Ed McBain

Uncategorized

Né Salvatore Lombino
Legally changed to Evan Hunter in 1952
Pseudonyms include Hunt Collins, Richard Marsten, Curt Cannon, Ezra Hannon, John Abbott, Dean Hudson, Ted Taine, S. A. Lombino, D. A. Addams
(1926-2005)

ED McBAIN was best known among crime fiction fans–and rightfully so–as the creator of the ground-breaking 87th Precinct police procedural series.

Nope, McBain didn’t invent the police procedural — he just set the gold standard, and that’s what he’ll always be remembered for.

He also managed to contribute to the Shamus Game, with such notable gumshoes as Matt Cordell, Ben Smoke, Matthew Hope and Curt Cannon. He even wrote one of the all-time great spoofs of the genre, “Kiss Me Dudley,” featuring Dudley Sledge, a private peeper who knows how to handle both women AND fish.

But his writings went far beyond just the crime genre. Under a slew of pseudonyms, he wrote horror, science fiction, melodrama, westerns and children’s books. He wrote short stories, novels, television shows, films and even a couple of plays, and saw much of his work adapted to both TV and film. In fact, his first large-scale success was the film version of his 1954 novel The Blackboard Jungle.

Still, he’ll always be remembered for creating the cops of the 87th Precinct, in the fictional city of Isola, which bears an uncanny resemblance to New York City.

Why Isola, instead of New York City? In The Craft of Crime, edited by John C. Carr, Houghton Mifflin, 1983, McBsin confessed:

“When I started writing the first book, I found I was on the phone with the cops every ten minutes to check something…I thought, ‘This is getting to be a headache; I’m going to be spending more time talking to the cops than writing the books.” And I said, ‘I’m going to make this an imaginary city.”

And hence Isola (it means “island” in Italian) was born. He goes on to say how much he enjoys making up “baloney” about Isola. It’s obvious from the interview that McBain is serious about his work, but he never takes himself too seriously.

* * * * *

Born Salvatore Albert Lombino in 1926 in New York City, he legally adopted the name Evan Hunter in 1952. While successful and well known as Hunter, he was even better known as Ed McBain, a name he used for most of his crime fiction, beginning in 1956. He also used the pen names Hunt Collins, Richard Marsten, Curt Cannon, Ezra Hannon, John Abbott, Dean Hudson, Ted Taine, S. A. Lombino, and D. A. Addams. And there are probably a few I’m missing.

Salvatore was born and raised in New York City, and lived in East Harlem until age 12, when his family moved to the Bronx. He attended Olinville Junior High School, then Evander Childs High School, before winning an Art Students League scholarship. Later, he was admitted as an art student at Cooper Union. Lombino served in the Navy in World War II and wrote several short stories while serving aboard a destroyer in the Pacific. However, none of these stories were published until after he had established himself as an author in the 1950s.

After the war, Lombino returned to New York and attended Hunter College, where he majored in English and psychology, with minors in dramatics and education, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He published a weekly column in the Hunter College newspaper as “S.A. Lombino”. In 1981, he was inducted into the Hunter College Hall of Fame, where he was honored for outstanding professional achievement.

While looking to start a career as a writer, Lombino took a variety of jobs, including a few weeks as a teacher at Bronx Vocational High School in September 1950. In 1951, he scored a gig as an executive editor for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, and worked with authors such as Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Lester del Rey, Richard S. Prather, and P. G. Wodehouse. He made his first professional short story sale the same year — a science-fiction tale titled “Welcome Martians”, credited to “S.A. Lombino.”

By May 1952, he had legally changed his name to Evan Hunter by May 1952, after an editor told him that a novel would probably sell more copies if credited to “Evan Hunter.” Thereafter, he used the Evan Hunter name both personally and professionally, and would eventually reserve it for for his non-crime novels exclusively, after being assured by his agents that publishing too much fiction or any crime fiction under the Hunter byline might weaken his “literary reputation.” Which mattered, because no matter which name he was using, he was one prolific SOB.

Anyway, the strategy seems to have worked. His brief stint as a teacher paid off when his first truly successful novel, Blackboard Jungle, dealing with juvenile crime and the New York City public school system and written under the pen name Evan Hunter, was published in 1954. The film adaptation followed in 1955, and was also a hit.

