A collection of twenty short stories from the legendary crime author and creator of the 87th Precinct series.Ed McBain was one of the most admired and prolific crime writers of the twentieth century. His long-running 87th Precinct series helped define the gritty police procedural. In The McBain Brief, he presents a series of short stories where desperation, greed, and violence lead to bad ends.A collector who loves his porcelain more than his daughte...

The author of the 87th Precinct series presents the story that inspired The Blackboard Jungle and eleven other tales of tough, troubled kids on the city streets.Inside the concrete walls of Bernard High, brutal young men scrap for survival, fighting with their wits, their knives, and their guns. Brawls are common in the hallways, and more than one student has been carried out on a stretcher this year. Now, Mr. Kemp is the next target. A mild-mannered teach...

A visiting nurse is found murdered aboard a US Navy destroyer in this gripping mystery from the bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series.When Claire Cole meets a sailor at the hospital, he's just another enlisted man in need of her care . . . until he mistakes a nurse's compassion for true love, and a few dates as the beginning of a grand romance. But then Claire visits the USS Sykes to tell him that it's over, and something in him snaps. He curses. ...

A "gripping" collection of crime stories from the author of the acclaimed 87th Precinct novels ( People).Ed McBain's 87th Precinct is "perhaps the finest police procedural series of all time" ( Publishers Weekly). But before he turned to novels, McBain wrote short crime fiction under various names, for pulp magazines including Manhunt and Argosy. Collected in this anthology are twenty-five of these early stories, organized under ...

An assistant district attorney launches a one-man crusade against the Mafia in this legal thriller from the bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series.The call comes from Narcotics, Manhattan South. A low-level drug dealer just got caught in a buy-bust, and he's ready to spill his guts. It wouldn't be a priority—especially not four days before Christmas—but the thug just mentioned the Mafia, and that means all hands on deck. It's just what Michael Welles has be...

An ad executive meets two beautiful—and dangerous—sisters in this sexually charged thriller from the bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series.To escape the daily grind, Steve Richmond leaves his advertising firm for a vacation on Lake George, hoping for two weeks in paradise. Instead, he finds mosquitoes, a drafty cabin, damp blankets, and locals desperate to take him for every penny he's worth. On the bright side, there are plenty of beautiful girls, and the...

A cautious New York burglar risks his neck for the score of a lifetime in this rollicking thriller by the bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series.Alex Hardy is the finest thief in New York City. A crib burglar, he robs apartments—never hotels, never offices, never liquor stores, never jewelers. Strictly apartments, and strictly during the day. He's paranoid, ready to cut and run as soon as a job turns sour—he's already been to prison once, and he doesn't pla...

A vacationing police detective stumbles upon a human-trafficking ring that threatens his fiancée in this thriller by the author of the 87th Precinct series.Phil Colby is just cruising into Sullivan's Corners when the motorcycle cop flags him down. Phil isn't worried; he wasn't speeding, and as a city cop on holiday in a neighboring state, he expects a certain amount of understanding. But the local cop is unimpressed by his brother in blue, and he doesn't buy the st...

A struggle for control of a shoe company becomes a battle between good and evil in this corporate thriller by the author of the 87th Precinct series.For three generations, footwear company Julian Kahn has been synonymous with high fashion. And for Raymond "Griff" Griffin, head of Kahn's cost department, it would be a perfect place to work were it not for Mr. Kurz. A petty tyrant installed by the bank when ownership's grip on the company began to slip, Kurz has made...

Police hunt for a perp who's picking off politicians in this "triumph" ( Chicago Sun-Times).The detectives of the 87th Precinct have gotten a call threatening the life of the city's parks commissioner unless a five-thousand-dollar ransom is paid. It seems like an obvious crank call. The deadline soon passes—and the parks commissioner is shot in the head as he leaves a concert.Soon, another anonymous warning follows and the deputy mayor is blown up ...

Legendary author of the 87th Precinct series Ed McBain presents six hardboiled detective stories starring Curt Cannon, one of the toughest sleuths ever created.Private detective Curt Cannon has lost his wife, his license, and his will to live, and now all he wants is to crawl into the bottom of a bottle and wait to die. He's in the middle of a bender when Peter D'Allessio finds him and begs him to help get his addict son off the needle. Unwilling to be distracted f...

A sleeper agent travels cross-country to assassinate the president in this terrifying political thriller from the bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series.Sonny Hemkar is a doctor in a rough part of Los Angeles, a resident whose days and nights are an endless parade of bullet wounds, cracked skulls, knife-wielding addicts, and innocent victims who don't understand what's happening to their neighborhood. Sonny is just as frightened as they are, but he can't le...