Killer's Choice (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1957; vuoden 1970 painos)

liquor store clerk killed by wife of lover

As said elsewhere, yes: short 'n' snappy. Does the job. It's effective, efficient, even entertaining. One can imagine the author as extremely good company: the writing comes easily, the story rattles along, he clearly writes as he speaks - fluently and amusingly ... but perhaps not very profoundly. And this is now a period piece, without quite yet achieving 'historical novel' status. The milieu of late-fifties NYC seems dated, and its inhabitants with it. There are universals in police procedural, for sure, but there is little here to excite a new reader. The plot, too, while clever(-ish), is, shall we say, formulaic, to the point of predictable.

Perhaps I shouldn't have started here? ( )

Carella and Kling team up to track down the killer of a woman that becomes more of a mystery than her death. Carella and Kling make an interesting pair, as Kling's young and almost naive rookie appearance clashes with yet compliments Carella's experience and certainty. This is the first real Rashomon-style story in the 87th series, a theme that McBain will return to again and again to effectively illustrate the difficulty in discovering the truth when it's very definition is more than subjective. Conflicting testimonies and descriptions raise many questions about the true nature of the victim's personality, and many of these mysteries remain unsolved beyond the closing of the case, adding a dizzying perspective to the difficulty the detectives face in sorting relevant facts and clues from personal opinion and self serving dishonesty.

This novel also sees the exit of Roger Havilland and the introduction of Cotton Hawes, the latter of which attempts to track down the killer of the former after a shaky start at the 87th casts doubt upon his credibility in the department. Meyer also makes his appearances, but mostly he is relegated to the background. ( )

Review pending ( )

Another strong entry. I love how fast these books read. ( )