The Mugger (Hardcover)

A mugger is brutalizing the women of the 87th Precinct, stealing their purse, punching them up, and taking his leave with a dandyesque bow and the immortal words: "Clifford thanks you." The detectives of the 87th have no sense of humor where this sort of thing is concerned, especially when one apparent victim is found lying dead on a riverside embankment.

While the series actually began with "Cop Hater," this second book, published in 1956, is where the series, and its mythical city of Isola, begins to take shape. McBain takes time out to describe the demographics of the 87th, the dance clubs, the stay-at-home wives who rake each other over in their washing-line gossip sessions like so many Mesdames Defarge.

Some nice time-outs, too, like one early on about the essence of urban loneliness. "Loneliness doesn't respect the calendar," he writes. "Saturday, Tuesday, Friday, Thursday - they're all the same, and they're all grey."

Steve Carella, the de facto hero of the 87th series, is away on his honeymoon for this one, and the reins are taken, for maybe the only time in the series, by a patrolman rather than a detective. Bert Kling is still nursing his injury from "Cop Hater" when an old friend pays him a visit, asking him to talk to his sister-in-law. That he does, and when the sister-in-law turns up dead the next day, he finds himself investigating the mysterious circumstances of her life. Why was a beautiful woman so sad, why did she visit a strange dance club and sit zombielike on the sidelines despite the many invitations to dance, why did she turn up a corpse on the other side of the city?

Since Kling is just a beat cop, he is limited in what he can do, but he does manage to meet one woman who may have some answers, particularly for his own lonelyheart condition. Claire Townsend is one of several recurring characters to make her first appearance here, along with Dets. Meyer Meyer and Eileen Burke and two favorites of mine, the clueless Homicide dicks Monoghan and Monroe.

The mystery moves along at McBain's signature pace, with the detectives setting up dragnets and working around the clock. There is plenty of action, and nice detours like with a sunglasses manufacturer who explains the intricacies of his trade, and the difference between "fronts" and "temples." As with so many of his books, McBain makes you feel less like a bookreader and more of an eavesdropper on a world every bit as vibrant and lived-in, if not more so, than your own.

It's a quick read, but if it's your first 87th book, five will get you ten it won't be your last.