Supper SleuthsA police procedural is a story or drama about the investigation of a crime by the police. McBain and Hill’s series are excellent examples of this type of mystery.
Ed McBain is a pseudonym of Evan Hunter. Born Salvatore Lambino, he chose to publish under the McBain pseudonymn because mysteries were in such disfavor in the 1950s it was thought that it would tarnish his reputation as a real writer. As Evan Hunter he wrote the script for The Birds and 1954's classic The Blackboard Jungle. Evan Hunter wrote over 100 novels between his McBain and Hunter's pen names. (Willetta L. Heising, Detecting Men, Purple Moon Press, 1998)
The 87th Precinct novels were the longest running series in contemporary crime fiction at the time of his death in 2005. The 87th Precinct is about a thinly disguised NYPD, set in Isola, New York. Steinbrunner and Penzler's Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection (1976) states that the series "present[s] social problems at the street level. These starkly realistic police procedural tales have a range of subjects and approaches--from intangible terror to physical brutality to slapstick humor--that is unmatched in versatility for this subgenre" (259).
Although McBain did not invent the police procedural, he established it as a genre. "Although the series is an ensemble piece, with Lieutenant Byrnes in charge overall, the main character is Steve Carella, who in the first book, Cop Hater, tracks down a maniac who is killing cops. The characters have experienced enough for several lifetimes, but few of them have seemed to age and remain perpetually 30-something, though Carella has married and raised children during the series...Despite its length, or maybe because of it, the series continu[ed] to be original and topical, perhaps no longer setting standards but certainly remaining a yardstick for other aspiring writers. (The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction, 305-6).
According to The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction, Britain's Daily Telegraph has called Hill, Britain's "finest living crime writer." His police detectives, Dalziel and Pascoe, are from Yorkshire, England and began in 1970. In the Dalziel and Pascoe series, "the development over the years from their [Dalziel and Pascoe's] initial antipathy towards [each other to] a complementary team is one of the strengths of the series. Hill is also able to balance sharp wit and intelligent observation against the emotions arising from murder, fear, and loss, which brings a stark realism to his books" (230).
Reginald Hill also writes historical adventure under the name of Charles Underhill, Science Fiction as Dick Morland, and other mystery and adventure under Patrick Ruell. Hill's newer mystery series features black private detective, Joe Sixsmith.
The following is a list of titles by both Ed McBain& Reginald Hill. Whenever possible, the series is in order of publication date. Please read the first Ed McBain, Cope Hater, and the first Reginald Hill, A Clubbable Woman, as well as at least one more title of each author, and come prepared to discuss your impressions of them with the group.
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