"Cop Hater" by Ed McBain - Book Review

After finishing "Nocturne" by Ed McBain, I thought that it was worth going back and checking out some of the earlier novels in the 87th Precinct Series. Cop Hater is the first book in the series and provides an interesting introduction by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter). Mr. Hunter provides a short background as to the motivation behind the series and the starting point for the development of the 87th Precinct. Interestingly, it sounds as though the publisher at the time was looking to replace an existing author in their stable and approached Mr. Hunter about coming up with a unique concept for an on-going series. Given the success of the 87th Precinct series he clearly hit upon an interesting an different format in terms of having a group of detectives and a station act as the main character in his stories.

Ok enough background - Cop Hater essentially introduces us to the core Detectives in the station Carrella, Bush, (no mention of Fat Ollie Weeks in this novel - we'll just have to see when he gets introduced). The main story line here is that a killer is busy knocking off detectives from the station with the assumption that a "nut" who is a "cop hater" is on the loose. The novel is set in 1950s New York and holds true to the era since McBain wrote the author in 1956. I'm not a huge fan of the 1950s or New York but McBain's solid character development and a relatively solid paced plot keep this book moving. Overall, I plan to move to the next book in the series I sense that McBain is onto something with these characters and the concept of following an entire group of detectives in solving a mystery. I'd rate this one as worth taking up to the cottage and worth a quick skim while sitting by the dock.