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Ed McBain
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The Mugger (87th Precinct Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Ed McBain (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 2,905 ratings
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This mugger is special.

He preys on women, waiting in the darkness…then comes from behind, attacks them, and snatches their purses. He tells them not to scream and as they're on the ground, reeling with pain and fear, he bows and nonchalantly says, “Clifford thanks you, madam.” But when he puts one victim in the hospital and the next in the morgue, the detectives of the 87th Precinct are not amused and will stop at nothing to bring him to justice.

Dashing young patrolman Bert Kling is always there to help a friend. And when a friend's sister-in-law is the mugger's murder victim, Bert's personal reasons to find the maniacal killer soon become a burning obsession…and it could easily get him killed.

The second book in the 87th Precinct series, The Mugger is an Ed McBain classic, a nuanced portrayal of justice and vengeance hailed by the Daily Mirror as “a masterpiece of crime writing…and there's nobody who does it better.”
Previous page
  1. Book 2 of 52
    87th Precinct Mysteries
  2. Print length
    214 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Thomas & Mercer
  6. Publication date
    December 13, 2011
  7. File size
    781 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stephen King and Nelson DeMille on Ed McBain

I think Evan Hunter, known by that name or as Ed McBain, was one of the most influential writers of the postwar generation. He was the first writer to successfully merge realism with genre fiction, and by so doing I think he may actually have created the kind of popular fiction that drove the best-seller lists and lit up the American imagination in the years 1960 to 2000. Books as disparate as The New Centurions, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Godfather, Black Sunday, and The Shining all owe a debt to Evan Hunter, who taught a whole generation of baby boomers how to write stories that were not only entertaining but that truthfully reflected the times and the culture. He will be remembered for bringing the so-called "police procedural" into the modern age, but he did so much more than that. And he was one hell of a nice man. --Stephen King

Way back in the mid-1970s, when I was a new writer and police series were very big, my editor asked me to do a series called Joe Ryker, NYPD. I had no idea how to write a police detective novel, but the editor handed me a stack of books and said, "These are the 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain. Read them and you’ll know everything you need to know about police novels." After I read the first book--which I think was Let’s Hear It for the Deaf Man--I was hooked, and I read every Ed McBain I could get my hands on. Then I sat down and wrote my own detective novel, The Sniper, featuring Joe Ryker. My series never reached the heights of the 87th Precinct series, but by reading those classic masterpieces, I learned all I needed to know about urban crime and how detectives think and act. And I had a hell of a time learning from the master. Years later, when I actually got to meet Ed McBain/Evan Hunter, I told him this story, and he said, "I would have liked it better if my books inspired you to become a detective instead of becoming my competition." Evan and I became friends, and I was privileged to know him and honored to be in his company. I remain indebted to him for his good advice over the years. But most of all, I thank him for hundreds of hours of great reading. --Nelson DeMille

To read about how Ed McBain influenced other mystery and thriller writers, visit our Perspectives on McBain page.

For a complete selection of 87th Precinct novels available for Kindle, visit our Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Booklist.

Review

“McBain writes with spare economy, bringing his city and the cops who patrol its toughest precinct to vivid life. Classics of crime fiction.” ―Evening Press

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00558UVQ0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (December 13, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 13, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 781 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 214 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 2,905 ratings

About the author

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Ed McBain

Ed McBain

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Ed McBain was one of the many pen names of the successful and prolific crime fiction author Evan Hunter (1926 – 2005). Born Salvatore Lambino in New York, McBain served aboard a destroyer in the US Navy during World War II and then earned a degree from Hunter College in English and Psychology. After a short stint teaching in a high school, McBain went to work for a literary agency in New York, working with authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and P.G. Wodehouse all the while working on his own writing on nights and weekends. He had his first breakthrough in 1954 with the novel The Blackboard Jungle, which was published under his newly legal name Evan Hunter and based on his time teaching in the Bronx.

Perhaps his most popular work, the 87th Precinct series (released mainly under the name Ed McBain) is one of the longest running crime series ever published, debuting in 1956 with Cop Hater and featuring over fifty novels. The series is set in a fictional locale called Isola and features a wide cast of detectives including the prevalent Detective Steve Carella.

McBain was also known as a screenwriter. Most famously he adapted a short story from Daphne Du Maurier into the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963). In addition to writing for the silver screen, he wrote for many television series, including Columbo and the NBC series 87th Precinct (1961-1962), based on his popular novels.

