Hark! Bonus Interview - Otto Penzler at the Mysterious Bookshop

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Extra Special Bonus Podcast!

We're absolutely thrilled to be bringing you this podcast - an interview with publisher and owner of the Mysterious Bookshop, Otto Penzler. Otto was a long time close friend and confidante to Evan Hunter and kindly agreed to meet up with Paul when he was recently in New York, to chat about their relationship and tell us more about what Hunter was like as a person. 

During the conversation, we discuss how much Evan's background may have bled into his books, the success of Evan Hunter vs the longevity of the 87th Precinct, who else fans of the 87th Precinct should be reading and Otto shares some personal recollections of a man who, it seems, was intense, honest, friendly, combative, funny and talented.

We can't thank Otto enough for being so open with us and agreeing to give up some of his working time to talk to us. Reward him by visiting the Mysterious Bookshop next time you're in New York, or exploring the Mysterious Press to find some amazing editions of classic authors. 

Thanks for listening. Please rate, review and share. We'd love as many people as possible to hear this great conversation. Visit us at our blog and buy us a coffee at Ko-Fi . Fare Thee Well!

Side-Pod - The Young Savages: A Glistening Pompadour

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast Sidepod

The team takes in the John Frankenheimer directed film "The Young Savages" from 1961. The film was based on Evan Hunter's "A Matter Of Conviction" from 1959 and is the tale of Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster) and his quest for the truth in preparation for his prosecution of three Italian street-gang members accused of the First-Degree murder of a Puerto Rican boy. When placed alongside the 87th Precinct book "See Them Die" of 1960, it seems streets gangs were much on Hunter's mind.

As we go along we hear some great jazz-slang, Paul's Bin Mystery, Stephen's very best Audiobook voice and discuss another link to the world of Columbo!

Join us soon as we slide back out of the 'real' New York back to the parallel-world of Isola and the 87th Precinct for the next book in the series, "The Empty Hours". Fare thee well. 

Ed McBain's Lady, Lady, I Did It! - Episode 14, Bonus: Novelty P*nis Frying Pan

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast bonus episode!

FULL DISCLOSURE - we suffered our first ever real technical problem during the recording of this episode, so part way through there's a brief music-snippet to paste over the join. We do 'fess up to it and we didn't lose too much, so it's all okay!

In our follow-up to the main podcast episode, we finally reveal the details about Stevo's idea for the show "Criminals and Little and Large"! With amazing skill, Morgan manages to tie our chatter about 1980s/90s British comedy Double Acts back into the world of Police Procedurals, so all's well that ends well.

We have a good bout of Book Huffing and explore the peculiar differences between two seemingly identical editions of Lady, Lady, I Did It! and throw in a bit of detail about the history of Bar Codes and the sorts of things that can crop up if you're not careful with your internet searches.

Join us again soon for the next book in the series, "The Empty Hours" (1962) and some other Hunter/McBain items! Please remember to rate, review, and share wherever you can. Thanks for your support!

Book List Update

I wish this was a post saying there was a new or long-lost 87th Precinct story coming out, but sadly not. However, it is a post to say that we've updated the book list here to include the several short-stories and novellas about the 87th Precinct that were released in some form or other in the latter years of the series. 

Also included is the link (legitimate!) to the story Ed wrote for the BBC 'End Of Story' competition. The idea was that established authors would write short stories without an ending and submissions would be made by unpublished writers. The best would be picked by the author themselves. McBain also wrote an ending and this is the version linked to on the book list.

In regard to the numbering system, I've chosen to add them as 'sub' numbers (i.e. 48a, rather than making it 49) to more accurately express their place alongside the main body of 87th Precinct stories. The scholar Ted Bergman, who we have to thank for so much good 87th Precinct research, used the other system, but I think it's generally considered that we have 55 actual published 87th Precinct stories (including the Christmas novella), so anything additional to that is a bonus. 

Ed McBain's See Them Die - Episode 13: To The Cafeterium!

Hark! It's the 87th Precinct Podcast!

We're coming to the end of 1960 when Ed McBain releases the thirteenth 87th Precinct novel, See Them Die. A tale of gangs, sieges, unrequited love, heat, tear gas and a big fat man. This is West Side Story as you've never experienced it before.

On our travel to Isola's very own Spanish Harlem, we've discuss a whole load of stuff, including a pertinent listener question about the writing and release order of the books, the Ed McBain Mystery Book magazine series, Manhunt and the Puerto Rican diaspora. Stevo is possessed by the ghost of gravel-voiced DJ Tommy Vance, due to his cough, and we also take our usual look at what was going on in music, TV and film of the time as well.

Please retweet, share, review, 'like' - everything like that helps us to reach more listeners and keep bringing all our McBain fan-family together. We'll be back soon with the bonus episode and after that - 1961's "Lady, Lady I Did It". Bye!

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.