Beauty and the Beast (A Matthew Hope Novel) [Hardcover]

Ed McBain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1983

A crime novel in which the brutal murder of an extraordinary beautiful woman heralds the return of Matthew Hope to investigate.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; 1st edition (April 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0030621984
• ISBN-13: 978-0030621987
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,402,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ed McBain was one of the many pen names of the successful and prolific crime fiction author Evan Hunter (1926 - 2005). Born Salvatore Lambino in New York, McBain served aboard a destroyer in the US Navy during World War II and then earned a degree from Hunter College in English and Psychology. After a short stint teaching in a high school, McBain went to work for a literary agency in New York, working with authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and P.G. Wodehouse all the while working on his own writing on nights and weekends. He had his first breakthrough in 1954 with the novel The Blackboard Jungle, which was published under his newly legal name Evan Hunter and based on his time teaching in the Bronx.

Perhaps his most popular work, the 87th Precinct series (released mainly under the name Ed McBain) is one of the longest running crime series ever published, debuting in 1956 with Cop Hater and featuring over fifty novels. The series is set in a fictional locale called Isola and features a wide cast of detectives including the prevalent Detective Steve Carella.

McBain was also known as a screenwriter. Most famously he adapted a short story from Daphne Du Maurier into the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). In addition to writing for the silver screen, he wrote for many television series, including Columbo and the NBC series 87th Precinct (1961-1962), based on his popular novels.

McBain was awarded the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 1986 by the Mystery Writers of America and was the first American to receive the Cartier Diamond Dagger award from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain. He passed away in 2005 in his home in Connecticut after a battle with larynx cancer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A light fun tropical read., August 2, 2000

By 

nobizinfla "nobizinfla" (Windermere, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty and the Beast (Mass Market Paperback)

I like Ed McBain's Mathew Hope series. While not as complicated, noir or hardboiled as the 87th Precinct novels, they are great fun and witty.

This one was almost a short story. Good workable plot, a couple interesting sidebars, enjoyable characters and a resolution you can accept.

The Florida scene is well set in the fictitious city of Calussa with a couple of Miami excursions. Mathew Hope is an interesting protagonist...a lawyer with a heart of gold willing to be a private eye for his client as well.

It's fast, easy and entertaining.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVED THIS MATTHEW HOPE BOOK, June 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beauty and the Beast (Mass Market Paperback)

I BROUGHT THE BOOK IN FLORIDA, WHERE MATTHEW HOPE LIVES. I LIKE THE CHARACTER MORRIS BLOOM. HE MAKES ME LAUGH. THE THINGS MATTHEW SAYS MAKE ME LAUGH ALSO. IN THIS STORY, BEAUTY WAS THE BEAST. I LOOK FORWARD TO READING ED MCBAIN'S 87TH STREET PRECINCT BOOKS ALSO.