McBain was awarded the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 1986 by the Mystery Writers of America and was the first American to receive the Cartier Diamond Dagger award from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain. He passed away in 2005 in his home in Connecticut after a battle with larynx cancer.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
2,905 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

missaretha
5.0 out of 5 stars Starting the Entire 87th Precinct Over and In Order
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2019
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I'm starting the 87th Precinct from the first book to the last, in order of publication. I started reading Ed McBain as a teenager. I'm 50 now. But I read the books as they were available in the public library so I never read them in order. Plus, there are books that were published in the 1950's when I wasn't alive yet. Along with Ed McBain's first books in this series, The Mugger uses language and descriptions of policing techniques that were used in an entirely different era than today. There was no DNA, there was barely a way to match fingerprints, nothing was computerized, etc. The Mugger takes you back to a time when you had to rely on your gut and a whole bunch of questioning people to find a killer. Definitely old school policing and great characters. In the first book, Ed McBain himself will tell you how he came up with the 87th Precinct and how he chose to set it in an unnamed city that became its own character in the books. Ed McBain was an amazing writer. Anybody who is new to Ed McBain's writing is in for a treat because there are seemingly endless amounts of books to read.
5 people found this helpful
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John H. Manhold
4.0 out of 5 stars Light editing could return this story to earlier status of glory for this reader
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2012
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The Mugger ISBN 9781612181868, Thomas & Mercer, e-book version of an 87th precinct novel by Ed McBain, published in 1956 and republished in 2011.
The author, with his newly acquired name, Evan Hunter and using one of his pen names, Ed McBain, was one of the more successful and better known crime fiction writers of the past few years. His credits, besides the 87th precinct series, include such `classics' as The Blackboard Jungle and screen plays that include Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. His prestigious awards are numerous. Thus, any attempt to provide an honest review of this book is a most difficult task.
The story is one that takes place in his fictitious city of Isola with its similarly fictional characters that make up the squadron of the 87th. The same characters appeared and grew in stature in each of the series while the squadron itself became the `hero'. The idea was unique and McBain provided new and believable plots and people.
Reissue of these stories is a most understandable project. The plots still are excellent, the characters believable and the reader can empathize with them and the writing is well done. However, at the risk of being crucified, I should like to offer a suggestion that I believe would enhance the stories and would have been acceptable to the author himself.
I believe that some light editing would greatly enhance the stories. For example, detectives no longer make a yearly salary of $5000+. Top grade sunglasses don't cost $9 and cheap ones no longer cost pennies. Detectives no longer can interrogate suspects in the manner employed by Detective Havilland. A reader may say these suggestions are picayune. I accept this criticism. However, I also believe that an author such as McBain would prefer to have his material as fresh as it was when he first presented it.
So, to conclude, McBain's stories have lost nothing of their interest. I just believe that a slight editorial update might make them as enjoyable to read as they were when the author first wrote them. Reviewed by John H. Manhold, award winning fiction/non-fiction author.
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Fourlocks
5.0 out of 5 stars A Short Steve Reprieve
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2020
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Much like some movie sequels, The Mugger (Book 2), picks up where Cop Hater (Book 1) left off. Detective Steve Carella is on his honeymoon and out of pocket. This leaves five detectives at the 87th to handle the string of muggings plaguing the city. Three established regulars are in evidence: The first is Hall Willis, a cop small in stature but large in judo skills. He figures prominently in the investigation with a partner and without, even joining in a crap game to advance the case. The second is Detective / 2nd Grade Meyer Meyer, a good cop loaded with patience and, unfortunately in this novel, a long story that fails to pay off in the end, trying my patience. The third is Detective / 3rd Grade Roger Havilland, an aggressive, violent, lazy, racist cop who really has no place at the 87th. He is effective when he follows the rules but only violates them horrendously when working by himself. The fourth cop, serving as attractive bait for the mugger, is Detective / 2nd Grade Eileen Burke who gives as good as she gets. The fifth cop is Detective / 3rd Grade Temple who partners with Meyer on a "plant" and painfully serves as his straight man for most of the story. Accidently shot in the first book, beat cop Bert Kling is now begrudgingly recuperating and unable to work. An old acquaintance drags him into a domestic situation which begins with discomfort and annoyance and goes downhill from there. Bert does as much legwork as the bulls and gets into trouble he ultimately doesn't regret. He, and we, are introduced to Lieutenant Henry Hawthorne from Homicide North and, more importantly, his Detectives Monoghan and Monroe, an interchangeable pair who periodically appear unbidden through the rest of the series to needle, and be needled by, the cops of the 87th and provide unintended comic relief. And, of course, Mr. McBain, whose dialogue I find to be the most realistic in fiction I can recall, caps off this book with another memorably entertaining plot twist. I greatly recommend this easily-read follow-up as a proper addition to the popular series. As I have done, more than once: enjoy.
6 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting plot
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2016
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mcbain is always a quick read, no missing details. He has so many books but love 87th precinct the best
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Brent White
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice period noir
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2024
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Ed McBain series about the 87th Precinct. Book 2 written in 1956. Great procedural interesting cops. Nice New York City vibe. I think I’m going to enjoy these books from time to time.
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Top reviews from other countries

Jl Adcock
5.0 out of 5 stars Another 87th Precinct classic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2013
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'The Mugger' was McBain's second 87th Precinct novel, building on the ideas he started with 'Cop Hater' in centering the action around one police precinct and the same set of characters.

