Gloria Stanford was very sexy, very rich and very, very dead. Found in her plush, city apartment, she had been shot twice in the heart. All her credit cards and ID were gone but apart from that there seemed no motive at all. It's only when the detective-in-charge, Steve Carella, starts to receive bizarre cryptic notes in the mail that he realises something bigger than a simple homicide is going on. It seems the Deaf Man is back - a notorious crook and killer who has a morbid fascination with puzzles and anagrams. Long thought dead, he's back on the loose and wants his long-hidden millions back...
Gloria Stanford was very sexy, very rich and very, very dead. Found in her plush, city apartment, she had been shot twice in the heart. All her credit cards and ID were gone but apart from that there seemed no motive at all. It's only when the detective-in-charge, Steve Carella, starts to receive bizarre cryptic notes in the mail that he realises something bigger than a simple homicide is going on. It seems the Deaf Man is back - a notorious crook and killer who has a morbid fascination with puzzles and anagrams. Long thought dead, he's back on the loose and wants his long-hidden millions back...
A true great of crime fiction. MONEY MONEY MONEY was shortlisted for the 2002 Edgar award for the best novel. Ed McBain won the prestigious CWA/Cartier Diamond Dagger - the first US writer to do so. McBain's recent novels have been widely acclaimed as the best of his long and distinguished career. He always receives first-rate reviews: 'Sharp, clever and - like the mechanics of Carella's investigation - always true to life' Daily Mirror. 'An undoubted master ... [an] immensely assured performance' The Tablet. 'McBain continues to do what he does best: to write the most engrossing, subtle and accurate dialogue, to which he brings a beautifully soft comic touch. Fans of hard-boiled police novels will have to travel far to find anything better ... They say you should leave them wanting more. McBain always does' Spectator 'The master of the police procedural returns ... McBain is a perennial cause for rejoicing' The Times.
Ed McBain (1926-2005) was born Salvatore Lambino in New York. He changed his name to Evan Hunter and under that name is known as the author of The Blackboard Jungle and as the writer of the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. The 87th Precinct series numbers over fifty novels. McBain was a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and was one of three American writers to be awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement.
Every good detective needs at least one bad guy who manages to gum up a perfect record, and in the case of Steve Carella and his fellow cops in the 87th Precinct, the "Deaf Man" is the elusive felon. Since his very first appearance in Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man, he has taunted, teased, and tormented the 87th, and in his latest outing, he brings Shakespeare to the decidedly middle-brow detectives. He sends them a series of cryptic notes, all delivered by various residents of the city's detritus, each containing a sentence from Shakespeare's various plays, poems, and sonnets. Listeners of the 87th Precinct novels will not be surprised when cops like "Fat Ollie" Weeks and Richard Gennero squeal in righteous ignorance, but Steve, Meyer, and Hawes catch on quickly that the quotes are clues to the Deaf Man's next crime. Reader Michael Arkin is simply fantastic in his ability to juggle a multitude of voices and accents while remaining faithful to McBain's trademark rough weariness evident in the cops' behavior and to his exquisite talent for setting scenes with just a few carefully chosen descriptive phrases. Essential for all libraries.-Joseph L. Carlson, Allan Hancock Coll., Lompoc, CA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Several excellent narrators, including the author, have lent their voices to McBain's long-running series about the detectives of the 87th precinct, but none seems as perfectly tuned in to the sleuths' personalities and attitudes as actor, playwright and author McLarty. He picks up all of McBain's nuances and adds a few of his own when delineating the lengthy lineup of characters from the thoughtful, heroic Steve Carella, somewhat distracted by the impending dual marriages of his mother and sister, to the Deaf Man, the velvety smooth recurring nemesis of the 87th. This time the puzzle-happy villain bedevils the precinct with Shakespearean quotes, giving McLarty the rare opportunity to show off his flair for classical locution. But of his many audio achievements, the finest is his interpretation of the overweight, obnoxious Det. Ollie Weeks, to whom McLarty gave voice in Fat Ollie's Book (2003). In that audiobook, Weeks found love in the form of Officer Patricia Gomez. Near the end of this audiobook, there's a beautifully written vignette in which Ollie and Patricia take a skim milk break, with him trying to alter his chauvinistic, racist lingo while she tries to bolster his flagging self-esteem. McLarty captures the humor, poignancy and, yes, romance of the scene, shifting between the two very different voices with eye-blink speed and even adding asides from an acerbic waitress. It's a magic moment and not the only one to be found in this highly entertaining adaptation. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Forecasts, July 19). (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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