| Author | Evan Hunter (as Ed McBain) |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | police procedural |
| Publisher | Original US editions: |
| Published | 1956–2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| No. of books | 55 |
The 87th Precinct is a series of police procedural novels and stories by the American author Evan Hunter under the pseudonym Ed McBain. Hunter's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television on several occasions.
The series is based on the work of the police detective squad of the 87th Precinct in the central district of Isola, a large fictional city obviously based on New York City. Isola is the name of the central district of the city (it fulfills the role of the borough of Manhattan within New York City). Other districts in McBain's fictionalized version of New York broadly correspond to NYC's other four boroughs, Calm's Point standing in for Brooklyn, Majesta representing Queens, Riverhead substituting for the Bronx, and Bethtown for Staten Island.
Other recognizable locations that correspond to New York City landmarks are Grover Park (Central Park), Sand's Spit (Long Island), the rivers Harb (Hudson) and Dix (East River), neighborhoods such as The Quarter (The Village), Devil's Break (Spuyten Duyvil), Stewart City (Tudor City), and Diamondback (Harlem), and specific places such as Buena Vista Hospital (Bellevue), Ramsey University (New York University), Hall Avenue (Fifth Avenue), Jefferson Avenue (Madison Avenue), and the Stem or Stemmler Avenue (Broadway).
The 87th Precinct has sixteen detectives on its regular roster and is said to have the highest crime rate in the city and the busiest Fire Department in the world. Every 87th Precinct novel begins with a disclaimer:
The city in these pages is imaginary.
The people, the places are all fictitious.
Only the police routine is based on established investigatory technique.
The books feature a large ensemble cast, often but not always centered on about half a dozen police detectives and other supporting characters. Detective Steve Carella, a dedicated, honest police officer, is a major character in the series, usually (although not always) at the center of the main investigative plot of any given book. We also see Carella's family life, initially as a newlywed with his deaf-mute wife Teddy, and eventually encompassing the births and growing pains of their three children.
Carella most frequently works alongside detectives Cotton Hawes (initially a resented newcomer), Hal Willis (short, and very aware of it), Bert Kling (an ambitious youngster), Roger Havilland (hot-tempered and quite possibly corrupt), and the wryly cynical but ultra-patient and unfortunately named Meyer Meyer. A mysterious antagonist known as The Deaf Man also appears occasionally over the years. The Deaf Man is a master criminal, who is "a little hard of hearing" (although this may be an affectation) and whose true identity is never revealed. He is the precinct's, and, specifically, Carella's nemesis, and appears in the novels The Heckler, Fuzz, Let's Hear it for the Deaf Man, Eight Black Horses, Mischief, and Hark! Also prominent in several later books is Detective Ollie Weeks, a fat, bigoted, uncouth slob with almost no social graces who is not a member of the 87th, but who is often assigned to work with members of the 87th on cross-jurisdictional cases.
Main characters
Recurring characters
Hunter also routinely published promotional extracts from the 87th Precinct novels in magazines around the time of book publication.
Theatrical films
TV series and TV films
Literature