Roger Moore and the Crimefighters

In the new Bonus episode you'll hear me (Paul) surprise Stevo and Morgan with a second-hand book I'd come across that weekend. It was too good an opportunity to miss sharing this with them. I mean, just look at the cover!

This is a good example of why you should always take the time to investigate the different shelves in second hand bookshops, but especially in charity shops/thrift stores. Very often the staff make an attempt to categorise and alphabetise the books, but they're looked over by so many people it's hard to trust to that fact. Usually there's some gold hidden between the forty-seven copies of The Da Vinci Code and celebrity biographies. I found "The Siege" on a "4 for £1" shelf. There were no other books there that I wanted and ended up paying 50p for it.

It's really extraordinary. It's like having a book series come out these days with, I don't know, Daisy Ridley appearing in it as herself, using her career-connections to act on a hunch about human trafficking or something. To be honest I would read that, but only if it was written by Doctor Who author Rona Monro, to keep the pattern of the book/celebrity/author connections. The author of "The Siege", Malcolm Hulke, wrote a good run of Third Doctor stories in the 1970s, including the plastic-dinosaur extravaganza, Invasion of The Dinosaurs (1974). Clearly he was so immersed in the world of Doctor Who production and life at BBC TV centre, he's written it into the book as an important factor.

I hope you enjoy listening to our response to this novelty on the last bonus episode. I'm sure the next one we do will be more McBain based, but I'm not promising anything...

Listen to this bonus episode herex

Ed McBain's Give The Boys A Great Big Hand - Episode 11, Bonus: The Incredible Malcolm Hulke

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Bonus Episode!

And what a bonus episode it is! After discussing our copies of the 87th Precinct book, with Paul demonstrating his inability to grasp the relative costs of pre-decimal currency, we get down to some important business.

Imagine a world where Roger Moore appears as himself in a children's crime-fighting story-book written by Doctor Who writer Malcolm Hulke, all set in or around an African Embassy and the BBC in 1977... now, STOP IMAGINING and listen to our reactions as we discuss "The Siege" - the first entry in the Roger Moore and The Crimefighters series! A book that almost defies description!

Listen out in the background for mysterious Mic-stand-spring noises (sorry) and contemplate why George Lazenby never organised children into an impromptu militia.

See you in the New Year for probably more discussion back on the topic of Ed McBain and "The Heckler". Merry Christmas!

Ed McBain's Give The Boys A Great Big Hand - Episode 10: Dropping A Steam Engine Onto A Battleship

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast.

Ten books and four years into the 87th Precinct series, and we've reached 1960 and the grisly but gripping tale of severed appendages, rainy weather and missing musicians. Along the way you can learn about the great fashions on offer at "Urban Suburban", the history of UK publishers T V Boardman and hear Stevo morph briefly into a pensive lion.

We do our review of music and culture for 1960 and reveal the shocking secrets of Jeff Lynne's collusion with robot overlords. All this and Ed McBain too!

Thanks for listening and please continue to like, share and review. We also want to direct your attention to the website wearecult.rocks in general and the article by Paul, here, about the books.

Bonus episode out soon and get your (still attached) hands and eyes moving over "The Heckler" for the next episode.

Ed McBain and The 87th Precinct

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast Article!

Once again the website We Are Cult is kindly playing home to our expressions of love for McBain and the 87th Precinct books. You might remember we appeared as Podcast Of The Week a little while ago.This time they're featuring an article by Paul. You'll find a little bit about McBain himself, stuff about captivating qualities of the 87th Precinct books and some explanation about why we started the podcast.

Click the link below to have a read!

http://wearecult.rocks/ed-mcbain-and-the-87th-precinct

Side-Pod - Star Trek Assignment Earth: DISCO BEAR

Hark! It’s an 87^th Precinct Podcast Sidepod!

We slip time-streams today and end up in the 23^rd Century before being whizzed straight back to the 20^th Century, 1968 to be precise, as we look at what could have been Star Trek’s swan-song. The episode “Assignment: Earth” was the final episode of season two of Star Trek at a time when the show was threatened with cancellation. This episode was intended as a back-door pilot for a new spin-off.