Re-reading this again now, it is genuinely hard to believe that the book was written almost 60 years' ago. It's fresh, pacy, contemporary, and although there are the inevitable flashes of times gone by in the storytelling, it holds up well as a piece of contemporary fiction.

McBain didn't really alter his style much from these early books in the series. The pared down narrative, script-like dialogue and clever, but not over-complex stories, served him and the readers well for the duration of the series. But what is interesting is how fully-formed this all feels when working through the books in chronological order.

It would be great to see the complete 87th Precinct available on Kindle to continue to timeline of the stories. For anyone yet to experience the sheer drive of good, lean, storytelling in this series of police procedurals, a treat awaits.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in Australia on February 20, 2016
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Great Book but what else would you expect from this author
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in Canada on February 16, 2023
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I enjoy this writer quite a lot. I continue to read his series and will read more of his series as my years go on. Happy reading
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Gregor William Hunter
4.0 out of 5 stars The Mugger (87th Precinct)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2015
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I've read the odd Ed McBain novel in paperback, but now using Kindle on my iPad, I decided to start at the beginning of the series and work my way through these. What is interesting for me is that this series started pretty much the year I was born, so that makes them just short of sixty years old!
Yet despite their age there is a refreshing simplicity to the writing that evokes the time and the place. These are good solid reads combining police procedure, good characterisation based around a simple plot line that whilst simple and of its time, is nonetheless well crafted, but a lifetime away from the modern and more graphic genre that favours serial killers and the like (don't get me wrong, I like these!).
Worth reading!
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FictionFan
3.0 out of 5 stars Second book syndrome...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2020
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The detectives of the 87th Precinct are trying to catch a man who is mugging women in the streets of Isola, a district of the city that is clearly a fictionalised version of New York in which the series is set. The man is becoming more violent, often hitting the women even after he has stolen their valuables, and has the strange habit of finishing his assault by bowing and saying “Clifford thanks you, madam.” So far the detectives have little to go on, and the pressure ramps up when one girl, assumed to be Clifford’s latest victim, is found dead.

Having loved the first book in the series, Cop Hater, when I read it a couple of years ago, my expectations of this one were high. It is very readable, but suffers a bit from second book syndrome – McBain seems to be working out what to do with the characters he introduced us to in book 1, and there are so many detectives flitting in and out that it’s quite hard to keep track of who’s who. McBain’s plan was to have the series work as a kind of ensemble, with different detectives coming in and out of the spotlight in each story, and from my memory of reading several of the books long ago, he does succeed in this to a degree. But eventually he succumbed and made Steve Carella the recurring lead – the detective who was the main character in Cop Hater. Carella isn’t in this one, being off on his honeymoon, and his lack is felt.

As the story progresses, Patrolman Bert Kling comes to the fore. He was friends long ago with the brother-in-law of the dead girl, and the girl’s sister asks him to look into her murder. Although this is not the job of a patrolman, Bert feels obliged by friendship to try at least, and he also hopes that it might help him in his ambition to be promoted to detective.

The major problem with the story is that the solution is screamingly obvious. Maybe it wouldn’t have been back then – it’s always a problem to know with older books whether this was perhaps the first time a writer took a plot in this direction, but I fear it’s a plot we’ve all read too often now. My secondary problem was with the amount of violence in the book and its lack of credibility. My dad, who was a boxer, always used to scoff at Hollywood cowboy films where a man would be punched repeatedly in the face, hit over the head with a chair, be thrown over a bar and crash head-first into a wall lined with glasses and then get up, jump on his horse and gallop off after the bad guys, stopping only to kiss the heroine on his way out. While there are no horses nor indeed chairs in this book, the effect of the excessive violence and the characters’ reaction to it had the same effect on me. McBain seems to be using violence and police corruption to give the book its noir tone, whereas in Cop Hater he relied much more on creating an edgy atmosphere through great descriptions of the city.

So one for fans, but not one I would suggest as an introduction to the series for newcomers. The series ran for approximately ten thousand books – well, OK, over fifty – so there are plenty of others to choose from.
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