Five Minute Review: Ed McBain

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ธ.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 36

  • @keithjones6023
    @keithjones6023 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I've read hundreds of crime novels, but by far the ones I've enjoyed the most are the 87th Precinct books.

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  4 ปีที่แล้ว

      They are superb, aren't they? But I have to put in a bid for Raymond Chandler ... and Martin Cruz Smith's books, too.

  • @rogueriderhood1862
    @rogueriderhood1862 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I've been an Ed McBain reader for a great many years, a very good writer, really gets you into the story. My favourites are the ones which feature the 87th's nemesis, The Deaf Man, who appears in several of the books.

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I've read about ten of his 87th Precinct series, but haven't come across The Deaf Man yet. I'll have to keep going! Thanks for the thought, David.

  • @philirvine2530
    @philirvine2530 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    ive loved Ed McBain for 35 yrs and from the very 1st book you can watch the enviroment and characters grow with each corresponding book. All the characters storylines evolve as the years pass. Love them :-)

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Yes, I agree - although his approach of keeping the characters at the same age even though the stories run over decades was ... interesting!

    • @keithjones6023
      @keithjones6023 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's funny because I've been enjoying this great author for 35 years too. The 87th Precinct and the more racy Matthew Hope series, my favourite 87th include Fat Ollie Weeks, he's an absolute hoot. l love crime fiction and have enjoyed many books from other authors, but Ed is the master!

  • @MaurizioBunkus
    @MaurizioBunkus 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    McBain's novel King's Ransom was adapted by Akira Kurosawa into easily one of his best films. High & Low is a masterpiece.

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Haven't read the book OR seen the film. There's something I have to get hold of! Thanks for the comment, Tom!

    • @rolandofgilead43
      @rolandofgilead43 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@writerlywitterings i read King's ransom years ago in fact i think i've read it 2 or 3 times and it's one of his best. honestly i think you should read them from all in order from Cophater to Fiddlers in (2005) the last one and yes there are #55 of them i saw on a site there's a rumor he finished a last one before he did called Exit which would be published after he died but so far that's only a rumor still even if it's not #56 as it's an 87 Precinct novel #55 is still a great number to go out on ya know?

    • @keithjones6023
      @keithjones6023 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@rolandofgilead43 I'm a big crime fiction fan, love a lot of authors, but nobody does it better than Ed. I'm just about three quarters of the way through reading the 87th Precinct stories for the third time.

    • @rolandofgilead43
      @rolandofgilead43 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@keithjones6023 he is good, you have read all 55 books? Make sure you read the extended ones for certain books

    • @keithjones6023
      @keithjones6023 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@rolandofgilead43 Yes l started reading the 87th Precinct books over 30 years ago, first one l read was Poison. I was hooked! At that time I found many of his books in charity shops and second hand book shops. I have got about 90% of the 87th series and some of the slightly more racey Matthew Hope books. He wrote quite a few stand alone stories as well, got many of those. I love the characters in the 87th, and the books with Fat Ollie Weeks are amongst my favourite, that guy is a hoot. I must admit he is anything but PC, but of course he is a fictional character 😏

  • @lynnettejalufka2682
    @lynnettejalufka2682 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I love your insight on rejection letters.

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's a point people often don't think about! Thanks, and I'm really glad you like the videos!

  • @JBFire97
    @JBFire97 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thanks for the recommendation, not read him before.

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      I'm jealous - you have a real treat in store!

    • @keithjones6023
      @keithjones6023 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      If you have started reading books from this great author, l hope you are enjoying them. For me there are no better books in crime fiction, the 87th Precinct series are superb, striking just the right balance of story telling with a great plot, great characters, humour, all you need really in a good read!

  • @moiseshernandez1084
    @moiseshernandez1084 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I saw Death of a nurse at My local book store and it looked pretty interesting. Should I buy it?

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  4 ปีที่แล้ว

      I'd always advise Ed McBain's titles. I haven't read that one, but he's a consistent writer. I haven't read a bad one yet.

  • @olegkolbasenko
    @olegkolbasenko 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Interesting books. And behind the box from Graf von Faber-Castell ...

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Hello, Oleg - There are two GvFC, and one FC there!

    • @olegkolbasenko
      @olegkolbasenko 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@writerlywitterings Hello, Michael, are you using this?

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      You mean my @writerlywitterings blog? I'm working out what to do with that just now. I have been blogging, but TH-cam has already got five times the interest, plus I am using Patreon a lot more, since it means I can put up things on the one site, rather than having to think about too many - Twitter, FaceBook, TH-cam, Instagram, and the others I'm already on. However, when this book is finished, I'll be putting up a couple of blogs, just to keep things going.

