Number 6 in the series. Another good read.

The guys at the 87th Precinct have a proper little mystery on their hands when serial blackmailer Sy Kramer gets blown away in a drive-by shooting. They find there are no shortage of suspects. My copy of Killer's Payoff had a fascinating introduction by the author in which he is fairly scathing of the outside pressures put upon him by publishing execs because they felt the series needed a boost. Cotton Hawes, introduced in the previous book, was forced upon him because the powers that be decided...

I adore McBain's work. The novels are quick reads, always with something that makes them worthwhile. This is another solid entry in the series.

This is another solid early entry in McBain's 87th Precinct series. At this point in the series, McBain was still grooming the character of Cotton Hawes to be a major player on the 87th Precinct's team of detectives and much of the book focuses on him. In particular, McBain was under instruction to make Hawes especially attractive to females, and so Hawes has several opportunities to display his talents in this regard.A blackmailer named Sy Kramer is gunned down in the street, apparently by an e...

Audiobooks do something like what movies of books do. Just as a movie gives you visuals of a book, audiobooks give you voices, like old time radio did. The narrator usually does a different voice for each character, which is nice; you know them by their voices. But another important aspect of audiobooks is that when you hear a book read aloud, it’s easier to keep your mind on it, and you have more mental energy available to think about what you’re hearing. When I have a difficult passage, I read...

McBain writes with a good grasp of basic human nature, making his characters believable and interesting whether they be the protagonists, the suspects, or the characters peripheral to the story. There is no outright humor in these books, but McBain has a way of writing that brings a smile now and then.Written in 1950s America, the world moved more slowly without the Internet and instant communication, but crime keeps the detectives of the 87th Precinct busy all the same. This time, the investiga...

Killer’s Payoff, the 6th entry in Ed McBain’s wonderful 87th Precinct series, is a quick and entertaining read. An interesting fact is that an executive at McBain’s publisher was pressuring him to kill off the character of Steve Carella and provide an unmarried, strong male character with whom men would identify and women fall in love. Thankfully, McBain ignored the executive’s first wish, and still managed to assuage him with a character called Cotton Hawes, who figures prominently in this book...

Synopsis: he appeared to be a decent, upright, honest citizen, yet Sy Kramer was a blackmailer. Which of Kramer's marks gave him his last payoff?

Awhile ago my friend asked me to recommend some good mystery series that take place in New York. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series was the first thing that popped into my mind. While the series takes place in a fictional city called "Isola," it's New York City through and through. McBain essentially rotated a map of Manhattan, the outer boroughs, Long Island, and New Jersey 90 degrees and renamed everything. If you're familiar with New York, you'll immediately be able to identify each place he's

I'm not sure if this entry really was as lackluster as it felt to me, or if I maybe just read this too closely to the last one. As much as these books are like TV episodes & it makes me want to "binge watch" them, they work best, I think, when consumed in moderation. I'm kind of confused as to McBain's portrayal of the new guy in the squad, Cotton Hawes. Supposedly Hawes was brought in to be the new main male protagonist - women should want him and men should want to be him, etc. If that's the c...

When a blackmailer is shot dead on the street, there are suspects aplenty. Turns out, the recently departed swindler was bilking quite a few people with threats to expose their deep dark secrets and shameful photographs.The detectives of the 87th once again rely on good-old-fashioned police work to solve this crime. From unproductive phone calls to face-to-face interviews with suspects and witnesses, it's time consuming, tedious work...except when several of the interviewees turn out to be femal...

Enjoyable read about an extortionist. I was partially able to figure out the whodunit, but was still surprised at the end.

I've given it a couple of tries and 87th Precinct is not my cup of coffee. The story is fine, and it is actually nice to read about ordinary detectives, but the guy who jumps into bed with any random woman he happens to like a little bit -- and they actually encourage him -- is, well, dated sensibility at best.

It's been a while since I visited the 87th Precinct. About 20 years. That visit I didn't like. This one I do. Being a strict procedural, this book is never boring. The structure of the plot is perfect to scatter elements of the story for the police officers to track and assemble theories and answers. McBain uses many literary tricks sprinkled throughout to draw the reader in and through the tale. Establishing the characters is done mostly through actions and less narrative. Writers ability to do...

Pretty goodOld school story set in an old school precinct, has a lot of character and great for anyone looking for a bones deep crime novel.

This was a really solid and fun little mystery. You can tell that one of the characters is being pushed a little too hard as a lothario and according to the author's introduction this was at the insistence of the publishers. As you read the book his is clear because he is just not quite as well rounded as the others in the group.Hes not a bad character and I'm hoping the author was eventually given free reign to do as he liked with him but for now he feels ever so slightly out of place.Aside fro...

Another tale with twists and turns.

Mid-20th Century North American Crime and MysteryMy Favorites: # 23 (of 250)I almost stopped reading this series after the 5th one as I was finding it disappointing. Apparently, some publishing executive decided Steve Carella (married, not really handsome) couldn't be THE CENTRAL HERO and that McBain should have a single, handsome lead in Cotton Hawes (introduced in the 5th book but there it felt like McBain just wasn't much interested in developing Hawes). Cotton comes to life in "Killer's Payo...

Kindle UnlimitedSteve Carella and Cotton Hawes follow up on a Chicargo gangster type murder of the 1930's. Car pulls up and shoots Kamer a blackmailer. From friend of Kamer ex blackmailer who says not a gangster murder and who then tries to pick up the victims "marks" of Kamer. Follow leads to a week of five guys hunting, One guy Kettering gets into anargument with Kamar. Then Kettering disappears. In fact he has been killer by a hunting accident by three other guys. they bury the body and car i...

I am well into this series now. A blackmailer, Sy Kramer is shot dead with a hunting rifle as he walks along the street. The killing leads Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes to the discovery of a hunting trip gone wrong and a trail of Kramer's victims. Hawes leads the way but finds himself in danger at the end as he closes in on the perpetrators.The novel is slick and without any frills. The detectives of the 87th race through the clues. Plenty of action in this one. Good straightforward escapism!