But in the mean time, during this the first half of the fifties, Hunter was pumping out a ton of genre fiction, under a barrage of pen names. But he wasn’t limited to crime and sci-fi—his short fiction appeared in publications as varied as Manhunt, Famous Western, Redbook and Amazing, and later on in his career, the trend continued, his work appearing regularly in everything from Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen’s mystery magazines to the Ladies Home Journal and Playboy. There was even a short-lived digest, Ed McBains Mystery Book.

He used his best-known pseudonym,“Ed McBain,” for the first time for Cop Hater in 1956, a police procedural which became the first novel in the 87th Precinct series (although at the time, he considered it a standalone), and would end up using that pen name for the rest of his career; not just for the 87th Precinct series but for all his crime fiction.

And he kept on writing. Not just novels and short stories but scripts for film and television, most famously for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963), based on Daphne du Maurier‘s 1952 short story. Other screenplays included Strangers When We Meet (1960), Fuzz (1972) and Walk Proud (1979), all based on novels he’d written.

Meanwhile, other screenwriters were busy adapting his work. There were a couple feature films released in 1958, Cop Hater and The Mugger, and NBC ran a TV series, 87th Precinct, that ran for the 1961-62 season, all based on the his police procedurals. And over the years, various other writers attempted to capture the magic of the 87th. Among the more interesting adaptations were the 1963 Japanese flick Tengoku to jigoku (English title: “High and Low“),  directed by Akira Kurasawa and starring Toshiro Mifune, 1972’s Sans mobile apparent, a French/Italian co-production that transport Isola to Nice, and 1978’s Blood Relatives (aka “Les liens du sang”), a Canadian/French production filmed with Donald Sutherland as Carella and Montreal as Isola.

And he kept on writing. In 1978, he started a new series about Florida-based lawyer/sleuth Matthew Hope, and in 2000, a two-part novel called Candyland appeared that was credited to both Hunter and McBain, that opened with Hunter’s “psychologically-based narrative voice” and was wrapped up in “McBain’s customary police procedural style.”

Uh-huh.

He was awarded the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 1986 by the Mystery Writers of America and was the first American to be be honoured with the Cartier Diamond Dagger award from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain.

And he kept on writing.

His final novel, the 87th Precinct book Fiddlers, was published in January 2005.

He passed away later that same year, from laryngeal cancer, aged 78, in Weston, Connecticut. He’d been a  heavy smoker for decades, and had had three heart attacks over a number of years.

10-42.

UNDER OATH

  • “I’m thinking here about something like Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels. I love those books; I think the series as a whole is one of the towering achievements in the genre, and I think it deserves recognition as a significant piece of 20th century American literature. I want to be absolutely clear here that I think the books should continue to be read and valued. But it’s very difficult to read them now and not be troubled by, for example, Fat Ollie Weeks, a character whose racism and violence are presented as being, essentially, character quirks in an otherwise brilliant detective. When we talk about McBain, that should be part of the conversation.”
    — Joseph S. Walker, on a loaded question about representations of policing in crime fiction (April 2021, CrimeReads)

SHORT STORIES

Unless otherwise noted, I’m assuming these stories appeared as by Ed McBain.