So how does this relate to the gritty and down to earth world of Ed McBain and the 87^th Precinct? Well, it’s linked by two very thin strands. The main star of the episode is the best on-screen version of Detective (2^nd Grade) Steve Carella, Robert Lansing as Gary Seven and also Leonard Nimoy who starred as a skinny-tie wearing, car-hiring, drug-running baddy in the 87^th Precinct TV series in 1961.

Joining Paul for the chat is illustrator, educator and all-round sci-fi nerd, Adam Paxman. Search for his various art outputs online: Mister Paxman’s Glorious Bastards, The Museum of Fragmented Shadows and BurningZebra: The Abandoned Storybook – a treasure trove of grotesques, horrors, intrigue, sci-fi, adventure and philosophy in various forms.

Wordcloud - The Titles of The 87th Precinct novels

We switched K.E.N.N.E.T.H. into "Word Cloud" mode over the weekend. We fed in the titles of all of the 87th Precinct novels, stoked his boiler, pulled the lever marked "Go" and then interpreted the resulting punched-card output as follows:

The process removes common linking words, to try and highlight which words are used more often. It's an interesting result in that "Money" appears to be one of the main words but it simply features three times as the title of one book ("Money, Money, Money", 2001). "Hail" also appears three times, but again as a duplicate ("Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here", 1971 and also "Hail To The Chief", 1973).

"Lady" is similar - appearing in two titles as a duplicate and singularly ("Lady Killer", 1958 and "Lady, Lady I Did It", 1961). "Killer's" appears as a result of the three early novels, the Killer's Trilogy, if you like, but otherwise it's clear that Evan/Ed was great at coming up with unique titles for the books, picking out words or phrases that were memorable enough that in most cases they were either released as single word titles ("Ice", "Lightning", "Vespers" for example) or had a key single word element (Heckler, Hand, Ransom). 

Looking Back - Cop Hater

Shall we take a trip down memory lane, to 1956 and the release of the first 87th Precinct novel, "Cop Hater" by Ed McBain - a pseudonym of Evan Hunter?

Copyright for Cop Hater was registered on the 20th March 1956, as can be seen in the "Catalog of Copyright Entries" for the year:

It was published by Permabooks - an imprint of Doubleday begun in 1948, out of their Manhattan office. Part of Permabook's mission statement was to produce "Books for reference, recreation and self-improvement". By 1954 Doubleday had sold the imprint to "Pocket Books" and Cop Hater was published by them on 10th April 1956 with serial M-3707.

The New York Times first reference to the book that would start this extraordinary series of police procedural books was simply this:

The novel was reviewed in the 29th April '56 edition of the NYT, by Anthony Boucher in his "Criminals At Large" column. Boucher himself was an author and editor of mystery and "fantastic fiction" writing. His review of Cop Hater says, "McBain has caught TV's semi-documentary flavor excellently. He's written a tough, sexy novel with inherent honesty and decency." (Full Text)

The UK release (by publisher T.V.Boardman) was reviewed in The Observer on 4/1/59 by Maurice Richardson who considered it "Efficient and Violent [with] convincingly detailed description of police procedure". Richardson further suggested that the book is "Crudely plotted but unforced" and states, rather grandly, "The development of this form is important for the future".

On June 5 '57 the NYT was reporting that newly formed film company, Barbizon films, was planning to make movies of COP HATER and THE MUGGER. Filming was reported to have started on August 6, 1957 with William Berke directing and Robert Loggia as "Carelli" (named changed from "Carella" for some reason!). Editing for the movie of Cop Hater was scheduled to finish by 20th Sept '57 (45 days to shoot & edit a film!) before filming on The Mugger began. The movie opened on 1st October ‘58. A review in the NYT the next day described the “inept direction” & said the best thing about it was that it featured relatively unknown actors.

Should you want to hear our take on Ed McBain's Cop Hater from the 87th Precinct series, our very first ever bumper size podcast episode is available here, or on anyof the main podcast providers.

Ed McBain's King's Ransom - Episode 10, Bonus: As If It Twere A Serpent's Tongue

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus Episode!

