Cinderella (Matthew Hope) [Hardcover]

Ed McBain (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is the sixth in McBain's series of fearful "fairy tales" starring lawyer Matthew Hope of Calusa, Fla., as compelling a character as those in the author's popular 87th Precinct novels. When Hope's friend, private eye Otto Samalson, is killed while on an assignment for him, the lawyer makes up his mind to find the murderer. The investigation leads Hope into the affairs of several men involved with a gorgeous hooker known as Cinderella. Hired thugs on her trail leave behind them the bloody bodies of people they question, and the lawyer is in constant danger. Cleverly eluding pursuers, Cinderella guards a fortune in stolen cocaine with which she expects to secure a rosy future until time and her luck run out. This is a violent story, more horrifying than its gory predecessors (Goldilocks; Beauty and the Beast, but very well written and a natural attraction for McBain fans.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 262 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (April 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0030049598
• ISBN-13: 978-0030049590
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,607,828 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

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cinderella turns into a hooker who steals!, May 8, 2000

By 

Lhamo Topgyal - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cinderella (Matthew Hope) (Hardcover)

The book begins with Otto's suspicions towards somebody following him.He is a private detective who spies upon people if he gets hired for that.We find out that Otto gets shot from a person who had been following him on a Toyata.The news of Otto's death shocks Matthew Hope (The Main Character) and he tries to get into the reason he was murdered. The first suspicion goes to Carla Nettington's husband Dan because he was being followed by Otto.Otto even managed to place a voice activated microphone in Dan's girlfriend's house.But the story goes on and shifts towards two spics who had been trying to find the Cinderella.Here she is called the Cinderella because she uses a lot of different names so it is difficult to track her down and in the process killing her two step sisters.She is being hunted for having stolen a gold Rolex watch and four keys of Coke(DRUGS). She has an interesting character in the book.And all the stories end up with her. The book is really worth reading and is quite interesting. Happy Reading!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Painfully boring, May 10, 2007

By 

Bonnie L. Mcclain - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cinderella (Audio Cassette)

This is a case where the reader can make or break a book. Paul Shay conveys no emotion or definition of character. It was so painful I barely got through the first cassette before I finally decided I couldn't listen to the book. I recently enjoyed McBain's Big, Bad, City so I like the author.