Orem Library

Ed McBain's astonishing 87th-Precinct series continues with a hard look at what passes for love in a city grown used to crimes of passion. When a beautiful blonde tells Detective Steve Carella that her husband's former chauffeur has made two attempts on her life, Carella immediately begins tracking her assailant -- only to find him far uptown, hanging from a basement pipe, a bullet in his head. Who killed the chauffeur? And why, now that her would-be...

The face of a dead girl is splashed across the front page. She was found sprawled near a park bench not seven blocks from the police station. Detectives Carella and Brown soon discover the girl has a most unusual past. Meanwhile, the late-night news tracks the exploits of The Cookie Boy, a professional thief who leaves his calling card -- a box of chocolate chip cookies -- at the scene of each score.

When Detective Steve Carella, investigating two baffling murders, discovers that his major leads are coming from a beautiful psychic, he abandons standard police procedures for the eerie world of the occult.

What did the messages mean? They were pictures of police equipment, two night sticks, three pairs of handcuffs, four police hats, five walkie talkies, eight black horses. For sure they were clues to murder.

Setting out to avenge himself after being left for dead, the Deaf Man plants a string of clues taken from the plays of Shakespeare, daring the detectives of the 87th Precinct to prevent a seemingly perfect crime.

"It was exactly the sort of case Detective Steve Carella despised. One girl had been raped and murdered; another savagely knifed. A cold-blooded madman was loose in the 87th Precinct. The survivor of the slashing said she could identify her assailant in the police line-up, but he certainly wasn't Carella's prime suspect."--Publisher's description.