Join in again with our first birthday party, as we muse on Party Blowers, bakelite telephones and unidentified oscillators, the 87th Precinct TV series episode "King's Ransom" and answer some listener questions and queries. We discuss whether there should be a British novelisation of a Tollywood version of a Bollywood version of a Japanese Version of this American book.

Everyone's favourite peculiarly-accented ghost, Groff Conklin, pops by to give us some extra information! Right-ho - we'll be back soon for "Give The Boys A Great Big Hand"! Please like, rate and review wherever you get your podcasts!

Ed McBain's King's Ransom - Episode 10: Worthy Of A Long Pause

**Hark! It’s the 87th Precinct Podcast! **

…and it’s our birthday! A year since we began putting the podcast together. Have some cake!

It was a little longer ago (about 58 years longer) when Ed McBain’s “King’s Ransom” was released, the tenth of the 87th Precinct mysteries, and the last to be published in the 1950s. In this episode we look at McBain’s moral compass, propose a theory about P G Wodehouse and contemplate the voice of grief-weasel Adrian Score. It’s such a good book, we’re not even that silly! Don’t worry, because there’s lots more stuff to come. 

There's some true crime comparison, some more chat about The Bill and plenty of Columbo comparisons scattered throughout.

Thanks for listening. Please take the time to like/rate/review on whatever podcast app you use, as it will really help us to extend the reach of our McBain fandom.

See you soon for “Give The Boys A Great Big Hand”

The "Real World" 87th precinct

Did you know there was once an actual 87th Precinct in NYC? McBain's books take place in a fictionalised equivalent of Manhattan ("Isola"), but in the real world the 87th Precinct was based on the corner of Humboldt and Herbert in Brooklyn.

The station house is now condos. Originally built in 1891 in the days when stables for horses needed to be incorporated into the design of the precinct houses.

There were proposals to close the precinct for quite some time. News reports from 1954 and 1971 show community protests against the proposed closures. Clearly the precinct was important to the community. An article from the Greenpoint Weekly Star in 1967 reports on the final day of the precinct's "Village Art Exhibition".

Sadly, the '71 protests didn't prevent the precinct from closing, merging - along with the 92nd Precinct - into the 90th Precinct which still operates out of 211 Union Avenue.

Ed McBain's 'Til Death - Episode 9, Bonus: McBain's McTime McChine

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus Episode!

Good grief! We go on quite the journey in our bonus episode. Morgan tells us all about the intriguing CAPTAIN VIDEO, Paul finally reveals the link between the worlds of Ed McBain and the 'Carry On...' films and Stevo recalls the Many Masterminds of our youth. Oh, and there's the usual book cover comparisons, a light book huffing and the lizard prophecies of David Icke for your entertainment too.

Thanks for listening! Join us next time for Ed McBain's "King's Ransom". Please rate, review and share - cheers!

We Are Cult - Podcast Of The Week

Hullo!

We've very kindly been featured as Podcast of The Week on "We Are Cult" - a great magazine looking at all things Cult/Pop Culture. There's a Q&A about the podcast for you to read, setting out our stall and looking at why we're doing this. Have a look, share the article and enjoy We Are Cult!

Ed McBain's 'Til Death - Episode 9: Simultaneous Slush Pump Discharge

**Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast!**

McBain's Matrimonal Madness as told through the story of Det. Steve Carella's Sister's Wedding in 'Til Death (1959). Funnily enough, the wedding does not go smoothly.

Along the way we discover what the official units of measurement will be post-Brexit, hear a true-crime tale of wedding misfortune and become obsessed with nicknames for trombones. Please rate & review us wherever you listen! See you next time for "King's Ransom"!

Unusual Editions Spotted In The Wild

There's certainly a few seemingly anomalous editions of McBain books knocking about - some strange combos of 87th Precinct novels from different eras in one volume, for instance. Today I stumbled upon the following hardback:

This is the rather bizarre combination of a 1987's "Puss In Boots" - not an 87th Precinct mystery, but the seventh of the Matthew Hope novels (Hope, McBain's Florida-based lawyer does come into contact with the 87th Precinct in his final outing, The Last Best Hope in '98.) - and 1958's "Lady Killer" which we reviewed on this podcast. 

