This isn't my first Ed McBain. I think I've read a handful (both 87th Precinct and others) but in general I seem to buy them more often (I looove a second-hand book shop) than that I actually read them. When I moved house last year and reorganized by books I realized I had about 40 Ed McBains so I thought it would be fun to try and read all of them over the course of this year. Doesn't seem an impossible challenge. They're pretty quick reads in my experience. Putting them in chronological order in preperation was one of the things on my to do list over Christmas, https://twitter.com/stereo/status/1340669262843789313. As you can see, this one was at the very top of the pile. It's the first 87th Precinct novel, all the way back from 1956. We are introduced to the city of Isola and the guys of the 87th Precinct. Some of them we only get to know very briefly because there is a cop killer on the loose. If you're looking for nail-biting action and cleverly constructed whodunnits Ed McBain is not the writer for you. The case is solved the hard way: putting in the hours, following all the leads, pursuing lots of dead-ends and, spoiler alert, a little bit of luck towards the end. This is probably one of the ones I had read before. The plot felt somewhat familiar but you don't really read these books for the process not for a big reveal at the end. Four stars is maybe a bit too much but three seemed much too stingy. Already looking forward to the next one.