April 17, 1995
Romance and drama capture police detectives Carella and Kling of the 87th Precinct in McBain's Manhattan clone, Isola City. An actress in a play about an actress who gets stabbed is stabbed. Her superficial wound draws little blood but enough media attention, perhaps, to save the drama from the opening-night closing its director expects. The play is titled Romance, a subject very much the focus of Kling's personal life as he doggedly pursues another cop-black surgeon, Sharyn Cooke. Next, a cast member is fatally stabbed and another member of the company dies in a suspicious fall out of an apartment window, giving the case some urgency and, not incidentally, stirring up ugly interprecinct politics, notably with Carella and King's loathed colleague, Fat Ollie Weeks. McBain has fun in this 48th 87th precinct tale, weaving romantic dialogue into the investigation and taking shots at various dramatis personae of the theater world. When McBain has fun, so do his readers. Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates; author tour.
April 1, 1995
"Romance" is in the air as McBain, acknowledged master of the hard-boiled police procedural, offers up another surefire best-seller. This time, McBain evokes a certain whimsical lightheartedness--albeit mixed with his usual tough violence. Actress Michelle Cassidy is starring in an insipid mystery called "Romance," and in an effort to get some much-needed publicity for the play, she persuades her lover to give her a couple of realistic-looking but superficial stab wounds. The trick works, and the play's assured of success until someone fatally stabs Michelle, then pushes the show's stage manager out a tenth-story window. Which of the characters from the play--the Detective? the Stage Manager? the Understudy?--had the most to gain from the two deaths? Steve Carella and his partner, Bert Kling, try to figure it all out. McBain toys with readers by using a number of devices to spice the story, such as a play within a play, a play on words, and the way events in real life keep imitating art. And he includes a bit of real-life romance, too, as whitebread Detective Berg's hot love affair with ebony-skinned Dr. Sharyn Cooke sizzles amidst the murder and mayhem. As usual, McBain and the 87th Precinct produce another gem. ((Reviewed Apr. 1, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)