The cover of this hardback, published in 1988 by Guild Publishing, is certainly of its time - nice stark, nearly neon, lettering and a cover that probably has some resemblance to the plot of the Matthew Hope novel, but not at all to the 87th Precinct story. 

If you're desperate to experience this dual-book curiosity yourself, then I spotted it the British Heart Foundation charity shop on Bold Street, Liverpool. Don't all rush at once. 

For Illustrative Purposes - Killer's Wedge

Here, as discussed in the bonus episode, are the covers of the editions of Killer's Wedge that we have. Left to Right, Paul's copy is the 1978 Penguin Edition, Stevo's is the 1979 Penguin and Morgan's is the 2007 Allison and Busby edition (featuring shattered glass, which in no way relates to the story).

Earlier editions focused, quite reasonably, on the most important non-cop character, Virginia Dodge, although the difference between her portrayal on the original hardback (L) and the paperback (R) perhaps tells you something about the different approaches/markets the editions were aimed at!

And at least one edition (Signet) doesn't bother to play with the main-plot at all, but goes straight in for a spoiler about Carella's discovery/showdown/fistfight from his B-Plot "Locked Room" mystery:

Still, they're all better than the currently available Thomas and Mercer edition (Amazon), to the extent I'm not even going to link to the image. Remember - buy second-hand! Support independent booksellers! Enjoy the thrill of the book hunt!

Ed McBain's Killer's Wedge - Episode 8, Bonus: We're Not Graphologists

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus Episode!

Hello and welcome to the sound of three men comparing the letter 'r' for your listening pleasure! In this episode we follow up on the last episode discovery of artist Theo Ramos's name in Stevo's book (have a look at artuk.org/discover/artists/ram...theodore-b-1928 for some examples of his work) and we take a further look at the 87th Precinct TV episode, Lady In Waiting (2 October '61), and revel in the intense eye-acting work of Constance Ford. Also, if you're not from the UK and you've never heard of Art Attack, How? or Neil Buchanan's "Marseille" - don't worry about it. You're probably better off.

We'll be back soon with the matrimonial catastrophe that is Ed McBain's "'Til Death" ('59)! Please, if you're enjoying these, a review on Apple Podcasts would be super-appreciated and allow us to reach a wider audience. Feel free to comment, contribute or critique at Hark87Podcast on social media, or email us at Hark87Podcast@gmail.com - bye!

La Soupe Aux Poulets (1963)

La Soupe Aux Poulets ('63) ("Chicken Soup") was a French film adaptation of Ed McBain's Killer's Wedge ('59) http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0054329/ - The posters look like paperback crime novel covers, with hints of French New Wave cinema added in. 

Ed McBain's Killer's Wedge - Episode 8: Supernatural Elephant

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast - Killer's Wedge!

Here we are again with the next story in the fabulous Police Procedural series and we've finally reached 1959 and the eighth book in the 87th Precinct series, Killer's Wedge.

Along the way we talk about the TV episode from the adaptation in 1961, explore the Locked Room Mysteries of John Dickson Carr and draw parallels to a Transformers comic from 1984 and reveal what the S.I. unit of Desk Name-Plate measurements is.

Join us soon for the Bonus episode to accompany this story and then in the next podcast for Ed McBain's 'Til Death!

Columbo and the 87th Precinct - Lady Killer

What's that? You want to know if there are any links between Columbo and the 87th Precinct TV episode based on "Lady Killer", the last book we looked at on the podcast? Well, gosh, yes there is!

• Playing psychiatrist, Dr Daniels (not in the book), is Harlan Warde, who is bumped-off & dumped in the sea in Ransom For A Dead Man

• Vito Scotti, as Stool Pigeon "Donner" (not "Fats" in the ep!), was in 6 episodes of Columbo between '73 and '89.

