Mary, Mary [Mass Market Paperback]

Ed McBain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1994

Defense Attorney Matthew Hope believes eccentric Mary Barton is innocent of murdering and burying three young girls in her lush garden. Although the evidence is overwhelming, Hope is willing to unearth long-buried secrets to gain an acquittal. The prolific McBain (of 87th Precinct Fame) continues his bestselling nursery rhyme crime series. "Nobody can read more menace into nursery rhymes than Ed McBain".--New York Times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three young girls are unearthed in the backyard of eccentric gardener Mary Barton in attorney Matthew Hope's 10th outing. Mystery Guild main selection in cloth.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Did retired schoolteacher Mary Barton go on a three-day killing spree, murdering and mutilating three young girls and then burying them in her garden in the dead of night? That's the charge that Florida attorney Matthew Hope needs to disprove in this swift but talking and watery legal procedural, tenth in the series (Goldilocks, 1977, etc.). The evidence against Mary is mostly eyewitness, but it seems overwhelming: Several solid citizens claim they saw her with the victims (found when a telephone repairman dug up her garden); a dry-cleaner says that she dropped off a bloodstained dress right after the killings; and her next-door neighbor swears she watched from a window as Mary placed a body in a grave. On the other hand, the Englishwoman paying for Mary's defense--in gratitude for Mary's kindnesses when teaching her--insists that the accused is a saint; and Matt believes that she's innocent. So the lawyer sets out to make his case, mostly by refuting the credibility and reports of the eyewitnesses in courtroom Q&As that eat up the lion's share of the narrative. That's okay, since McBain's dialogue snaps at quark speed and he knows his way around a courtroom--but it's of little impact, because the surprise hook that twists the case around pops up only in two paragraphs before the final pages, when the story careens into Psycho-drama: The entire courtroom development is salted away as red herring. Throughout, shading and bulk are added by extra-case doings, including an affair between Matt and an A.D.A.; background detail on minor, always sharply etched characters (particularly Matt's p.i.-assistants); and musings about Floridian ways. Terrific courtroom patter, but by case's end most readers will declare a mistrial. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (May 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446600547
• ISBN-13: 978-0446600545
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,266,345 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

4.0 out of 5 stars Old book ... but a book is a BOOK  & I read a good read , February 3, 2004

By 

J. a Locke "Book Hugger" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mary, Mary (Hardcover)

Based on the hardcover 1992 edition...

This book is this reader's first exposure to author Ed McBain... even though an older writing, tucked amongst all the books owned by this "biblioholic", it begged to be read regardless of its age!
"MARY, MARY" is Mary Barton -- a teacher by occupation; a outstanding flower & plant gardener by hobby, as witnessed by neighbors of the glory of flora in Mary's yard. Mary Barton is accused of killing three young girls, whose bodies are found buried within her floral domain.
Defense Attorney Matthew Hope, and assistants - Toots and Warren - believe in Mary's innocence - most of the time... With a few credible and non-credible witnesses for defense and prosecution alike, the court game of winning the jury's favor is played to the hilt. Witness, neighbor Charlotte Carmody swears that she saw Mary Barton digging at night, burying bodies in her floral paradise garden. A denim dress and a pair of sneakers come into play and question as to the validity of ownership. Meanwhile, a former student of Ms. Barton's - Melanie Lowndes, from England, comes forward to pay the defense expenses, and to support the "gentility" of Mary, testifying that Mary loves children and would never commit murder.
Although this reader at first did not favor the flavor of the rapid-fire, gunshot writing style, I would do the author an injustice by negating the author's book "MARY, MARY" as a bad read -- IT IS A GOOD READ!
Albeit a sound-story premise, I found it awkward to "digest" the author's method of sliding in non-premise scenery and activity, personal and otherwise, as an interruption to the flow of the story.
After getting used to the "he said", "she said"; and the clipped-style format, I found myself being absorbed into the story, and imaged placement in the jury box and court observers section. Readers will find that author McBain allows for lengthier, vivid descriptions of script in court processes as informative & entertaining, inclusive of the judge's actions, the pro and con attorneys arguments, and the orders to the jury of their duties to reaching a viable verdict.
Any reader knows that an ending is not an ending--- until the story actually ends!
I recommend this author and look forward to reading additional Ed McBain writings.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a thrill!, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mary, Mary (Mass Market Paperback)

What a simply thrilling book. I doubt if I was the only one who found it not only a great read, but also sort of spooky as well. Once again Mr.Mcbain has succeeded in giving a very well written performance. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a little bit of suspence in thier lives.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not 87th Precinct Books, December 4, 2009

By 

dd (ny) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mary, Mary (Hardcover)

In my opinion, the book is nothing more than an exposition of machismo self-indulgence
and self-consciousness that rides (or mounts) on the back of a mediocre courtroom
drama.

It's a relic.