 American action comedy film directed by Richard A. Colla and starring Burt Reynolds, Yul Brynner, Raquel Welch, Tom Skerritt and Jack Weston.

<i>Kings Ransom</i> (novel) 1959 novel by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter)

King's Ransom: An 87th Precinct Mystery is a novel by Ed McBain published in 1959, part of his 87th Precinct series of police procedural novels and short stories. It centers on the moral dilemma faced by a wealthy man when he is forced to choose between using his wealth to fulfill a personal ambition or saving the life of a kidnapped child.

<i>Cop Hater</i> (film) 1958 film

Cop Hater is a 1958 American crime film noir police procedural film based on the 1956 novel Cop Hater written by Ed McBain, the first in a series of books about the 87th Precinct in New York City. The film was produced and directed by William Berke, written by Henry Kane and stars Robert Loggia and Gerald O'Loughlin.

<i>The Mugger</i> (film) 1958 film by William A. Berke

The Mugger is a 1958 American film noir-crime film about a police psychiatrist who is attempting to catch a mysterious mugger that has been attacking women in his city, stealing their purses and slashing their left cheek. The film is a police procedural in structure, focusing on psychiatrist Dr. Pete Graham's investigation into the title character's identity.

<i>Killers Payoff</i> 1958 novel by Evan Hunter

Killer's Payoff (1958) is the sixth 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain.

<i>The Mugger</i> (novel) 1956 novel by Evan Hunter

The Mugger is a (1956) novel by Ed McBain, the second in his 87th Precinct series. It was adapted for a film of the same name in 1958. In 2002 the author wrote an introduction to this and to his earlier novel Cop Hater when both were published in an omnibus edition.

<i>Shotgun</i> (novel) 1969 novel by Evan Hunter

Shotgun is a crime novel by American writer Ed McBain. It is the 23rd book in his 87th Precinct series.

Blood Relatives is a 1978 Canadian-French mystery film directed by Claude Chabrol from a screenplay that he and Sydney Banks adapted from the 1975 novel of the same name by Ed McBain. Set in Montreal, Canada, it involves the brutal murder of a teenage girl and the subsequent investigation led by Donald Sutherland as Steve Carella, the lead character of McBain's 87th Precinct series. Blood Relatives was filmed under a policy that allowed full tax deferment to foreign produced films if they reflected a specific portrait of Canada. For this reason, the novel's setting of a thinly-veiled New York City is changed to Montreal. Filmmaker Akira Kurosawa called Chabrol a "pretty skillful director" and this film "the best of all Ed McBain adaptations".

<i>Kofuku</i> (film) 1981 Japanese film

Kofuku, also known as "Lonely Heart", is a 1981 Japanese mystery film directed by Kon Ichikawa, based upon the 1961 American novel Lady, Lady I Did It in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. The film stars Yutaka Mizutani, Toshiyuki Nagashima and Rie Nakahara in a police procedural surrounding murder at a bookstore and the private lives of the cops trying to solve the case.

<i>Without Apparent Motive</i> 1971 French film

Without Apparent Motive is a 1971 French thriller film directed by Philippe Labro and adapted from the 1963 novel Ten Plus One by Ed McBain. Set in Nice, it tells the story of a police detective faced with a series of unexplained killings of apparently unconnected people by a mystery sniper.

<i>The Pusher</i> (film) 1960 film by Gene Milford

The Pusher is a 1960 American crime film directed and co-produced by Gene Milford. The screenplay—based on Ed McBain's novel of the same name, from his 87th Precinct series—was written by Harold Robbins. The film stars Kathy Carlyle, Robert Lansing, Felice Orlandi, Douglas Rodgers and Sloan Simpson. The film was released in February 1960, by United Artists.

References

  1. "Interview with Otto Penzler (July 2018)".
  2. "Interview with James Naughtie (November 2018)".
  3. Compton, C.E., Simon, T.J.(Hosts).(2019, November 18).Paperback Warrior Podcast: Ed McBain [Audio podcast]