Ed McBain

The Big Bad City       6 hours     abridged     Ed McBain    

In this city, you have to pay attention. In this city, things are happening all the time, all over the place, and you don't have to be a detective to smell evil in the wind.  

Take this week's tabloids: 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. And while the detectives of the 87th Precinct are investigating these cases, one of them is being stalked by the man who killed his father.  

Welcome to the Big Bad City .

Kiss      3 hours      abridged      Len Cariou

Detective Steve Carella must protect a wealthy blonde beauty who has experienced two attempts on her life.

Mischief     3 hours     abridged     Len Cariou  

Somebody's killing graffiti artists. Somebody else is dumping grannies all over town. In a city on the thin edge of racial explosion, a free rock and rap concert is scheduled for the weekend in the park.

And oh, by the way, the Deaf Man is back. In his first appearance since 1985, the nemesis of the 87th Precinct returns with a vengeance. Zeroing in on Steve Carella, he bombards the squad-room with details of crimes he's planning this time. But they prove to contain false leads that add to the difficulty of solving his crimes.

Money Money Money      6 hours     unabridged     Ron McLarty  

It is Christmas in the city, but it isn't the giving season. A retired Gulf War pilot, a careless second-story man, a pair of angry Mexicans, and an equally shady pair of Secret Service agents are in town after a large stash of money, and no one is interested in sharing.  

The detectives at the 87th are already busy for the holidays. Steve Carella and Fat Ollie Weeks catch the squeal when the lions in the city zoo get an unauthorized feeding of a young woman's body. And then there's a trash can stuffed with a book salesman carrying a P-38 Walther and a wad of big bills.  

The bad bills and the dead book salesman lead to the offices of a respected publisher, Wadsworth and Dodds. This is good news for Fat Ollie, because he's working on a police novel - one written by a real cop - and he's sure it's going to be a bestseller. 

Nocturne        6 hours     abridged     Ed McBain    

Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes have pulled the night shift, so they're on call when long-retired concert pianist Svetlana Dyalovich gets drilled twice inside her apartment door. An interrupted burglary? Then why did the burglar also shoot her cat--and how did he know that Mme. Dyalovich had just drawn her life's savings from her bank earlier that day? While the boys of the 87th precinct are puzzling over these questions--and the pianist's granddaughter, lounge singer Priscilla Stetson, is trying to track down the legacy her grandmother promised her- -their neighbors over at the 88th have their own case: a horribly mutilated hooker, her slashed pimp, and a drowned crack dealer, all killed after a wild debauch by three cherubic prep-school kids.  

Vespers     3 hours     abridged     Len Cariou  

The cops of the 87th Precinct must cast the first stone in the bizarre case of a murdered priest -- and a parish torn apart by the deadliest of sins.  

Widows          3 hours     abridged     Len Cariou   

When an elderly man and his twenty-two-year-old lover are murdered, the man's wife, ex-wife, and two daughters become suspects in the crime.