Lying Book Cover (87th Precinct)

My year in crime fiction reading has been marked by the return of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct in my to be read list. It had been long overdue and I intend to read some more before the end of the year. And, as much as possible, in order of publication. Anyway, one funny little thing I noticed on the cover of The Con Man, is that the cover shows a man holding a gun, which is misleading: this man is definitely not the antagonist of the novel. Because the main villain does not use a gun: he's a swindler who murders his victims by poisoning them with arsenic. He may be one of the Detectives, but S&W revolvers were the service weapons at the time the story was written. So this cover is lying. Well, covers always lie, and it did not stop me for enjoying The Con Man. But I thought it was funny all the same.

Crime and Cognac (87th Precinct)

So I am in a binge reading streak these days, more specifically reconnecting with Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. And you may remember, if this post's title looks familiar, that I blogged last year about one of The Mugger's characters' fondness of cognac. It was to be more specific the hero's romantic interest. Well, after reading The Con Man, fourth book of the series, it seems that criminals can be also fond of cognac. I will not spoil anything, but the main villain (a very sinister one, by the way) drinks Rémy Martin. He even pronounces the name properly, except when he mocks the waiter who brought the drink to him. I'm not sure what to think of it, but I can say that, while I am curious about cognac, which as far as I can remember I never drank, I don't think I'm eager to try Remy Martin. It's probably out of my price range anyway.

Upcoming Return: 87th Precinct

It has been a while since I read something from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct crime fiction series. So I decided to get back to my old 2025 plan of reading the novels in order, among the ones I have yet to read. I bought not one two 87th Precinct books, among them The Con Man, which is next on my reading list. I know I have a rather large TBR list already, but I'm really in the mood for some McBain and like I said, this has been long overdue. It's one of the earlier entries of the series, its fourth book in fact. So yeah, I should be back to Isola soon.