The Ed McBain 87th Precinct Series
Mar 20, 2012

The 87th Precinct Series
Author: Ed McBain, aka Evan Hunter, real name Salvatore Lombino

Amazingly, since the 1950's there has been a very popular procedural police book series out that has produced approximately 55 books!

These are fun cop/crime books to read, almost like a cop show with words.  There's always a crime or two being solved by two or more different cops (many times completely different cops than the book before.)  The dialogue is a witty banter most of the time, with interesting characters walking in and out of the "scenes".  It definitely is dated with the terminology used at times (the earlier books anyway - which are the two I reviewed), but it just helps put me in mind of Dragnet on paper as I read.  It's a nice flashback cop series.    I think I might grab a few more of these to read!

Amazon Publishing’s Thomas & Mercer imprint is giving select titles in Ed McBain's acclaimed 87th Precinct series a new lease on life. Earlier in December Thomas & Mercer released 35 87th Precinct titles as e-books, including THE CON MAN and THE MUGGER. These 35 Thomas & Mercer releases will be reprinted in trade paperback in February 2012.
 
In addition to the 87th Precinct titles, Thomas & Mercer will publish 12 titles in McBain's Matthew Hope series starting in Spring 2012. These 12 books will be published in digital and audio format, with most of the 12 available in print format.

Below I have the publisher's descriptions of the two books I was sent to review and I recommend both!  They are both books from early in the series.


The Mugger:

This mugger is special.

He preys on women, waiting in the darkness…then comes from behind, attacks them, and snatches their purses. He tells them not to scream and as they're on the ground, reeling with pain and fear, he bows and nonchalantly says, “Clifford thanks you, madam.” But when he puts one victim in the hospital and the next in the morgue, the detectives of the 87th Precinct are not amused and will stop at nothing to bring him to justice.

Dashing young patrolman Bert Kling is always there to help a friend. And when a friend's sister-in-law is the mugger's murder victim, Bert's personal reasons to find the maniacal killer soon become a burning obsession…and it could easily get him killed.

The second book in the 87th Precinct series, The Mugger is an Ed McBain classic, a nuanced portrayal of justice and vengeance hailed by the Daily Mirror as “a masterpiece of crime writing…and there's nobody who does it better.”



The Con Man

A con man is plying his trade on the streets of Isola: conning a domestic for pocket change, businessmen for thousands, and even ladies in exchange for a little bit of love. You can see the world, meet a lot of nice people, imbibe some unique drinks, and make a ton money…all by conning them for their cash.

The question is: How far is he willing to go?

When a young woman's body washes up in the Harb River, the answer to that question becomes tragically clear. Now Detective Steve Carella races against time to find him before another con turns deadly. The only clue he has to go on is the mysterious tattoo on the young woman’s hand—but it’s enough. Carella takes to the streets, searching its darkest corners for a man who cons his victims out of their money…and their lives.


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Reviewed by Idgie. If you would like to have the Dew review a book, please contact me at dewonthekudzu@gmail.com







Glow
Mar 17, 2012

Glow
Author: Jessica Maria Tucelli
ISBN-13: 9780670023318
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Publication date: 3/15/2012
Overview

A breathtaking Georgia-mountain epic about the complex bond of mothers and daughters across a century.

In the autumn of 1941, Amelia J. McGee, a young woman of Cherokee and Scotch-Irish descent, and an outspoken pamphleteer for the NAACP, hastily sends her daughter, Ella, alone on a bus home to Georgia in the middle of the night-a desperate action that is met with dire consequences when the child encounters two drifters and is left for dead on the side of the road.

Ella awakens to find herself in the homestead of Willie Mae Cotton, a wise hoodoo practitioner and former slave, and her partner, Mary-Mary Freeborn, tucked deep in the Takatoka forest. As Ella begins to heal, the legacies of her lineage are revealed.

Glow transports us from Washington, D.C., on the brink of World War II to 1836 and into the mountain coves of Hopewell County, Georgia, full of ghosts both real and imagined.

Idgie Says:

This story hops around in history from the 1800s to the 1940s, telling the tale of an ancestral line of women.  If you like a nice clean linear story, this may be a distraction for you. 

While telling the story it blends true history, mysticism, racial integration and hostilities into a Southern family story.  You not only have a family saga, but a nice history lesson at the same time.  There are many books discussing Black and White relations in the South, but this one also puts the Indian heritage and racial mixing into the picture.  As you can imagine, this racial mixture put some people at an even greater disadvantage than others.

The dialect/speech patterns are included in the story, which I enjoy, but it does require a little more concentration. A nice combination of history and fiction, a creation of characters that do come to life in the story. 

Jessica Maria Tuccelli will be at the Georgia Center for the Book on March 26th!

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Reviewed by Idgie. If you would like to have the Dew review a book, please contact me at dewonthekudzu@gmail.com







The Iguana Tree
Mar 15, 2012

The Iguana Tree
Author: Michel Stone
Publisher: Hub City Press
Publication Date: March 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-891885-88-4

This is a very different story - a subject matter that I can't say I've come across before in a novel.  Michel has taken the very hot topic of illegal border crossings from Mexico into the United States and given it humanity. 

She tells the story of Lilia and Hector, married for only two years when Hector decides he must fulfill his dream of a better life for his wife and infant daughter by crossing dangerously into the United States.  His plan is to work hard and then find a safe and reputable coyote (border runner) to get Lilia and the baby over.  But Lilia is impetuous and stubborn by nature and acts rashly when her grandmother dies, leaving her without family in the small ocean town in Mexico.

She decides to cross over with her daughter alone and surprise Hector.  

Now I like Hector.  He quickly and easily finds work when he hooks up with another immigrant crossing, one who already has work lined up in South Carolina.   He is honest and hardworking and settles in nicely, always dreaming of bringing his family over. 

But Lilia - her I wanted to shake hard.  She takes a very difficult and dangerous journey into her own hands, against everyone's words of advice.  I won't tell you more as I don't want to ruin the story for you - but you will also find yourself wanting to shake some sense into her.  In the end she puts many people in jeopardy and it will be a challenge for her marriage to survive.

A very good story on a topic that has so many people talking these days. 


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Reviewed by Idgie. If you would like to have the Dew review a book, please contact me at dewonthekudzu@gmail.com







Thank You All!!
Mar 14, 2012


I have just finished posting the Dew's 500th book review! That is a huge amount of books! I cannot believe in this quick, hit-n-run age of websites and technology that the Dew is still hanging in there and going strong.


It would not happen without the readers, authors, publishers and publicists out there. 


Thank you so much and here's to another 500!  


(Not all at once please!)  :)

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Reviewed by Idgie. If you would like to have the Dew review a book, please contact me at dewonthekudzu@gmail.com