Vespers Author:Ed McBain A Novel of the 87th Precinct — In 1956, when Cop Hunter was published, the course of mystery fiction changed forever and "transcending the genre" became an expression premised upon the high standard of quality Ed McBain had set with his new 87th Precinct series. — In 1985, Newsweek magazine chose his novel Ice as one of the 10 best mystery novels ... more »of the 20th century, and a year later he was awarded the title of Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. With the publication last year of Lullaby, People magazine declared, "he is, by far, the best at what he does. Case closed."
Vespers, the new 87th Precint novel, is the shining jewel in Ed McBain's illustrious crown.
On a beautiful evening in May, a young Catholic priest is brutally stabbed to death in his garden. A church practicing statanism is not four blocks away, and the cult sign of Baphomet is found scrawled on the garden gate in bright red paint. There are racial tensions in this part of the city. There are rumors of broken vows and shattered hopes. The trail of blood leads back to a shadowy Easter Sunday, and events that are bewildering, frightening, and contradictory ...
People summed up McBain's most recent work by saying, "The later McBain is much more complex, his writing leaner, his sense of story sharper, clearer. His cops have become seasoned men with eyes that have seen too much madness, the crime and the victim no longer clear portraits sketched in black and white."
His new novel, Vespers, is not merely a dazzling thriller, but an honest and engrossing picture of what it is like to live in these times.« less