  • “Dead Freight” (February 1952, Famous Detective Stories; Guthrie Lamb; as Hunt Collins)
  • “The Body Beautiful” (May 1952, Famous Detective Stories; Guthrie Lamb; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Let the Gods Decide (Off-Trail Special)” (July 1952, Ten Story Sports; as Hunt Collins)
  • “A-Hanging We Will Go!” (September 1952, Smashing Detective Stories; as Hunt Collins; aka “Off-Trail Murder Mystery”)
  • “The Little Man” (October 1952, Famous Western; as Salvatore Lombino)
  • “P-A-T-R-O-L” (November 1952, War Stories Magazine; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Die Hard” (January 1953, Manhunt; Matt Cordell/Curt Cannon)
  • “Two” (February 1953, Bluebook; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Attack” (February 1953, Manhunt; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Carrea’s Woman” (February 1953, Manhunt; as Richard Marsten)
  • “A Sure Thing” (February 1963, Redbook; aka “Uncle Jimbo’s Marbles;” 1963, Happy New Year, Herbie and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Dead Men Don’t Dream” (March 1953, Manhunt; Matt Cordell/Curt Cannon)
  • “Murder Comes Easy” March 1953, Real; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Against the Middle” (March 1953, Manhunt; as Richard Marsten)
  • “Kid Kill” (April 1953, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Robert” (April 1953, Thrilling Wonder Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Kid Kill” (April 1953, Manhunt)
  • “Now Die in It” (May 1953, Manhunt; Matt Cordell/Curt Cannon)
  • “Small Homicide” (June 1953, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Killing at Triple Tree” (June 1953, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “One Down” (June 1953, Manhunt; as Hunt Collins)
  • “The Follower” (July 1953, Manhunt; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Good and Dead” (July 1953, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter; Matt Cordell/Curt Cannon)
  • “The Smell of Blood” (July 1953, Private Eye; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Still Life” (August 1953, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Snowblind” (August 1953, Gunsmoke; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Innocent One” (August 1953, Manhunt; as Richard Marsten)
  • “The Molested” (September 1953, Manhunt; as Hunt Collins)
  • “The Death of Me” (September 1953, Manhunt; Matt Cordell/Curt Cannon)
  • “Accident Report” (September 1953, Manhunt; as Richard Marsten)
  • “Vicious Circle” (September 1953, Verdict; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Law of the Wild” (September 1953, Dime Western Magazine; as Hunt Collins)
  • “First Offense” (October 1953, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “I Killed Jeannie” (November 1953, Pursuit; as Evan Hunter; aka “Chalk”)
  • “Sucker” (December 1953, Manhunt; as Hunt Collins)
  • “To Break the Wall” (1953, Discovery #2; aka “The Blackboard Jungle”; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Classification: Dead” (1953; as Richard Marsten)
  • “One Down” (1953)
  • “The Innocent One” (1953; also 1960, The Last Spin and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “What Price Venus?” (1953; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Million Dollar Maybe” (December 1953/January 1954, Amazing; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Deadlier Than the Mail” (February 1954, Manhunt; Matt Cordell/Curt Cannon)
  • “…Or Leave It Alone” (May 1954, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Association Test” (July 1954, Manhunt; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Chinese Puzzle” (July 1954, Manhunt; as Richard Marsten)
  • “Return” (July 1954, Manhunt; Matt Cordell; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Beatings” (October 1954, Manhunt; Matt Cordell; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Bedbug” (September 1954, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Ticket to Death” (September 1954, Argosy; as Evan Hunter; aka “Death Flight;” Milt Davis)
  • “Every Morning” (September 1954, Manhunt; as Richard Marsten)
  • “The Beatings” (October 1954, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Kill Me, My Sweet” (November 1954, Real; as Richard Marsten)
  • “Dream Damsel” (1954, as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Scarlet King” (December 1954, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Kiss Me, Dudley” (January 1955, Manhunt; Dudley Sledge; as Hunt Cannon)
  • “Joker” (January 1955, Pursuit; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Hot” (February 1955, Manhunt)
  • “The Big Dream” (June 1955, Real; as Evan Huntert; aka “Dummy”)
  • “See Him Die” (July 1955, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Big Day” (September 1955, Manhunt; as Richard Marsten)
  • “First Offense” (December 1955, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Murder on the Keys” (February 1956, Argosy; as Richard Marsten; aka “Downpour”)
  • “You Got to Love It” (May 1956, Nugget; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Eye Witness” (August 1956, Verdict; as Hunt Collins)
  • “Three” (September 1956, Short Stories; as Hunt Collins)
