Shotgun [Import] [Hardcover]

Ed McBain (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (December 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034062325X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340623251
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,316,249 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

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McBain at his Best, January 12, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shotgun (87th Precinct Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

The 87th Precinct in the fictional city of Isola is hopping...two murders in one day. The first, a married couple found dead in their apartment, unrecognizeable, two shotgun blasts to the face of each. The second, a middle-aged woman found on her kitchen floor with a bread knife sticking out of her chest. The hard-working detectives of the 87th tenaciously follow leads and clues as they circle closer and closer to the truth.....Shotgun is Ed McBain at his best and nobody does it better. This is a police procedural that has it all...great memorable characters, tight, compelling plot, spare, gritty writing and unrivaled, true to life dialogue. Easily read in one sitting, the story pulls you in from page one and doesn't let go. And after finishing Shotgun, it's easy to see why McBain is considered "the best crime writer in the business."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WELL WORTH FIVE STARS!!!!, September 4, 2002

By 

Mac Blair "Mac Blair" (Huntingdon, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shotgun (87th Precinct Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Another great one by Ed McBain. There are two different crimes going on at the same time. Two people have been shot in the face with a shotgun. Another womean has been stabbed to death. Carellla and Kling catch the first one and Myer and Hawes the second. With very good police work the men go after the one or ones who did these two deeds. McBain uses his usual good writing to move the case forward. He makes you feel like you are there and these things can actually happen. There is a very good twist at the end or it was to me. We even have Roger Broome back from a previous book, number nineteen, I think. If you like a good mystery that will hold you attention and make you not want to put the book down, you will enjoy this one.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you wonder what's up, June 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Shotgun (87th Precinct Mystery) (Paperback)

I enjoyed the book very much. I just couldn't put it down, as with all of McBain's books. The 87th precinct series are very realistic, as is this book. He goes into great detail. The story is very believable