Editing 87th Precinct

{{Short description|Police procedural novels and stories by Ed McBain}}
{{Infobox book series
| name = 87th Precinct series
| author = [[Ed McBain]]
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = [[police procedural]]
| publisher = Original US editions:
{{plainlist|
* [[Permabooks]]
* [[Dell Publishing]]
* [[Doubleday (publisher)]]
* [[Random House]]
* [[Viking Press]]
* [[Arbor House]]
* [[William Morrow and Company]]
* [[Warner Books]]
* [[Simon and Schuster]]
* [[Harcourt Books]]}}
| pub_date = 1956-2005
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]])
| number_of_books = 55
}}

The '''87th Precinct''' is a series of [[police procedural]] novels and stories by American author [[Evan Hunter|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.

==Setting==
The series is based on the work of the police detective squad of the 87th [[Organization of the New York City Police Department#Police precincts|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 River|Hudson]]) and Dix ([[East River]]), neighborhoods such as The Quarter ([[Greenwich Village|The Village]]), Devil's Break ([[Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx|Spuyten Duyvil]]), Stewart City ([[Tudor City]]), and Diamondback ([[Harlem]]), and specific places such as Buena Vista Hospital ([[Bellevue Hospital|Bellevue]]), Ramsey University ([[New York University]]), Hall Avenue ([[Fifth Avenue]]), Jefferson Avenue ([[Madison Avenue]]), and the Stem or Stemmler Avenue ([[Broadway (Manhattan)|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.''<br>
''The people, the places are all fictitious.''<br>
''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'''
* Detective Stephen Louis "Steve" Carella
* Detective Meyer Meyer
* Detective Cotton Hawes
* Detective Bert Kling
* Detective Hal Willis
* Detective Arthur Brown
* Detective Lieutenant Peter Byrnes, squad commander

'''Recurring Characters'''
* Detective Eileen Burke
* Detective Andy Parker
* Detective Dick Genero
* Detective Bob O'Brien
* Detective Tack Fujiwara
* Sergeant Dave Murchison, Desk Sergeant
* Sergeant Alf Miscolo, Clerical Office
* Detective Monoghan and Detective Monroe, Homicide Detectives
* Detective Oliver Wendell "Fat Ollie" Weeks (Detective from the 83rd Precinct)
* William "Fats" Donner and Daniel "Danny Gimp" Nelson, informants
* Sam Grossman, Head of the Police Lab
* Paul Blaney, Chief Medical Examiner, and his twin brother, Carl, also a M.E.
* Cliff Savage, newspaper reporter
* Theodora "Teddy" Carella (née Franklin), Steve Carella's wife
* The Deaf Man

==The 87th Precinct Mysteries==
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*''[[Cop Hater]]'' (1956)
*''[[The Mugger (novel)|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 (novel)|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) - three novellas
*''Like Love'' (1962)
*''Ten Plus One'' (1963)
*''Ax'' (1964)
*''He Who Hesitates'' (1964)
*''Doll'' (1965)
*''80 Million Eyes'' (1966)
*''Fuzz'' (1968)
*''[[Shotgun (novel)|Shotgun]]'' (1969)
*''Jigsaw'' (1970)
*''Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here'' (1971)
*''Sadie When She Died'' (1972)
*''Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man'' (1973)
*''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)
*''And All Through the House'' (Novella - 1994)
*''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)
{{div col end}}

==Short stories and novellas==
*''And All Through the House'' (1984), later published as a 40-page novella in 1994
*''Reruns'' (1987)
*''Merely Hate'' (2005) a novella 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)

==Novelette==
*''The Jesus Case'' (1974) - this is actually an excerpt from "Let's Hear It For The Deaf Man"

==Other media==

'''Theatrical films'''
*''[[Cop Hater (film)|Cop Hater]]'' (1958) starring [[Robert Loggia]] and [[Gerald O'Loughlin (actor)|Gerald O'Loughlin]]
*''[[The Mugger (film)|The Mugger]]'' (1958) starring [[Kent Smith]], [[Nan Martin]] and [[James Franciscus]]
*''[[The Pusher (film)|The Pusher]]'' (1960) starring [[Robert Lansing (actor)|Robert Lansing]]
*''[[High and Low (1963 film)|Tengoku to Jigoku]]'' (''High and Low'') (1963) Japanese film directed by [[Akira Kurosawa]] starring [[Toshiro Mifune]], [[Tatsuya Nakadai]] and [[Kyōko Kagawa]] (based on ''King's Ransom'')
*''[[Without Apparent Motive|Sans Mobile Apparent]]'' (''Without Apparent Motive'') (1971) French/Italian film starring [[Jean-Louis Trintignant]], [[Carla Gravina]], [[Jean-Pierre Marielle]] and [[Dominique Sanda]] (Based on ''Ten Plus One'')
*''[[Fuzz (film)|Fuzz]]'' (1972) starring [[Burt Reynolds]], [[Raquel Welch]], [[Yul Brynner]], [[Tom Skerritt]] and [[Jack Weston]]
*''[[Blood Relatives (film)|Les Liens du Sang]]'' (''Blood Relatives'') (1978) French/Canadian film starring [[Donald Sutherland]], [[Donald Pleasence]] and [[David Hemmings]]
*''[[Kofuku (film)|Kofuku]]'' (aka ''Lonely Heart'') (1981) (based on ''Lady, Lady I Did It'') Japanese film starring [[Yutaka Mizutani]], [[Toshiyuki Nagashima]] and Rie Nakahara
* "Способ убийства" ("Killer's Wedge") (1993) Ukraine/Russia film