  • “The Last Spin” (September 1956, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Jungle Kids” (1956, The Jungle Kids; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Sucker” (1956, The Jungle Kids; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Follower” (1956, The Jungle Kids; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The “H” Killer” (February 1957, Manhunt)
  • “Wife and Best Friend” (March 1957, Escapade; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Iron Jungle” (March 1957, Argosy; as Evan Hunter; aka “The Prisoner”)
  • “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” (July 1957, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Merry, Merry Christmas” (December 1957, Manhunt; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Pretty Eyes” (1957; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Prisoner” (1957; also1960, The Last Spin and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Just For Kicks” (1958, AHMM; as Richard Marsten)
  • “Just for the Weekend” (April 1959, Escapade; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Easy Money” (September 1960; EQMM; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Empty Hours” (1960, Ed McBains Mystery Book #1; also 1962, The Empty Hours; 87th Precinct)
  • “The Girl with the Pretty Eyes” (1960, The Last Spin and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Escape” (1960, The Last Spin and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Silent Partner” (1960, The Last Spin and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Alive Again” (1960, The Last Spin and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Out of the Sun” (August 1961, Argosy (UK); as Evan Hunter)
  • “J” (1961, The Empty Hours; 87th Precinct)
  • “Murder on Ice” (November 1961, Argosy; 87th Precinct)
  • “Storm” (1962; 87th Precinct)
  • “Ten Plus One” (July 1963, Argosy)
  • “Happy New Year, Herbie” (1963, Happy New Year, Herbie and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Final Yes” (1963, Happy New Year, Herbie ,and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “S.P.Q.R.” (1963, Happy New Year, Herbie and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Tourists” (1963, Happy New Year, Herbie and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Fallen Angel” (June 1965, Ladies Home Journal; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Eighty Million Eyes” (May 1966, EQMM; 87th Precinct)
  • “A Horse’s Head” (August 1967, Playboy; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Beginnings” (July 1969, Playboy; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Nightshade” (August 1970, EQMM; 87th Precinct)
  • “Someone at the Door” (October 1971, EQMM; as Evan Hunter; aka “The Intruder”)
  • “The Sardinian Incident” (October 1971, Playboy; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Interview” (1971, Playboy; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Sharers” (1971, Playboy; also The Easter Man and Six Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Sympathy for the Devil” (June 1972, Seventeen)
  • “The Movie Star” (1972, Seven; also 1972, The Easter Man and Six Stories; 2000, Barking at Butterflies and Other Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Beheading” (1972, The Easter Man and Six Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Birthday Party,” (1972, The Easter Man and Six Stories; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Terminal Misunderstanding” (1972, Playboy; aka “Sympathy for the Devil;” also in Seventeen, July 1972.; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Sadie When She Died” (January 1973, AHMM; 87th Precinct)
  • “Weeping for Dustin” (July 1973, Seventeen)
  • “Jazzing in A-Flat” (September 1974, Playboy; as Evan Hunter)
  • “The Analyst” ( December 1974, Playboy)
  • “Dangerous Affair” (March 1975, Good Housekeeping)
  • “The Confession” (April 1975, Genesis Magazine)
  • “Skin Flick” (December 1975, Playboy)
  • “Petals” (1975, Good Housekeeping)
  • “Catalyst” (June 1976, EQMM; aka “What Happened to Annie Barnes?”; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Consolation” (1976, Mystery Monthly)
  • “What Happened to Annie Barnes?” (June 1976, EQMM; aka”Catalyst”; as Evan Hunter)
  • “Stepfather” (June 1976, Ladies’ Home Journal)
  • “Motel” (1978, Playboy [Germany]; 1st U.S. in 2000, Barking at Butterflies and Other Stories)
  • “Hot Cars” (1982)
  • “And All Through the House” (Playboy; also released as Mystery Guild promotional item, 1984; 87th Precinct)
  • “Reruns” (January 11-17, 1987, TV Guide; 87th Precinct)
  • “Monsters” (1994, Murder for Halloween)
  • “Running from Legs” (1996, Murder for Love)
  • “Driving Lessons” (1998)
  • “Where or When” (1998, The Best of the Best)
  • “Barking at Butterflies” (1999, Murder and Obsession)
  • “Short Short Story” (June 2000, Barking at Butterflies and Other Stories)
  • “The Couple Next Door” (2000, Running From Legs and Other Stories; as Ed McBain)
  • “The Victim” (2000, Running From Legs and Other Stories; as Ed McBain)
  • “But You Know Us” (2000, Running From Legs and Other Stories; as Ed McBain)
  • “I Saw Mommy Killing Santa Claus” (January 2001, EQMM)
  • “Activity in the Flood Plain” (2001, The Mysterious Press Anniversary Anthology)
  • “A Little Sitdown” (May 2003, EQMM)
  • “Leaving Nairobi” (June 2003, AHMM)
  • “Improvisations” (2005; Dangerous Women)
  • “Merely Hate” (2005, Transgressions; 87th Precinct)

