Hal Willis, uno de los detectives del distrito 87, se enamora de una muchacha con dudoso pasado transcurrido en Sudamérica mientras sus compañeros lidian con un asesinato por envenenamiento en esta muy entretenida novela.

“Guy was poisoned with nicotine.”

This is a strange one in that one of the investigating detectives, Hal Willis, hooks up with, and then moves in with, one of the main suspects! Within 3 weeks of the first murder! It just didn’t seem likely. And then, there was way too much back story about the suspect. Heck, a whole chapter is included about her time in Mexico! And honestly, I didn’t care about it at all. I also felt that there was way too much written about the nicotine poison, especially the distillery process. The chemical science of it all was all over my head, and really slowed down the pace of the story.

Overall, this was probably the least favorite book of mine in this series. ( )

This is certainly one of the more horrifying 87th Precinct novels: it contains graphic descriptions of poison side effects and sexual assault. It also contains some dubious ethics similar to Killer’s Payoff, in that one of the 87th Precinct officers ends up becoming involved with a female suspect. I didn’t guess the story at all, which was impressive. I was wavering between 3.5 and 4, but I’m going with 4 just because I was compelled to finish the whole book in a day. ( )

Another very readable 87th mystery with the detectives investigating a murder that soon becomes more than one. A significant part of the book concerns the back story of one particular character and it’s very hard to take at times. It almost felt like McBain was weaving in another plot he had laying around and it didn’t quite work for me as a result. That said, the final reveal is joyously complicated and a lot of fun. ( )

3.5 stars. A man is poisoned with tobacco and another is stabbed to death in another precinct. The only link is an apparent wealthy woman, who was seeing both of them. Then, Hal Willis falls in love with her and her sordid past is revealed to him bit by bit, as she is an obvious suspect, especially when a third drops dead shortly after she visits him to break it off. The 87th Street team solves the murder, leaving Hal in a quandary as to his strong feelings for her. ( )