• Penny Santon, playing Mrs.Annuci, appeared in two episodes of Columbo in the Nineties... firstly, Death Hits The Jackpot in ’91 then she appeared again, in '94 in "Undercover", the story based on Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novel, "Jigsaw" (1970).

Ed McBain's Lady Killer - Episode 7, Bonus Episode: Mimimimim Street

Here we are with a bit of the usual (Book Huffing, Cover Art, Listener Questions) and the start (we think) of something more unusual, as suggested by Groff Conklin, the fact-checking Ghost! Enjoy Paul's INCREDIBLE American accents and chat about maps in books and which Liverpool pub would be most suited to featuring in an 87th Precinct novel.

Join us soon for Killer's Wedge!

Moving Podcast - Moved Podcast - A Message From Carella

Morning all! 

You may have seen my tweets and messages about our moving from Soundcloud to Hearthis.at. This wasn't fully triggered by the rumours and threats to the security of Soundcloud as an ongoing business. I had reached our upload limit, which they measure in time, and it was more economical to move to a new provider than to pay for the upgrade to the Soundcloud service. Any way, it all seems to have worked okay, with the new site up and running with all the episodes (albeit the earlier two-parters now combined into one). 

There was a special Podcast message in relation to this, featuring everyone's favourite 87th Precinct cop, Detective Steve Carella. Click below to listen!

Thanks for listening and I hope you continue to enjoy our exploration of these books and the assorted daftness we fit around that. The current episode looks at "Lady Killer" (1958) and next up it will be "Killer's Wedge" (1959). 

Cheers

Paul

Ed McBain's Lady Killer - Episode 7: Bernard Bresslaw Stars as Poirot

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast - Lady Killer (1958)!

Yes, Lady Killer, not Killer's Wedge (that's next up!). We discuss the seventh novel in the sequence and along the way deal with the films and infrastructure developments in 1958 Britain, Paul has a Wine & Crime moment (www.twitter.com/wineandcrimepod), Stevo becomes possessed by the Heart of Paul Carrick and we sing ribald satirical songs in not-particularly tuneful ways. 

 A bonus episode will be coming along soon - probably as will a message about us moving over to Hearthis.at from Soundcloud - once I've figured out all the RSS things. In the meantime, sharing and reviewing however and wherever is appreciated!

Happy Fourth of July from Isola

The weather and the time of year play characters themselves in the 87th Precinct books. Our last podcast https://soundcloud.com/hark87podcast/ed-mcbains-killers-payoff-episode-6-rick-astley-as-a-dr-who-magician takes place on and around July 4th and the city residents are behaving true to form:

So, we hope you're having a more peaceful 4th July than this one and that you're being nice to both humans AND animals! Coming soon - LADY KILLER!

Book Order...

You'd think, what with all the research I've (Paul) done for this Podcast, including setting up this blog and checking the exact dates for publication/copyright registration, I'd have got the statement about the next book we're looking at right in the last podcast wouldn't you? Well, I didn't.

The next in the 87th Precinct series that we'll be reading and chatting about is, of course, "Lady Killer". I said it was "Killer's Wedge" which is the one after that. I think I'm just really quite excited about that one. Also I think I had them organised wrong on my shelf. 

Always check your workings-out, kids. See you soon for "LADY KILLER"!

New Logo

It was about time, six books and fourteen episodes in, to have a little rethink of the log. We still love the drawing Lorraine did of the 87th Precinct frontage and it'll probably continue to have a home/purpose, but I wanted something a bit more stark and stand-out for social media, that can fit the squares and circles that the various sites constrain the image into, so here's the new icon:

Nothing too flash, but the words 'Hark!' and the number '87' stand out more. The yellow colour is sampled from the title colour of the first edition of "The Mugger", which you can see on our twitter feed, where it has been animated in 2.5D (for experimentation's sake).

Killer's Payoff - Episode Six, Bonus Episode: Bob Monkhouse & The Spanish Civil War

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct podcast BONUS EPISODE!

Are you looking for: A rubbish story about shopping? The sound of some men smelling books? Impressions of Melvyn Bragg? Silly Robot Voices? Well, you've come to the right, er, podcast. We take our usual look at the covers of our books and then get a bit silly. Thanks for listening!

