87th Precinct
| Author | Ed McBain |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | police procedural |
| Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
| Published | 1956-2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
The 87th Precinct is a series of police procedural novels and stories written by Ed McBain (pseudonym of Evan Hunter). McBain's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television on several occasions.
The series is based on the work of a group of police detectives in the 87th Precinct in Isola, a district of a large fictional city based on the New York City borough of Manhattan. Other districts in McBain's fictionalized version of Manhattan broadly correspond to NYC's other four boroughs, Calm's Point standing in for Brooklyn, Majesta representing Queens, Riverhead substituting for the Bronx, and Bethtown for Staten Island.
Each novel begins with the same disclaimer:
"The city in these pages is imaginary. The people, the places are all fictitious. Only the police routine is based on established investigatory technique."
In interviews and articles, McBain has freely admitted that his series was heavily influenced by the radio and TV series Dragnet. This introduction, simultaneously evoking and contradicting Dragnet's introductory phrase, "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent," was apparently McBain's way of acknowledging the debt, yet announcing his intention to go his own way in every book.
The series focuses on the detectives of the 87th Precinct, and although different detectives "star" in different novels, most 87th Precinct novels feature a significant role for McBain's leading character, Detective 2nd Grade Stephen Louis "Steve" Carella.
The regular, re-occurring characters of the 87th Precinct novels are:
A number of other detectives are mentioned, or have smaller roles. In the first novel in the series, Cop Hater, Carella is partnered with a detective called Bush. Bush's wife has hired someone to murder Bush, as well as two other officers who are not mentioned in the other novels.
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