- Paperback
- Publisher: Avon Books (Mm); Reprint edition (Dec 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0380711222
- ISBN-13: 978-0380711222
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.7 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,550,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Although the coroner had returned a verdict of accidental death, Zach Blake never really believed his wife had drowned. She had been buried a year and now Blake was back to bury the murderer.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This book was written early on (1958) in McBain's writing career. Though he had already started on the famous "87th Precinct" thrillers (the first, "Cop Hater", came out in 1956), this book was a stand-alone work, unconnected to that famous series. It was written when the heavy hand of censorship oppressed writers of all types. You should also remember that it was among his first works, and make allowances for those facts.
The plot. Zach Blake returns to Martha's Vineyard where, a year before, his young wife had drowned. He is intent on finding her killers, for he has received intelligence that his wife was murdered. He sets about the task, gets warned off by various heavies, is implicated in another homicide, and almost gets himself killed in the process. But he keeps doggedly at it and, in the end, works out what happened, who did it, and why. All ends happily ever after (he marries a girl he met on the Island).
The plot is simplistic, the characterisation cardboard; the seasoned reader will work out what happened, and why, long before the protagonist. The book is short - at 123 pages in the Penguin edition, you can read it at a single sitting (I did). So don't expect much. Read it as a historical curiosity, rather than as a thriller per se, and you'll probably get more out of it. And, if you're a writer manque, take heart - even Ed McBain had to start somewhere!
The plot. Zach Blake returns to Martha's Vineyard where, a year before, his young wife had drowned. He is intent on finding her killers, for he has received intelligence that his wife was murdered. He sets about the task, gets warned off by various heavies, is implicated in another homicide, and almost gets himself killed in the process. But he keeps doggedly at it and, in the end, works out what happened, who did it, and why. All ends happily ever after (he marries a girl he met on the Island).
The plot is simplistic, the characterisation cardboard; the seasoned reader will work out what happened, and why, long before the protagonist. The book is short - at 123 pages in the Penguin edition, you can read it at a single sitting (I did). So don't expect much. Read it as a historical curiosity, rather than as a thriller per se, and you'll probably get more out of it. And, if you're a writer manque, take heart - even Ed McBain had to start somewhere!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great early Vineyard atmosphere
23 May 2002
Format:Paperback
This book was written in the mid-50s and takes place, for the most part, on Martha's Vineyard. A tightly written crime novel, it is interesting for its Vineyard scenery at a time years before the island was the tourist mecca that it is now. A lot of fun for those familiar with the place today. There's a lot more to McBain than the 87th Precinct books.
Taut tart tale by a master pro
15 Feb 2002
Format:Paperback
"Zach Blake",with his young daughter "Penny"returns to Martha's Vineyard where a year earlier his wife had drowned.He is drawn back to the island by a letter from a Native American woman "Evelyn Cloud"who claims to have proof that the death was not,as originally believed,an accident but murder. She denies having sent such a letter and soon afterwards she herself is found murdered.Suspicion momentarilly falls on "Zach"but he is soon cleared.
His daughter is then kidnapped and he is warned to leave the island within 24 hours or she will be killed
The novel deals with the efforts of "Zach"and his ally local newspaperwoman "Enid"to get to the bottom of things, the resolution sees them involved in the worlds of drug smuggling and the high society pastime of yachting before the neat and plausible resolution of the story
Written when he was a younger and hungrier writer than today this is machine tooled efficiency from as pulp pro. Dig out a copy-you are unlikely to regret it
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