Updates

A couple of site updates as I slowly build up the information on here: I've added a short biographical note to the 'Ed McBain' page and included some links to online radio programmes with interviews that McBain took part in over the years. I'll add any more as I find 'em and keep fleshing it out. 

Ed McBain's Killer's Payoff - Episode 6: Rick Astley As A Dr Who Magician

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast - Killer's Payoff!

We don't so much review the book as much as skirt around it in a conversation which features first lines from Sci-Fi novels, Murder On The Orient Express and which model trains are available, how to pronounce (or not) 'Adirondacks', Irish policemen's belly-buttons and a load of other nonsense as well!

Please share and like, subscribe, comment, on this or iTunes or wherever you fill-up your Podcast knapsack! Bonus episode coming next week!

Killer's Choice book covers

We mentioned on the bonus episode the extreme differences between Paul and Stephen's 1970s Penguin editions of the book and Morgan's Allison & Busby edition from 2000. The evidence is here:

What inspired the publishers to put day-glo green text on a grey background is beyond us. Believe us when we say it looks much worse in real life than this picture suggests! Allison & Busby are still publishing crime fiction, amongst other things and it appears they've got their graphic design sorted now. They don't publish any 87th Precinct novels any more. 

Ed McBain's Killer's Choice - Episode 5, Bonus Episode: Who and The What-Whats?

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus Episode!

A bit of a bumper bonus episode, as we take our traditional look at the editions of the books we've got and examine how the book was adapted for the TV episode in 1961.

Along the way we get some info wrong and Groff Conklin pops up as the Fact-Checking Ghost to set us right!

Thanks for listening. Please continue to share, subscribe, review and get involved. Hark87Podcast@gmail.com

Ed McBain's Killer's Choice - Episode Five: The High Road and Scotch Eggs

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast - Killer's Choice.

We've returned, with a bumper episode based on the 1958 novel "Killer's Choice" by Ed McBain. Along the way we answer a surprising amount of listener questions, corpse exquisitely and consider the ultimate question; Which is better - The Pit and The Pendulum or Emmerdale?

Thanks for the listens, folks! Please share and, if you're listening on iTunes, like, subscribe and (even better) drop a review on there! Feel free to get in touch on Twitter, FB, or on Hark87Podcast@gmail.com if you like.

See you soon for "Killer's Payoff".

Ed McBain's The Con Man - Episode Four, Bonus Episode: The Three Main Fluids

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus Episode!

Carrying on from our main 2-parter, we examine (as usual) the different editions of the books we have. Chat about Gena Rowlands as Teddy Carella and discuss how we would cast a new 87th Precinct TV series in response to a listener question.

Our next book will be "Killer's Choice". 

Ed McBain's The Con Man - Episode Four: Who Wants A Crime? and A cross between Alan Moore and Bob Ross

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast episode 4  "The Con Man".

Originally a two part episode - now combined into one:

Original Part One Info:

"This time we're looking at the fourth novel (The Con Man - 1957) in the series and also looking at/comparing it to episode one of the 1961 TV series first episode, The Floater, which is adapted from this book.

This episode will be in two parts - next part next week, and some bonus material to follow after that! Hope you enjoy it!"

Original Part Two Info:

"We pick up where we left off in the last podcast, discussing both Ed McBain's 1957 book The Con Man and the first episode of the 87th Precinct TV series, The Floater. Along the way we get massively distracted by classic British police series, The Bill and develop a whole new and entirely implausible way to end the podcast."

Ed McBain's The Pusher - Episode 3, Bonus Episode: Book-Huffers

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct podcast Bonus Episode!

We have a look at our editions of The Pusher - discuss their relevant smells and graphics, Paul tells another story about a bookshop and then we finish in time to go and do a pub quiz (which we won).

Join us next time for The Con-Man!

Ed McBain's The Pusher - Episode 3: Large McGann

Welcome to Hark! Episode 3 - The Pusher!

The third of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series - we look at what could have been the last one, had they not been the successes they were and we answer some entirely unrelated listener questions along the way.