A blind man is murdered on his way home, his throat cut open. His seeing eye dog is chloroformed so it can’t protect him. Then his wife, who is also blind, is murdered in their home.

“So why are you wasting time with all this Army business?” Byrnes asked. I asked myself that question several times while reading this. I think this is the longest 87th Precinct book so far, and at times, it felt like it. Interesting and well written, but long for just the one case. I did like how Carella used dream analysis to help figure out who-done-it! A new method, I believe, in this series!

Also, I believe that the Carella family now has a new dog. No rabies. ( )

This entry in the 87th precinct series feels a bit more of a detective novel and a bit less of a procedural, with Carrella piecing together the solution to the mystery through conversations with conversations with shrinks and witnesses. It still has many of the trademarks of the series though, and sees narrators McBain in particularly playful form. ( )

Great title!! James Harris was blinded from a frag grenade in Vietnam, but is happy in a biracial marriage with another blind woman. His seeing eye dog Stanely is chloroformed and James dies of a slashed throat. When Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer return to Harris's apartment to accompanying his wife to the morgue, she too has had her throat slashed and the apartment is a shambles. Steve starts his standard detailed investigation, uncovering infidelity and delves into James' nightmares to solve the mystery and find the killer. ( )

If there is a sun that illuminates the police procedural, there is nothing new under it, because Ed McBain has already done it. This one, a highly entertaining post-Vietnam War puzzler, explores the psychology of wartime PTSD, manifested in dreams, memories, and in this case, murder and revenge. Every television cop show from Dragnet to The Sopranos to the one that I saw just a week ago (and can't remember what it is; such is age) bears a direct lineage to this simple yet compelling plot. Along the way is a wry exploration of "sex and the married man" featuring detective Carella. Then there's Stanley, the fiercely loyal seeing-eye Labrador retriever, who may just show up in future books. ( )

Longer than previous entries, but just as engaging. This is prototypical procedural stuff with Carella chasing down all available leads until he has enough to crack the case. There's an odd bit in the middle that relies on a bit of psychoanalysis, some dream interpretation, some transposition, but mostly there is just good police work leading to an arrest and confession. Wholly satisfying. ( )