NOVELS

All books by Ed McBain, unless otherwise noted.
Not all of these are crime novels, and some of them may be alternative titles.

     

COLLECTIONS

  • The Jungle Kids (1956; as Evan Hunter)
  • I Like ’em Tough (1958; Curt Cannon; as Curt Cannon)
  • The Last Spin and Other Stories (1960; as Evan Hunter)
  • The Empty Hours (1962; 87th Precinct) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
  • Happy New Year, Herbie, and Other Stories (1963; as Evan Hunter)
  • The Easter Man (a Play) And Six Stories (1972; as Evan Hunter)
  • The McBain Brief (1982) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
  • McBain’s Ladies: The Women Of The 87th (1988; 87th Precinct) | Buy this book
  • McBain’s Ladies, Too (1989; 87th Precinct) | Buy this book
  • Running From Legs and Other Stories” (2000; as Evan Hunter and Ed McBain)
  • Barking at Buttrflies and Other Stories (2000; as Evan Hunter and Ed McBain) | Buy this book
  • Learning to Kill (2006) | Buy this book
    Collection of 25 stories (with intros by McBain himself) from the fifties show the writer in fine form, spinning hard-boiled of alcoholic dicks and other losers, plus one of the all-time great P.I. parodies, “Kiss Me Dudley.”

NON-FICTION

  • Me and Hitch (1997; as Evan Hunter)
    Memoirs of his experience with director Alfed Hithcock, working on The Birds.

SELECTED ARTICLES

FILMS

   

