87th Precinct

The 87th Precinct is a series of police procedural novels and stories written by Ed McBain. McBain's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television on several occasions.

Setting

The series is based on the work of the police detectives of the 87th Precinct in Isola, a district of a large fictional city based on the New York City borough of Manhattan. Other districts in McBain's fictionalized version of New York 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.

Relation to Dragnet

Each novel begins with the same 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."

In interviews and articles, McBain has freely admitted that his series was heavily influenced by the radio and TV series Dragnet. This introduction, simultaneously evoking and contradicting Dragnet's introductory phrase, "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent," was apparently McBain's way of acknowledging the debt, yet announcing his intention to go his own way in every book.

Characters

The series focuses on the detectives of the 87th Precinct, and although different detectives will "star" in different novels, most 87th novels feature a significant, if not a starring role for Detective 2nd Grade Stephen Louis "Steve" Carella.

The regular characters in the 87th Precinct novels are:

Detectives of the 87th

• Steve Carella - Dogged and persistent; no genius, but usually able to piece together a case. Over the course of the series, Carella marries and raises a family. During investigations Carella is most often partnered with Meyer, Hawes, or Kling.
• Meyer Meyer - Bald, friendly-but-cynical Jewish cop. His unusual name was given to him by his father as a joke; as a consequence of all the childhood teasing he endured, Meyer now has almost endless patience.
• Bert Kling - Young and impulsive, though a generally solid detective. Goes through numerous romantic entanglements.
• Cotton Hawes - A slightly later addition to the cast. Hawes is tall, good-looking and extremely competent at his job.
• Arthur Brown - The squad's only black detective.
• Hal Willis - The 87th's shortest detective, he became a police officer just before an official height requirement was instituted.
• Eileen Burke - Burke is originally introduced as an undercover detective who works with the precinct on special assignments. In the final novels she joins the squad proper, becoming their only female detective.
• Roger Havilland - Self-centered, corrupt, and generally a nasty, brutal piece of work.
• Andy Parker - Lazy, boorish, and almost certainly corrupt. Parker succeeds Havilland as the most disliked member of the squad.
• Bob O'Brien - A nice guy and a good cop. Unfortunately, O'Brien is notoriously unlucky, and is regarded as a jinx by most of the squad.
• Richard Genero - Not especially bright, Genero has been over-promoted and is clearly in over his head. He's generally disliked by the other detectives.

A number of other detectives are mentioned, or have smaller roles. In the first novel in the series, Carella is partnered with a detective called Bush. Bush's wife has hired someone to murder Bush, as well as two other officers who are not mentioned in the other novels.

Others at the 87th

• Lt. Peter Byrnes - The sometimes curt detective squad commander.
• Captain Frick - The vain, self-promoting captain.
• Alf Miscolo - The clerk in charge of records and coffee.
• Dave Murchison - The desk sergeant.

Other regular characters

• Theodora "Teddy" Carella - Steve's deaf-mute wife
• Detective Oliver Wendell Weeks (a.k.a. "Fat Ollie") - Uncouth, uncultured, rude and racist, Fat Ollie is distinctly difficult to like, though he does get results. He is a central character in several 87th Precinct novels, even though he is in fact on the squad of the neighboring 88th Precinct.
• Monoghan and Monroe - Buffoonish and arrogant homicide detectives, who virtually always appear together. "M&M" theoretically administer any homicide investigations done by the detectives of the 87th, but never seem to do any actual work.
• Sam Grossman - Crime lab supervisor.
• Paul Blaney - Medical examiner from the Coroner's Office.
• Carl Blaney - Paul's twin brother, also a medical examiner from the Coroner's Office.
• Danny Gimp - A regular police informant.
• Fats Donner - Another regular informant.
• Rolly Chabrier and Nellie Brand - Lawyers from the District Attorney's office.
• The Deaf Man - A Professor Moriarty-like criminal mastermind who appeared in six novels, was mentioned in several others, and whose real name was never revealed. He enjoyed plotting elaborate crimes to bedevil the men of the 87th.

