Romance - Hardcover

McBain, Ed.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 034063815X ISBN 13: 9780340638156

Publisher: Warner Books (1995)., 1995

Synopsis

Romance by Ed McBain - First Warner Books Edition - April 1995 First Printing -- The 87th Precinct is an American literary institution. Created by the grand master of mystery, Ed McBain, the 87th Precinct is where criminals and cops share secrets, tricks, and truths, where strangers meet, fall in love, and sometimes kill. Now, Ed McBain presents his 46th Novel in as series that gets better....

About this title

From the Back Cover

It's not a mystery, it's a story of survival and triumph. That's what some people say about Romance, a would-be hit play about an actress pursued by a knife-wielding stalker. But isn't it romantic! Before the show can open, the leading lady is really attacked, outside the theater. And before the detectives of the 87th can solve that crime, the same actress is stabbed again. This time for keeps. A.D.A. Nellie Brand moves in for a murder conviction, but Detective Steve Carella is sure she's got the wrong guy, and wrestles for the case with Fat Ollie Weeks, Isola's foulest cop. While Bert Kling interviews witnesses and suspects ranging from the show's producers to the author - who has written novels about cops and knows how it's done - to the lead's lovely understudy, he can't keep his mind off what's happening to him. He's falling in love. With a doctor. Who happens to be a deputy chief surgeon. Who happens to be a black woman. In the city of Isola, nothing is black and white. In the play Romance, no one is guilty or innocent. And in the gritty reality of the 87th Precinct, everyone is in love with something - even if it's only murder.

From Booklist

Romance is in the air as McBain, acknowledged master of the hard-boiled police procedural, offers up another surefire best-seller. This time, McBain evokes a certain whimsical lightheartedness--albeit mixed with his usual tough violence. Actress Michelle Cassidy is starring in an insipid mystery called Romance, and in an effort to get some much-needed publicity for the play, she persuades her lover to give her a couple of realistic-looking but superficial stab wounds. The trick works, and the play's assured of success until someone fatally stabs Michelle, then pushes the show's stage manager out a tenth-story window. Which of the characters from the play--the Detective? the Stage Manager? the Understudy?--had the most to gain from the two deaths? Steve Carella and his partner, Bert Kling, try to figure it all out. McBain toys with readers by using a number of devices to spice the story, such as a play within a play, a play on words, and the way events in real life keep imitating art. And he includes a bit of real-life romance, too, as whitebread Detective Berg's hot love affair with ebony-skinned Dr. Sharyn Cooke sizzles amidst the murder and mayhem. As usual, McBain and the 87th Precinct produce another gem. Jasmine Nights

About this edition

• Publisher: Warner Books (1995).
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 034063815X
• ISBN 13: 9780340638156
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320