  • BLACKBOARD JUNGLE | Buy this video
    (1955, MGM)
    101 minutes, black & white
    Based onthe novel by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Richard Brooks
    Directed by Richard Brooks
    Produced byPandro S. Berman
    Starring Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Margaret Hayes, John Hoyt, Richard Kiley, Emile Meyer, Warner Anderson, Basil Ruysdael, Sidney Poitier, Vic Morrow, Dan Terranova, Rafael Campos, Paul Mazursky, Horace McMahon, Jamie Farr, Danny Dennis
    Classic fifties JD flick, based on the book by Evan Hunter. Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” supplies the rock’n’roll heart.
  • .COP HATER
    (1958, Barbizon/United Artists)
    75 minutes
    Black & White
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain
    Screenplay by Henry Kane
    Directed by William Berke
    Starring Robert Loggia , Gerald S. O’Loughlin, Shirley Ballard, Russell Hardie, Hal Riddle, William Neff, Gene Miller, Vincent Gardenia and Jerry Orbach
  • THE MUGGER
    (1958, Barbizon/United Artists)
    74 minutes
    Black & White
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain
    Screenplay by Henry Kane
    Directed by William Berke
    Starring Kent Smith, Nan Martin, James Franciscus, Stefan Schnabel, Dick O’Neill, John Alexander, Arthur Storch, Bert Thorn, Albert Dannibal, Dolores Sutton, Beah Richards, George Maharis, Michael Conrad
  • THE PUSHER
    (1960)
    Black & White
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain
  • STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET
    (1960, Columbia)
    Screenplay by Evan Hunter
    Based on the novel by Evan Hunter
    Directed by Richard Quine
    Produced by Richard Quine
    Starring Kirk Douglas, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau, Virginia Bruce, Kent Smith, Helen Gallagher, John Bryant, Roberta Shore, Nancy Kovack, Carol Douglas
    Soap opera, apparently heavy on the suds.
  • THE YOUNG SAVAGES | Buy this video
    (1961, MGM/UA)
    Based on the novel A Matter of Conviction by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Edward Anhalt, J.P. Miller
    Directed by John Frankenheimer
    Produced by Harold Hecht
    Executive producer: Pat Duggan
    Starring Burt Lancaster, Dina Merrill, Edward Andrews, Vivian Nathan, Shelley Winters, Larry Gates, Telly Savalas, Pilar Seurat, Jody Fair, Roberta Shore, Milton Selzer, Robert Burton, David J. Stewart, Stanley Kristien
    DA investigates the case of three Italian teenagers accused of murdering a blind Puerto Rican boy.
  • TENGOKU TO JIGOKU
    (English title: “High and Low,” aka “Heaven and Hell,” “The Ransom”)
    (1963)
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel King’s Ransom by Ed McBain
    Directed by Akira Kurasawa
    Set in Tokyo
    Starring Toshiro Mifune
    Mifune plays a wealthy business executive whose chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by a gang of criminals who mistake the boy for Mifune’s kid. Now he has to decide whether to pay the ransom for somebody else’s child, or use the dough to close a critical business deal. The most acclaimed of all McBain adaptations, although the 87th aren’t the stars here — it’s Mifune tearing up the sets as the “victim” who dominates the show. Widely regarded as a truly classic film.
  • THE BIRDS | Buy this DVD | Buy this video
    (1963)
    Based on the story by Daphne DuMaurier
    Screenplay by Evan Hunter
    Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
    Produced by Alfred Hitchcock
    Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Veronica Cartwright, Ethel Griffies, Charles McGraw, Ruth McDevitt, Lonny Chapman, Joe Mantell, Doodles Weaver, Malcolm Atterbury, John McGovern
  • MISTER BUDDWING
    (aka “Woman Without a Face”)
    (1965, MGM)
    100 minutes, black & white
    Based on the novel “Buddwing” by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Dale Wasserman
    Directed by Delbert Mann(
    Produced by Douglas Laurence, Delbert Mann
    Starring James Garner, Jean Simmons, Katharine Ross, Angela Lansbury, George Voskovec, Jack Gilford, Joe Mantell, Raymond St. Jacques, Ken Lynch, Wolfgang Zilzer, Beeson Carroll
    Garner as an amnesiac wandering NYC, trying to figure out who he is.
  • LAST SUMMER
    (1969, Allied Artists Pictures Corporation)
    95 minutes
    Based on the novel by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Eleanor Perry
    Directed by Frank Perry
