Con Man

by Ed McBain

1974

Status

Checked out

Publication

Signet Books (1987), 160 pages

Description

When a young woman's body is fished out of the 87th Precinct's river, a street-wise detective is on the clock to find the con man who killed her before he strikes again. "McBain forces us to think twice about every character we meet...even those we thought we already knew." --New York Times Book Review "Imagine your favorite Law & Order cast solving fresh mysteries into infinity, with no re-runs, and you have some sense of McBain's grand, ongoing accomplishment." --Entertainment Weekly

User reviews

LibraryThing member SigmundFraud

I just read my first Ed McBain. I rarely have ever read a thriller but something propelled me to try an Ed McBain. It is all about plotting and I didn't think the plotting was so great. It sort of provided entertainment. Very easy fast read. But you don't need to rush out and buy it.

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LibraryThing member Finxy

The year turns and another 87th Precinct book breezes through. It's April in Isola. The cruellest month? Cruel enough anyway as the con is well and truly on. McBain relishes in his chosen theme. The con and the conmen themselves get a thorough going over by McBain's philosophically edged

examination. The detectives of the 87th are trying to reel in a couple of tricksters who are working their way through the confidence trick handbook, fleecing the rich and poor for a fortune or a dime. Arthur Brown and newly promoted Bert Kling are hitting the streets trying to luck out for a lead on the pair. But it's Steve Carella who discovers a far more sinister and deadly conman at work. The river deals him a woman, dead for some time, a tattoo of a heart encircling the word MAC almost hidden on the flesh of her hand and a mysteriously emptied bank account. As ever the characters are great and becoming more familiar by the book. With the investigations waiting for that one killer lead, McBain revels in dangling them in front of the wrong eyes at the wrong time. Some of it gets dangled by our eyes too through print outs of missing persons reports, Criminal identity cards and, somewhat indecipherably, dental records. Carella is recently back from his honeymoon with new wife Teddy who is deaf-mute. This one works up to a particularly suspenseful finale with Teddy aiding in the investigation.

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LibraryThing member ptdilloway

This book is so incredibly dated. The end relies on three things:

1. Detective Carella's wife is deaf (and apparently there's no sign language yet)
2. Tattoos are rare on women
3. Detective Carella is not at the office and it takes forever to realize they should try him at home.

This would be much more

difficult now since pretty much every woman has tattoos it seems like, but the end would be easier because we have cell phones and even special phones for deaf people if she couldn't just text him.

On top of it the author gives away the killer at around 60%. And for a story called "The Con Man" I was hoping for more of a good grifter story. The part where Detective Brown out-cons the two petty con men is the best part of the book.

Anyway, Elmore Leonard or Lawrence Block are a lot better.

That is all.

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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

I don't remember this one particularly, but I enjoy dropping into the 87th from time to time.

LibraryThing member JonathanGorman

A little bit too much like the last book. Torn on it. Like some of the characters, love how clues are sometimes revealed, but they still don't narrow things down. Also like the characters.

LibraryThing member smichaelwilson

The fourth book in the 87th Precinct series, the title says it all as the members of the 87th attempt to track down various con men preying on the weak and naive members of The City, as well as involving themselves in a few cons of their own.

Written in 1957, my favorite dated aspects of the

narrative:

*When talking about pretty girls, it is noted that no one cares if you are smart "so long as you have a beautiful phizz."

*Pointing out the absurdity of something, it is stated that it "takes the brass bologna" and "wins the fur-lined bathtub."

Main man Steve Carella (freshly recovered from his nearly fatal shooting in The Pusher) and his deaf/mute wife Teddy (who is yet again involved in a crime relating to Carella's investigations) track down the deadly Lonely Hearts killer, rookie Detective Kling assists while helping his college student fiancee Claire con her school into granting her an early vacation, and newly introduced Brown (the 87th's first Black Detective) attempts to stop a pair of street smart confidence men. The mischievous Meyer Meyer and violent Havilland take to the background in this short entry into the series.

As always, McBain's characters are all three dimensional and compelling, and he manages to explore the emotional and philosophical aspects of crimes, victims of crimes, and their protectors in a way that few ever match. The theme of The Con is present in every layer of the novel, from the obvious and dangerous to the subtle and benign. As his opening states and story demonstrates, life itself is a con, and to some degree we are all Con Men.

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LibraryThing member leslie.98

This 4th entry in the 87th Precinct series again features Steve Carella & this time his deaf-mute wife Teddy plays a big part. While con men, big & small, are featured, this book is really a murder mystery at heart.

LibraryThing member bekkil1977

Brown is investigating a pair of con men who are using various methods to bilk people out of money. Brown goes undercover and catches them red handed. The real meat of the story is in Carella and Kling's case. Two floaters have turned up, both female, both with similar heart tattoos on their hands.

Turns out this sick creep is placing ads in lonely hearts magazines, looking for love. When he gets a really sad, desperate one with some money, he pretends he wants to marry them, convinces them to get tattooed with their initials, then poisons them and drops their bodies in the water. Carella's wife, Teddy, who is a deaf mute, helps catch the bad guy in this one. She is in a tattoo parlor, getting a tattoo, when the guy comes in with his would be third victim. She tails them when they leave the shop, dropping off notes begging passerby to call her husband at the squad, since she can't speak. Enough of them call that Carella is able to find the guy's apartment and save Teddy and the victim in time.

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LibraryThing member asxz

Another solid 87th Precinct book. Good to see Teddy Carella getting in on the action instead of just sitting at home looking pretty.

LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco

“Life, if you take a somewhat dim and cynical view of it, is something like a big con game.”

Another good book about the men of the 87th! This one has con men, some just taking money, and some taking lives. And in this book Carella's wife Teddy gets to detect too! This edition of the book also

has an afterword by the author which reveals a mistake he made in the first edition of "The Con Man", a pretty big one! I think it's pretty dang cool that he points that out to us! Just another reason I like McBain so much!

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LibraryThing member ericlee

Having failed to kill off Detective Steve Carella in the previous book, the 4th book in the long-running 87th Precinct series has him playing a star role. As in many of McBain’s novels, there are a number of story lines which in some cases intersect with one another, though others are loose ends.

Though this story mainly focusses on con men, one of them is also a murderer and McBain’s descriptions of how that murderer wins the confidence (and indeed love) of lonely women makes for painful reading. He contrasts this with the true love felt by Carella for his wife Teddy — who in a surprising turn of events plays a central role in the story. Like in his earlier books, McBain the author is both a product of his time, but also ahead of his time. The cop who busts two particularly vicious (and skilled) con men is Black. Teddy Carella is hearing-impaired. A Chinese man plays a central role in helping the police. The cast of characters for a book written in 1957 is truly diverse — and this pattern will continue throughout the series over the next several decades.

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LibraryThing member burritapal

87th Precinct books have been sprinkled throughout my reading career. This one was about several con men, but one in particular: a predator of lonely, naive women.

LibraryThing member leslie.98

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