Give the Boys a Great Big Hand

by Ed McBain

Ebook, 2011

Library's rating

½

Library's review

The 11th book in the long police procedural series finds the boys of the 87th Precinct in possession of, literally, a great big hand — left at a bus stop in a small overnight bag. Eventually the other hand turns up, and then the clothes worn by the man or woman who left the hand on the bus stop
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bench, but whose hands? And who cut them off and scattered them around the city? There are plenty of candidates for both roles, victim and murderer, and the ending benefits from being both non-obvious and completely believable. A solid entry in the series, despite the sort of casual sexism typical of hard-boiled crime novels of the 1960s. McBain's lyricism as a writer buys him a longer rope from me than other less-skilled wordsmiths.
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Description

A killer in the 87th Precinct is leaving behind severed hands as calling cards, putting Detectives Carella and Hawes back on the streets to end this murderous, gruesome streak. "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 "McBain has the ability to make every character believable--which few writers these days can do." --Associated Press

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1960
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