    Produced by Sidney Beckerman, Alfred W. Crown
    Starring Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas, Bruce Davison, Catherine Burns, Ernesto Gonzalez, Lou Gary, Andrew Krance, Wayne Mayer, Peter Turgeon, Lydia Wilen
    Teen angst, 60s style. Based on one of Hunter’s darkest, most disturbing novels, it was given an X rating when it was first submitted to the MPAA due to to a rape scene, and was subsequently toned down to give it an R rating. The original X-rated version never saw the light of day.
  • LE CRI DU CORMORAN, LE SOIR AU-DESSUS DES JONQUES
    AKA “Cry of the Cormoran”
    (1970, Gaumont)
    Based on the novel by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Michel Audiard
    Directed by Michel Audiard
    Starring Michel Serrault , Bernard Blier, Paul Meurisse, Marion Game, Françoise Giret, Sylvie Bréal, Nancy Holloway, Jean Carmet, Maurice Biraud, Carlos
    French caper flick.
  • WITHOUT APPARENT MOTIVE
    (1972)
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel Ten Plus One by Ed McBain
    Directed by Phillippe Labro
    Set on the Riviera
    Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dominique Sanda
  • EVERY LITTLE CROOK AND NANNY
    (1972, MGM)
    92 minutes
    Based on the novel by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Jonathan Axelrod, Cy Howard, Robert Klane
    Directed by Cy Howard
    Produced by Leonard J. Ackerman
    Starring Victor Mature, Lynn Redgrave, Paul Sand, Margaret Blye, Austin Pendleton, John Astin, Dom DeLuise, Louise Sorel, Phillip Graves, Lou Cutell, Leopoldo Trieste, Pat Morita, Phil Foster, Pat Harrington Jr., Esther Rolle
    Crooks kidnap a gangster’s kid.
  • FUZZ | Buy this DVD
    (1972, United Artists)
    92 minutes
    Screenplay by Evan Hunter
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain
    Directed by Richard A. Colla
    Produced by Jack Farren
    Starring Burt Reynolds, Jack Weston, Tom Skerritt, Yul Brynner, Raquel Welch, Peter Bonerz, Steve Ihnat, James McEachin, Bert Remsen
  • SANS MOBILE APPARENT
    (aka “Senza movente,” “Without Apparent Motive”)
    (1972, Cinétel/Euro International Film/Président Films)
    100 minutes
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel Ten Plus One by Ed McBain
    Screenplay by Philippe Labro, Jacques Lanzmann
    Directed by Philippe Labro
    Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dominique Sanda, Sacha Distel, Carla Gravina, Paul Crauchet, Laura Antonelli,
    French/Italian co-production about an investigation into a string of murders comitted in Nice. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays the lead detective “Stéphane Carella.”
  • LES LIENS DU SANG | Buy this DVD
    (aka “Blood Relatives”)
    (1978, Cinevideo-Filmel/Classic Film Industries)
    100 minutes
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel Blood Relatives by Ed McBain
    Screenplay by Sydney Banks, Claude Chabrol
    Directed by Claude Chabrol
    Starring Donald Sutherland, Aude Landry, Lisa Langlois, Laurent Malet, Stéphane Audran, Walter Massey, Micheline Lanctôt, Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings, Ian Ireland, Guy Hoffman, Marguerite Lemir, Gregory Giannis, Jan Chamberlain
    Canadian/French production with Donald Sutherland as Carella. Isola is now Montreal, where it was filmed. Akira Kurosawa (who directed  High and Low, proclaimed this film “the best of all Ed McBain adaptations”.
  • WALK PROUD
    (1979, Universal)
    102 minutes
    Based on the novel by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Evan Hunter
    Directed by Robert E. Collins
    Produced by Lawrence Turman
    Original music by Robby Benson, Don Peake
    Starring Robby Benson, Sarah Holcomb, Henry Darrow, Pepe Serna, Trinidad Silva, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Lawrence Pressman, Domingo Ambriz, Brad Sullivan, Irene DeBari
    Star vehicle for Robby Benson as a young Chicano gang member. Yeah, right…
  • HIGHEST 2 LOWEST
    (2025, AppleTV+/A24)
    Based on the 87th Precinct novel King’s Ransom by Ed McBain
    and the 1963 film High and Low by Kira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Eijiro Hisaita & Ryūzō
    Screenplay by Alan Fox
    Directed by Spike Lee
    Starring Denzel Washington
    Also starring Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice, ASAP Rocky, Ilfenesh Hadera, Kevin D. Benton, José Báez, Parade Gore, Evyn George, Holden Goodman, Manny Joseph

