McBain's Ladies Too (The 87th Precinct Novels) [Hardcover]

Evan Hunter (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Too" refers to McBain's Ladies (1987), a collection of fragments from the author of approximately 40 bestsellers. In an introduction, McBain describes this sequel as a "labor of love," denying that the two books were solely money-making projects, and explains at length his true purposes: "to inform the reader and to inform myself." Ardent fans probably won't care why he compiled these excerpts about the "women of the 87th Precinct"; they will also relish the inclusion of complete stories, unlike the entries in the first collection. From Killer's Wedge (1959), the selection on Virginia Dodge still stands as an epic in suspense. She is the "lady" armed with nitroglycerin who threatens to blow up the station house and the detectives if they try to prevent her from killing Carella, whom she blames for her husband's death in prison. Other females deadlier than the male reinforce McBain's reputation for delivering irresistible adventures year after year.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (June 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892962852
• ISBN-13: 978-0892962853
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,664,993 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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair enough collection of femme fatales, but not essential., July 5, 2011

By 

H. Jin (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: McBain's Ladies Too (The 87th Precinct Novels) (Hardcover)

'McBains Ladies Too' is basically a companion piece to the first 'Ladies' book, featuring excerpts from earlier books of the long-running 87th Precinct series, but this time it focusses on the female antagonists and Bad Girls from the series. Included are some fan-favourites such as Virigina Dodge, who tries to blow up the 87th building with nitro, and the un-named "Girl" who ties up and taunts Steve Carella in 'Doll', as well as a few women who aren't genuine villians but still end up getting into bed (literally!) with baddies, such as Naomi Schneider from 'Eight Black Horses'.

It's an enjoyable enough collection for new and old fans alike, but is much less essential than the original 'Laides'. The first book dealt with characters that are present throughout large parts of the series (Teddy Carella, Eileen Burke), and whose backstory and development was scattered across many different books. So there was some merit in collecting all these disparate character moments from earlier novels into one single, logical narrative. No problems there.

In contrast, each of the characters from 'Too' were present in only one book, and there is no connection between any of them, so there's no real advantage in buying 'Too' instead of going out and getting the original novel. If you're intrigued by Virginia Dodge, you might as well read 'Killers Wedge' in its entirety, which fleshes out Virginia's story and gives it a context that these brief extracts lack. Likewise, you should read 'Doll' in full to properly understand why Steve has been imprisoned and what the Girl is after. If you're a more serious fan....yes it's nice to reconnect with some memorable Bad Girls, but the fact is you'll probably have already read the individual novels and know how the stories play out.

'Too' was not a bad idea in principle, but in practise it doesn't work as well as the original 'Ladies', and really you're probably better off just buying and/or re-reading the individual novels.