FUZZ: AN 87TH PRECINCT MYSTERY

For almost 50 years, fans of crime fiction have followed the boys of the 87th Precinct, a fictional urban police department precinct created by the novelist Evan Hunter, writing under the pseudonym Ed McBain. Since the first of almost 50 87th Precinct novels appeared in 1956, a rolling cast of characters in the same setting has grappled with every imaginable kind of crime. Fuzz was published in 1968, when respect for the police was, historically, at a low ebb, and the title comes from the insulting nickname street people used to describe cops.The plot of Fuzz was also highly topical in 1968, a time when the U.S. was rocked by explosive dissent and haunted by political assassination. The detectives of the 87th Precinct are confronted with a call -- obviously a crank call -- that threatens the murder of the city's parks commissioner unless a ransom of $5,000 is paid. The deadline passes, and the parks commissioner is shot in the head as he leaves a concert. Another anonymous warning follows, then the deputy mayor gets blown up in his Cadillac. The young, charismatic, Kennedyesque mayor is next on the list of what can only be called a serial assassin. It is up to the weary, hardworking detectives of the 87th Precinct to find the shrewd murderer before he can strike again.Police fiction -- a kind of novel called the police procedural -- changed forever with the appearance of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels. McBain is a superlative writer, dazzling in his seemingly inexhaustible ability to heighten the intensity of his plots with raucous humor, atmosphere and telling detail. Fuzz is as much about the cops themselves as it is about the crimes they solve. Fans of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue will find themselves very much at home in Fuzz, a tightly wound thriller that is also smooth, satisfying entertainment.

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