Ed McBain on writing an 87th Precinct novel

"I usually start with a corpse. I then ask myself how the corpse got to be that way and I try to find out—just as the cops would. I plot, loosely, usually a chapter or two ahead, going back to make sure that everything fits—all the clues are in the right places, all the bodies are accounted for...(I) believe strongly in the long arm of coincidence because I know cops well, I know how much it contributes to the solving of real police cases."

The 87th Precinct Mysteries

• Cop Hater (1956)
• The Mugger (1956)
• The Pusher (1956)
• The Con Man (1957)
• Killer's Choice (1957)
• Killer's Payoff (1958)
• Lady Killer (1958)
• Killer's Wedge (1959)
• 'til Death (1959)
• King's Ransom (1959)
• Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (1960)
• The Heckler (1960)
• See Them Die (1960)
• Lady, Lady I Did It (1961)
• The Empty Hours (1962) - collection of three short novellas
• Like Love (1962)
• Ten Plus One (1963)
• Ax (1964)
• He Who Hesitates (1964)
• Doll (1965)
• 80 Million Eyes (1966)
• Fuzz (1968)
• Shotgun (1969)
• Jigsaw (1970)
• Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here (1971)
• Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (1972)
• Sadie When She Died (1972)
• Hail to the Chief (1973)
• Bread (1974)
• Blood Relatives (1975)
• So Long as You Both Shall Live (1976)
• Long Time No See (1977)
• Calypso (1979)
• Ghosts (1980)
• Heat (1981)
• Ice (1983)
• Lightning (1984)
• Eight Black Horses (1985)
• Poison (1987)
• Tricks (1987)
• Lullaby (1989)
• Vespers (1990)
• Widows (1991)
• Kiss (1992)
• Mischief (1993)
• Romance (1995)
• Nocturne (1997)
• The Big Bad City (1999)
• The Last Dance (2000)
• Money, Money, Money (2001)
• Fat Ollie's Book (2002)
• The Frumious Bandersnatch (2003)
• Hark! (2004)
• Fiddlers (2005)

Short stories

• And All Through the House (1984), later published as a 40 page novella in 1994
• Reruns (1987)
• Merely Hate (2005) a short story in the anthology titled Transgressions, edited by Ed McBain

The following books excerpted chapters from 87th Precinct novels:

• McBain's Ladies (Short Stories) (1988)
• McBain's Ladies, Too (Short Stories) (1992)

Other media

• Cop Hater (1958) movie
• The Mugger (1958) movie
• The Pusher (1960) movie
• 87th Precinct (1961-62 NBC) television series co-starring Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, Ron Harper, Gregory Walcott, and Norman Fell
• 87th Precinct (1962) comic book series
• Tengoku to Jigoku (High and Low) (1963 Japan), movie directed by Akira Kurosawa
• Fuzz (1972) movie
• Sans Mobile Apparent (Without Apparent Motive) (1972 France/Italy) movie
• Les Liens du Sang (Blood Relatives) (1978 France/Canada) movie
• Polishataren (Cop Hater), (1990 Sweden) graphic novel written by Claes Reimerthi and drawn by Martin Sauri
• The Stand: the Complete & Uncut Edition (1990) by Stephen King has a minor character, "Edward M. Norris, lieutenant of police, detective squad, in the Big Apple's 87th Precinct" (pg 71). Steve Carella is briefly mentioned.
• Columbo: No Time to Die (aka So Long as You Both Shall Live) (1992) television movie
• Columbo: Undercover (aka Jigsaw) (1994) television movie
• Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Lightning (1995 NBC) television movie
• Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice (1996 NBC) television movie
• Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave (1997 NBC) television movie
• The Last Best Hope (1998), a novel in McBain's Matthew Hope series, features Steve Carella as a supporting character.

References

• Prial, Frank J., "Why readers keep returning to the 87th Precinct", The New York Times, July 9, 2005. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
• 87th Precinct
• Ed McBain sings Hill Street Blues, Associated Press story, in TV Week, printed in Ocala Star-Banner, April 30, 1983. Retrieved April 12, 2011