Romance (87th Precinct) [Paperback]

I love the 87th Precinct series because of the variety from book to book. Some involve serial murders and have a very heavy atmosphere throughout the book while others have a more light-hearted approach to the crimes they are investigating. I also love learning more about the characters' personal lives as the series develops. Romance had me laughing out loud while still keeping me glued to each page and I find myself wishing that the fictional character of Bert Kling has finally found a life-long love interest.

A very nice, typical 87th Precinct book, and it is quite
entertaining. The basic story is about a play within a play,
where an actress is attacked with a knife, in both the play
and the mystery story here.
But it isn't that complicated, and the author does a nice job
of keeping the two mysteries straight. The characters are very
interesting, and there is enough conflict among the various
people to sustain reader interest.
The mystery deepens as the first obvious suspects are suddenly

crossed off the list, and the police have to begin exploring
other possibilities, and the author does a very nice job of
moving the action forward.
The only hitch in the story is the author's clumsy exploration
of a black-white romance, which doesn't ring true at all and
seems extremely dated.
But a very nice entry in this series.

Romance is the name of the game. Actually, in this 87th Preceinct series #46, it's the name of a play in an imaginary town called Isola, full of fictitious people and places.

The play in which Michelle Cassidy is rehearsing the lead is about an actress being pursued by a stalker. One evening, a little after seven, as she is leaving rehearsals at the Susan Granger theater, she actually is stabbed by a man wearing a black coat, a black wide-brimmed hat, and black gloves who lunges out of an alley with a knife.

At the Morehouse General Hospital, the red-haired actress was interviewed by t.v. reporters who didn't realize she had been the former child star of ANNIE on the road. She'd been stabbed in the shoulder, inches away from the heart.

The ER intern who'd admitted her said "had the stab wound been two iinches lower and a bit to the right, she'd be 'playing first harp in the celestial philharmonic'." That very afternoon, she had made a report at the precinct about receiving threatening phone calls from a man sounding like Jack Nicholson, saying he would kill her with a knife.

Like the Knoxville police, they don't consider that a crime (to threaten bodily harm) but wait until it happens to show any interest. One thing which made it sound 'fishy' is the plot of "Romance" where the actress is stalked and stabbed. She told reporters she felt it had to be someone familiar with the play.

Her theatrical agent, Johnny Milton, arrived at the hospital as the two police dectectives started to interrogate her and became suspect #1, even though the show's stage manager knew all the details such as Miss Cassidy's being released from the hospital later that very night.

During their investigation, it is discovered that Milton had a reservation at a nearby restaurant (a 5-min. walk) for 7 p.m. (alibi) and told the cops he thought Michelle had 'planned' the scene for publicity. Later, he said they'd had a disagreement over the phone. Someone she knew did come to her apartment and demanded to be let in, while she was home alone. And, she was relieved when she saw who it was through the peephole, took the chain off, and unlocked three different locks to meet her fate.

Johnny Milton had no reason to kill her, as the stabbing in the alley had accomplished everything he wanted to happen. His client suddenly became a 'star,' as the stabbing had put both her and the play on the map because of the media coverage.

It was unusual for real life to mirror a role in a play; this one called 'Romance.' So why kill the golden goose? Where's the motive: love or money. Possibly it could have something to do with the leading role's lovely understudy, Josie Beals. Or, could it have been Chuck Madden, the stage manager, who had a handwritten note on his machine: "Dear God, please forgive me for what I did to Michelle."

Author of THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE in 1954, plus a multitude of novels as Ed McBain and his real name, Evan Hunter, he earned the title Grand Master from the Mystery Writer's of America. He has to his credit short story collections, a few children's books, also screenplays and teleplays of some of his books. He's still grinding them out.