TELEVISION

 

  • ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS
    (1955-65)
    Writers include: Evan Hunter
  • 87th PRECINCT
    (1961-62, NBC)
    Series
    30 60-minute black and white episodes
    Created by Ed McBain
    A Hubbell Robinson Production with MCA Television
    Starring Robert Lansing, Norman Fell, Ron Harper, Gregory Walcott and Gena Rowlands
  • IRONSIDE
    (1967-75, NBC)
    TV Series
    Writers include: Evan Hunter
    Starring Raymond Burr as Ironside
  • THE CHISHOLMS
    (1979, CBS)
    Mini-series
    720 min (4 episodes)
    Based on the novel “The Chisholms: A Novel Of The Journey West” by Evan Hunter
    Screenplay by Evan Hunter
    Directed by Mel Stuart
    Produced by Paul Freeman
    Executive producers: David Dortort, Alan Landsburg
    Original music by Elmer Bernstein
    Starring Robert Preston, Rosemary Harris, Ben Murphy, Brian Kerwin, James Van Patten, Stacy Nelkin, Susan Swift, Charles Frank, Glynnis O’Connor, Sandra Griego, David Hayward, Billy Drago, Anthony Zerbe
    Pioneer family makes their way to Oregon from Virginia in the days of the American West.
  • THE LEGEND OF WALKS FAR WOMAN
    (1982)
    Made-for-TV movie
    2 hours
    Teleplay by Evan Hunter
    Directed by Mel Damski
    Produced by Tony Converse, Roger Gimbel
    Co-producer: Lee Levinson
    Starring Raquel Welch, Bradford Dillman, Nick Mancuso, Eloy Casados, George Clutesi, Nick Ramus, Branscombe Richmond
    Raquel Welch as Indian woman out to avenge her husband’s death at the hands of the white man.
  • DREAM WEST
    (1986, CBS)
    Mini-series
    Based on the novel by David Nevin
    Teleplay by Evan Hunter
    Directed by Dick Lowry
    Produced by Hunt Lowry
    Starring Richard Chamberlain, Alice Krige, F. Murray Abraham, René Enríquez, Ben Johnson, Jerry Orbach, G.D. Spradlin, Rip Torn, Fritz Weaver, Anthony Zerbe, Claude Akins, John Anderson, Lee Bergere, Jeff East, Michael Ensign, Mel Ferrer, Cameron Mitchell, Noble Willingham, Bill Campbell, James Cromwell
    Ambitious mini-series purports to tell the tale of the west. Various TV stars play various historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Kit Carson and Jim Bridger.
  • COLUMBO
    (1989–, NBC)
    Starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo
  • “No Time to Die” (1992; based on a story by Ed McBain)
  • “Undercover” (1994; teleplay by Ed McBain)
  • ED McBAIN’S 87th PRECINCT: LIGHTNING | Buy this video | Buy this DVD
    (aka  “ED McBAIN’S 87th PRECINCT”)
    (1995, NBC)
    Based on the novel by Ed McBain
    Teleplay by Mike Krohn and Daniel Levine
    Directed by Bruce Paltrow
    Starring Randy Quaid, Alex McArthur, Ving Rhames, Eddie Jones, Alan Blumenfeld, Ron Perkins, Steven Flynn, Johann Carlo, Tracy Middendorf, Mary-Joan Negro, Alison Moir, Steve Park, Deanne Bray, Richard Portnow, Dayton Callie, Christopher Darga, Marquita Terry, Juney Smith
    By most accounts, Quaid, a generally solid and reliable actor, is totally miscast in this one.
  • ED McBAIN’S 87th PRECINCT: ICE | Buy this DVD
    (February 18, 1996, NBC)
    2 hour made-for-television movie
    Based on the novel by Ed McBain
    Written by Larry Cohen
    Directed by Bradford May
    Starring Dale Midkiff, Joe Pantoliano, Paul Johansson, Andrea Parker , Michael Gross
  • ED McBAIN’S 87th PRECINCT: HEATWAVE | Buy this DVD
    (1997, NBC)
    Based on the novel by Ed McBain
    Teleplay by Larry Cohen
    Directed by Douglas Barr
    Starring Dale Midkiff, Paul Ben-Victor, Paul Johansson, Erika Eleniak, Andrea Ferrell, Michael Gross
  • THREE BLIND MICE | Buy this DVD
    (2001, Viacom Productions Inc.)
    Based on the novel by Ed McBain
    Teleplay by Anne Gerard and Adam Greenman
    Directed by Christopher Leitch
    Starring Brian Dennehy as
    Also starring Debrah Farentino, Rosalind Chao, John Doman, Glenn Plummer, Mary Stuart Masterson

COMICS

  • 87th PRECINCT
    (1961-62, Dell)
    Based on the novels by Ed McBain
    Artists: Bernie Krigstein

    • (April-June 1962, #1)
    • (July-September, 1962, #2)

ALSO AVAILABLE

  • PROFILE OF A WRITER, VOL. 1: ED McBAIN/EVAN HUNTER | Buy this video
    (1993)
  • CASE REOPENED: LIZZIE BORDEN | Buy this video
    (1999)
    McBain narrates documentary on infamous ax-happy murder.

PLAYS

  • The Easter Man (1964)
  • The Conjuror (1969)

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

  • MacDonald, Erin E.,
    Ed McBain/Evan Hunter: A Literary Companion | Buy this book
    Jefferson, North Carolinia: McFarland & Company, 2012.
    An astounding labour of love (and scholarship), as MacDonald, not content with spending seven years kicking the can around on a dissertation on the 87th Precinct novels, wades into the vast ocean of work McBain left us, from short stories in the pulps and digests to his bestselling police procedurtals and crime novels. Detailed overviews and an impressive listing of character-by-character breakdowns, plus oodles of bibliographic info make this an essential reference work for both fans and collectors, both encyclopedic and engaging.
  • An Officer Pays Tribute: R.I.P. Ed McBain
    Chicago cop and crime writer Jim Doherty’s salute.
Respectfully submitted (and awaiting tons of corrections, I’m sure) by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Rudy, Scott Lawrence, Jerry Mastet and Ted Bergman for at least trying to keep me honest. And an extra big thanks to Erin MacDonald whose Ed McBain/Evan Hunter: A Literary Companion is just absolutely some kind of wonderful.

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