review

i have been a fan of ed mcbain's 87th precinct stories for a long time. i began reading them at a comparatively early age. why? well because both my mum and dad read them, so it made me feel grown up. there was the chance that there would be a sexy scene in them and i have always been a sucker for crime stories.
ed mcbain (or even hunter as he was) has been writing the 87th precinct stories since the 50s the first one being the cop hater.
as with all things childish and teenagish i sort of lost track of ed mcbain's books occasionally dipping into one every now and then. Recently i have started reading them a bit more often.
the frumious bandersnatch is the story of the kidnapping of a soon to be rap diva and the subsequent tracking down of the kidnappers. it is never quite explained why a rap r&b diva wannabe would record the this lewis carrol poem but so what. steve carella is the cop in charge of finding the kidnapped diva, but he is soon co-opted over to working with the fbi. as with all of mcbain's 87th work this is not so much about the crime itself, the crime provides a way for mcbain to show off a bit of knowledge about police procedures - but mostly it is about the characters.
mcbain has a clear style, a casual style and he moves the story along at a fair old pace, keeping the reader wanting more. while steve carella maybe the star of this particular book the other detectives on the squad get to have a mention so we still see what is going on in the lives of meyer meyer, bert kling, cotton hawes and the rest. not to mention a regular cameo of a recent creation ollie weeks.
all in all a good read, there are no surprises, there is nothing spectacular here. what you get is solid storytelling done with sure style that is a pleasure to read.
you can't really ask for more.

i was thinking as i finished the book last night why don't they do this as a tv series or series of movies. when you consider some of the stuff that is optioned for the cinema or tv.

on checking the ed mcbain site i discovered that he had recently died.