Transgressions is an amazing collection of original crime novellas, compiled by Ed McBain, one of the most illustrious names in crime fiction.

This collection includes original stories from Jeffery Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates and Ed McBain himself, all award-winning authors who have been regular New York Times bestsellers for many years.

From a suburban shooting in Jeffery Deaver’s powerfully compelling Forever to Joyce Carol Oates’ darkly disturbing The Corn Maiden and Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct story Merely Hate, this collection showcases some of the best crime novelists in the business writing at the top of their form.

“ ‘You’ll have to speak louder,’ the voice said. ‘I’m a little hard of hearing.’ ”

What with one thing and another, such as a highly successful cat burglar and what seemed to be a hippie crucifixion, the 87th Precinct didn’t need The Deaf Man. Especially since he’d already put in two previous appearances resulting in blackmail, murder and general havoc. But they had him, certainly, they very definitely had him — or was it he that had them?

This time, The Deaf Man thinks it fitting that a police detective will help him rob a bank. Detective Steve Carella, to be exact. So, each day, he sends Carella a photostat in the morning mail. The first two pictures of J. Edgar Hoover, the next are of George Washington. All are clues, obviously, but what do they mean? Who, where, when and how?

This is tough, taut, funny mystery with a number of very peculiar cases and a most surprising ending, played against Ed McBain’s highly-detailed knowledge of police and detective procedure.

Detective Steve Carella thought it was be an easy day — and an enjoyable one. It was his day off and it was his sister’s wedding day. But it began much too ominously. Tommy Giordano, the groom, found a wedding present on his doorstep in the morning — a small box, neatly gift-wrapped. Its contents were deadly.

Weddings-Fetes, Incorporated decorated the Carella back yard; there was a band and plenty of champagne. On the surface it was everything a wedding should be. But Steve wasn’t at all sure that Tommy would live long enough to become Angela’s husband. Meyer Meyer, Cotton Hawes and the rest of the 87th Precinct detectives begin a dogged race against time to trace down one small and possibly fruitless lead. It might mean nothing at all. The man they were trying to find wasn’t even at the wedding — or was he?

There is a second attempt on Tommy’s life, then a third, this time on that Steve doesn’t even know about. Will there be more — and when will they come and from what direction? Is the killer a guest at the wedding — at least one man there carries a gun — or is he watching Tommy from a distance through the cross-sight of a sniper’s rifle?

Until death us do part... or will death arrive before the ceremony has even began? Even if the bride and groom are joined in holy matrimony, one murder device in timed to strike during the honeymoon — after Carella thinks the case is finished.

There never was a gayer wedding or one with such an undercurrent of driving suspense. And Steve Carella gets his biggest shock of the day on the very last page — a surprise supplied by Mrs. Carella!

С присущей ему точностью наблюдений автор исследует криминальную среду как специфический срез современного американского общества. Сборник рассказов `Дети джунглей` посвящен подросткам, проводящим время на улицах Нью – Йорка. Наркотики, грабежи и убийства – неотъемлемая частьих опасной жизни…