Ed McBain's astonishing 87th-Precinct series continues with a hard look at what passes for love in a city grown used to crimes of passion. When a beautiful blonde tells Detective Steve Carella that her husband's former chauffeur has made two attempts on her life, Carella immediately begins tracking her assailant -- only to find him far uptown, hanging from a basement pipe, a bullet in his head. Who killed the chauffeur? And why, now that her would-be murderer is dead, does the blonde's wealthy husband insist on retaining the services of the private eye from Chicago? "He loves me, " she insists, but Carella has his doubts. It appears the husband is involved with another blonde, also from Chicago. Can Carella prevent another murder-before someone else is betrayed with a kiss?

Jimmy Harris lost his eyesight in Vietnam. But it was on a cold city street that he lost his life. Somebody chloroformed his guide dog and slit Harris's throat. Detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer of the 87th Precinct shook their heads at the blood and waste of it all, then took the groggy dog back to headquarters, where it told them all it could — nothing.

Jimmy’s blind wife didn't tell Carella much more. And by the next morning, she wasn’t talking at all. She was dead. The only clue Carella could find to the double murder was a nightmare Jimmy had told an Army shrink ten years before... and the detective was too blind to see how a bad dream of sex and violence was the key to the dark places in a killer’s mind.

Savvy, sexy, and very bad, these are the ladies that plague the 87th precinct. Pregnant hookers, brunettes with bombs, and the fat lady lead the hit parade of femme fatales.

Here are excerpts from more than 30 years of Grand Master Ed McBain's bestselling 87th Precinct series of police procedurals, featuring some of his most lovable female characters.

Las mujeres más peligrosas son aquellas que resultan irresistibles. ¿Qué hace peligrosa a una mujer? Su gran belleza, su encanto, su inteligencia, la manera en que se aparta el cabello de los ojos, o el modo de reírse. Puede tener conciencia absoluta de su poder, o desconocerlo por completo. Utilizarlo comoa rma o protegerse detrás de él. La intención y el propósito no aumentan ni disminuyen el poder, y ése es mayor peligro de todos los que son seducidos y sometidos por él.

Prudence Ann Markham was as careful as her name. Before heading out to her car in the deserted parking lot she packed up the film she’d been editing, checked the studio gear, set the alarm, and locked the outer door. It was 10:40 P.M. — but Prudence Ann never made it to 10:45.

Carlton Barnaby Markham didn’t know what his wife had been working on at the time of her death. All he knew was that the film was missing...  and that he was in Calusa County Jail, charged with her murder.

For Matthew Hope, the months since he’d decided to switch to criminal law had not been encouraging. He’d lost his first case and refused his second. When Carlton Markham says he is innocent, Hope takes the case. But as he digs into the evidence, it becomes clear that it will take more than claims of innocence to spring his client...

They were dead, the husband and wife. Both were shot in the face at close range with a shotgun. The husband, in fact, still had his finger on the trigger, the barrel pointing toward what used to be a significant portion of his head. It was clearly a suicide — or did it just look that way? For Detectives Steve Carella and Bert Kling, what seems to be the truth on the surface often reveals something far different underneath.

A killer is murdering married women and their husbands. But setting up shop in the 87th Precinct was the wrong move. Carella and Kling don’t buy the suicide theory, and soon enough they are on the killer’s trail. The only trouble is the murderous crime wave ripping through the city has gathered momentum.

When Anthony Forrest walked out of the office building, the only thoughts on his mind were of an impending birthday and a meeting with his wife for dinner. And a deadly bullet saw to it that they were the last thoughts on his mind. The problem for Detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer of the 87th Precinct is that Forrest isn’t alone. An anonymous sniper is unofficially holding the city hostage, frustrating the police as one by one the denizens of Isola drop like flies. With fear gripping the citizenry and the pressure on the 87th mounting, finding a killer whose victims are random is the greatest challenge the detectives have ever faced — and the deadliest game the city has ever known. A gritty, relentless pressure cooker of a thriller, Ten Plus One is one of bestselling author Ed McBain’s finest, the ultimate addition to the 87th Precinct series where time threatens to stand still and murder rules the day.