'''TV series and TV films'''
*''[[87th Precinct (TV series)|87th Precinct]]'' ([[1961 in television|1961]]-[[1962 in television|62]] [[NBC]]) television series co-starring [[Robert Lansing (actor)|Robert Lansing]], [[Gena Rowlands]], [[Ron Harper (actor)|Ron Harper]], [[Gregory Walcott]], and [[Norman Fell]]
*''[[Columbo (season 10)|Columbo: No Time to Die]]'' (based on ''So Long as You Both Shall Live'') (1992) (TV film)
*''[[Columbo (season 10)|Columbo: Undercover]]'' (based on ''Jigsaw'') (1994) (TV film) starring [[Harrison Page]] as Detective Sgt. Arthur Brown.
*''Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Lightning'' (1995) (TV film) Aired on NBC starring [[Randy Quaid]] and [[Ving Rhames]]
*''Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice'' (1996) (TV film) Aired on NBC starring [[Dale Midkiff]] and [[Joe Pantoliano]]
*''Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave'' (1997) (TV film) Aired on NBC starring [[Dale Midkiff]] and [[Erika Eleniak]]

'''Literature'''
*''87th Precinct'' (1962) (Comic Book series)
*''Polishataren'' (''Cop Hater'') (1990), a Swedish [[graphic novel]] written by Claes Reimerthi and drawn by Martin Sauri
*''[[The Stand#The Complete & Uncut Edition|The Stand: the Complete & Uncut Edition]]'' ([[1990 in literature|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.
*''The Last Best Hope'' ([[1998 in literature|1998]]), a novel in McBain's Matthew Hope series, features Steve Carella as a supporting character.
*Stephen King novella, "The Mist", one of the major characters is named Ollie Weeks, a detective from the neighboring 83rd Precinct.

=== Podcasts ===
*[http://hark87podcast.blogspot.com/ Hark! The 87th Precinct Podcast](2016 - ongoing) [Audio Podcast] A podcast dedicated to a book-by-book exploration of the 87th Precinct series, its adaptations and [[Spin-off (media)|spin-offs]]. The podcast also explores some other works by [[Ed McBain|Evan Hunter]] and has featured interviews with [[Otto Penzler]] (writer and proprietor of [[The Mysterious Bookshop]] in New York)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hark87podcast.blogspot.com/2018/07/hark-bonus-interview-otto-penzler-at.html|title=Interview with Otto Penzler (July 2018)}}</ref> and [[James Naughtie]] (British radio presenter and writer).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hark87podcast.blogspot.com/2018/11/hark-bonus-interview-james-naughtie.html|title=Interview with James Naughtie (November 2018)}}</ref> 
*''[http://www.paperbackwarrior.com/2019/11/paperback-warrior-podcast-episode-20.html?m=0 Paperback Warrior]'' (2019) [Audio Podcast] features a segment on Ed McBain's ''87th Precinct''. The episode delves into the author's bibliography and explores his police procedural series as well as the debut novel ''Cop Hater''. Co-Hosts Tom Simon and Eric Compton both suggest that the ''87th Precinct'' was influenced by the television show ''[[Dragnet (franchise)|Dragnet]]''.<ref>Compton, C.E., Simon, T.J.(Hosts).(2019, November 18).Paperback Warrior Podcast: Ed McBain [Audio podcast]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/09/books/09mcba.html Prial, Frank J., "Why readers keep returning to the 87th Precinct"], The New York Times, July 9, 2005. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
*[http://www.thrillingdetective.com/87th.html 87th Precinct]
*[https://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/ed-mcbain-87th-precinct/ Tipping My Fedora / 87th Precinct], reviews of all 55 volumes in the series. Retrieved 8 December 2017
*[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kW4xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3gUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3338,9724382&dq=87th-precinct&hl=en Ed McBain sings Hill Street Blues], Associated Press story, in TV Week, printed in Ocala Star-Banner, April 30, 1983. Retrieved April 12, 2011

{{Ed McBain}}

[[Category:Crime novel series]]
[[Category:Police procedurals]]
[[Category:E. P. Dutton books]]
[[Category:Book series introduced in 1956]]