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I wasn’t planning to write a full length review of this entry in the 87th Precinct series, but it’s such an interesting example of McBain’s craft I felt compelled to once I’d finished it.
It’s very much a book of two halves. It’s common for these books to have two or more storylines, but I’m not sure the difference between two parallel plots has ever been as stark as it is here. There’s a cosy caper that feels a bit like the one of those 60s Hitchcock films with Cary Grant, with Carella and Hawes investigating the murder of an old woman and her cat, whilst the victim’s lounge singer granddaughter also chases down the facts. She is accompanied by a comic duo who are both her bodyguards and her lovers and the book contains a brilliantly funny sex scene, as well as some wonderfully farcical moments where both they and the cops keep nearly running into each other. I’m fact ‘Nocturne’ had me laughing out loud more than any other recent book in the series.
On the other hand, Fat Ollie Weeks investigates a crime spree perpetrated by 3 privileged white college boys in Diamondback, the predominantly black borough of the city. This storyline contains a number of moments of casual violence which are both nauseating and chilling. One murder is so murder so graphic and horrid that it matches anything you might read in a horror novel. It leaves that half of the book feeling like the lost Bret Easton Ellis novel between Less Than Zero and American Psycho
The huge gulf between the two plots left me wondering whether ‘Nocturne’ was a failed experiment on McBain’s part or a work of genius. I think I’ve ended up leaning towards the latter, with the contrasts that the book throws up feeling measured and deliberate rather than haphazard. If nothing else, McBain is highlighting the whole spectrum of humanity. That can lead to this being a very tough read at times, even though it is peppered with his trademark humour.
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Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes are working the graveyard shift when they catch two squeals: one is the murder of a poor elderly citizen (and her cat), which seems to be a botched robbery, but nothing is missing. The victim turns out to be a once renowned classical pianist, but is complicated when the detectives discover she had withdrawn $125,000 from her bank on the day she was murdered. And, the money is missing. Her estranged granddaughter gets a note to look in a locker, where her guys report there is only $5,000 and a note that this money is to help her career. Steve and Cotton follow a twisted path of the murder weapon to find the killer. At the end of their shift, a murdered prostitute is found in an alley. Eventually, ace detective "Fat Ollie" Weeks links her death to the killing of a pimp and drug dealer. Despite his feeling that the world is a better place without the two, Ollie tracks down the perpetrators to their unusual lair. I liked some of the imagery of Isola in this one. ( )

I've tried 3 works by Ed McBain and so far at least, I am just not a fan. "Poison" earned from me only half of a star, and "Fuzz" just three. In "Nocturne", the characters are entirely flat and interchangeable and the dialogue is telegraphic with little trace of humanity or humor. As part of the action, a multi-participant sex crime is involved that is downright ugly in its nature and description.

The plot involves the murder of an elderly woman named Svetlana Dyalovich – once a renowned concert pianist – shot in her apartment along with her cat. In an unrelated crime, a young prostitute is picked up by three high school football players and a crack dealer (all four of whom are named Richard). Detectives Carella and Hawes search for the woman’s killer, while Detective Ollie Weeks seeks the killers of the prostitute as well as the woman’s pimp. In a subplot, Svetlana had left 130 thousand dollars to her grand-daughter Priscilla – most of which is stolen by Priscilla’s friends. As it turns out, the death of Svetlana was a mercy killing, done at her own request by a friend. The rapist football players are identified, but the reader isn’t permitted the catharsis of seeing them arrested, much less what they deserve. Overall, I’d describe the book as flat and lacking elements of interest. ( )

Always good to be back in the 87th!
Two main stories in this one - a dead pianist and the Four Richards, the latter being the better story, in my opinion. McBain's strength is his dialogue, and when the detectives talk, the fun flies! Detective Carella is my favorite, and he doesn't disappoint in this! Still digging these tales! ( )

It was very good. The boys of the 87th have an elderly, once famous pianist slain in what looks like a burglary. Ollie Weeks from the 88th precinct makes an appearance. I really like him; he's hilarious. He's a total jerk, not someone you would want to be friends with, but a good detective. Kinda like "House", on TV. Obnoxious but good at his job. ( )