Ed McBain is the pseudonym of Evan Hunter who has created an entire series of 87th Precinct novels under his pen-name. Hunter’s breakthrough success came with his book The Blackboard Jungle (1954) which inspired him continue writing. Cop Hater was published in 1956 and established a new standard in police fiction, observed in television programs to this day. Note that McBain’s novels do not have one single hero but rather, an entire squad room full of them who come and go from novel to novel. Also, the same villains often recur in his novels. Although the city setting for the books is meant to be vague, it seems quite clear to most that it is New York.
Several of McBain’s novels have been made into films. In addition to American adaptations, Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low is based on an 87th Precinct novel (King’s Ransom), as is French director Philippe Labro’s 1972 film Without Apparent Motive, based on Ten Plus One. The fictional precinct also inspired its own television series. Evan Hunter has written under a number of pseudonyms and has been regularly honored for his work.
The detectives of the 87th Precinct are confronted with a call - clearly a crank call - that threatens the life of the city’s parks commissioner unless a ransom of $5,000 is paid. The deadline soon passes and the parks commissioner is shot in the head as he leaves a rock concert. Soon, another anonymous warning follows and the deputy mayor is blown up in his Cadillac. The next target is the young, charismatic Kennedy-esque mayor who is on the hit list of what can only be called a serial assassin. It is up to the hardworking detectives of the 87th Precinct to find the shrewd murderer before he can strike again.
For almost fifty years, fans of crime fiction have followed the boys of the 87th Precinct, a fictional urban police department that grapples with every imaginable kind of crime. The plot of Fuzz was highly topical when originally published in 1968, when respect for the police was at an historical all time low and the title comes from the insulting nickname people used to describe police. The U.S. was rocked by explosive dissent and haunted by political assassination. No author handled these tensioned better than Ed McBain.
Police fiction - which became known as the police procedural novel - changed forever with the appearance of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels. McBain is a superlative writer, dazzling in his seemingly inexhaustible ability to heighten the intensity of his plots with humor, atmosphere, and telling detail. Fuzz is as much about the cops themselves as it is about the crimes they solve. Fans of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue will find themselves very much at home in Fuzz, a fast-paced thriller that is at once edgy and skillfully crafted.