    • @olegkolbasenko
      @olegkolbasenko 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@writerlywitterings I'm sorry, my friend, you know that I know English so well that sometimes people don’t understand me. I apparently put it wrong. I meant Graf von Faber-Castell. But by the way, it was useful information for me about your blogs, I'm interested in your plans and work, really. And by the way, I’m constantly working on my English, but I don’t have to write to you in Ukrainian or Russian. (Ukrainian humour) I shake your hand!

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I've got several friends in the Ukraine (one just married a friend of ours) and would love to visit and shake your hand too, my friend. Sorry I misunderstood your comment - as soon as I posted it I wondered if you had meant the pen box - I should have realised! Thanks for the comments. I do love those GvFC boxes - one has my three Conway Stewarts, and the other a collection of pencils and pencil leads!

  • @neilmiller3220
    @neilmiller3220 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    HES RIGHT I read about 100 pages day not Cornwell thanks

  • @rolandofgilead43
    @rolandofgilead43 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    i started reading him at some point on a Lark in (1995) i think it was i was about 16 or 17 at the time and the reason i thought why the hell not? was cause each time a new book came out i dunno how many times i would pick one of his books up and see how many books he wrote and i would always go holy shit is that a lot of books. so i thought why the hell not? and Cop Hater was the 1st one i read actually, through the years i read them in various orders
    but never in the right order so in the past couple years i started again with Cop Hater the extended version it's still not one of the best ones but
    not all the books are great, he who hesitates i think was terrible, blood relatives, vespers those are 3 of them i can think of off the top of my head.
    i don't have Doll but i do have Lady Killer though, killer's choice i also have as well but right now cause of this virus we are currently stuck with in the world today compared to when you posted this last fall, i am not reading Killer's Payoff and next one i at some point will read is Killer's Wedge etc.. you get the idea. i own a lot of his books on paperback and some on hardback but i have all his books on digital that i downloaded for my kindle for the ones i don't own. check out his Pi series he did in the 50's. there's 3 or 4 of them i think? anyways i hope you are well and healthy and safe

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thanks for that. I really like his writing - it is spare, but, as my friend Professor Bernard Knight says, he's one of the most realistic writers in the crime genre. You never know what is going to happen to his characters. There have been a couple of my favourites who haven't survived specific titles after becoming friends over the previous books! Not every one is perfect, as you say, but then few writers can produce 50-60 novels without one or two being a little weaker (apart from me, of course!).
      Thanks again, my friend, and keep safe in these worrying times.

    • @rolandofgilead43
      @rolandofgilead43 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@writerlywitterings well not all writers have all their books be great either, King is my favorite Writer but he's done some pretty bad ones in his long career, that's not a question but a fact and he would prolly agree with me on that one too, as for Mcbain there's so many of his books i haven't read that's it's not even funny, i got i think 57 pages left of Killer's Payoff now so if i don't finish it tonight i will do so this weekend i'm sure. i dunno what i'm gonna read next? another mcbain Kliler's wedge is next up, or finish up a book i started awhile back Centuar Aisle by Piers Anthony and old one from (1981) that's a guy that's done books than McBain/Hunter actually. but than Anthony is still alive too so there is that.
      i think i've read around 35 of his books i think? or around there anyways with mcbain honestly i dunno i've read about half of the 87th Precinct books, when i started reading him in (1995) and onward i tried to read them in order but no place carried certain books cause they were out of print. Blood Relatives is a good example for a good many years and i found the hardback at a goodwill and last i looked online maybe last year the hardback edition of that is pretty rare actually.
      unless i'm wrong? anyways, i also Collect both Piers Anthony, McBain, King, Dean Koontz, Patrica Cornwell even if you aren't a fan that's okay. Kathy Reichs i tried her 1st book with Temperance Brennan a year or two ago and it was about 90 pages before i could get into it and have things actually happen, same with the 1st Scarpetta novel that i did end up enjoying once things started to happen.

  • @yuri_nazarenko
    @yuri_nazarenko 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm Ukrainian but I was born and raised in Soviet Union, and my mother tongue is Russian. In 1990, when I was 16 years old, I came across an Ed McBain story published in a Soviet magazine. It's worth noting that those were the last days for the USSR, which turned out to be a colossus on clay legs, and it became easier to find works of foreign writers. So, the story was called "Killer's Wedge" but in the Russian translation it was named as something like "Way of Killing" or "Method of Killing". Gosh, I still remember that wonderful feeling when I finished reading the story - it was one of those moments that make your life more enjoyable. Here I have to hand it to the translator - the Russian translation was brilliant. By the way, in the very same magazine I also read Donald Westlake's "The Hot Rock", which I highly recommend to everyone.
    In late 2004 at the Ed McBain's official website I found his e-mail (it was freely available) and dared to write a letter to him. To my surprise, he (or someone else from his website) responded to me, and we were in correspondence for a while. Then I went to America for 6 months (I worked on a cruise ship), and when I returned, I found out that Ed McBain had passed away...
    Now I am 46, 5 years ago I moved to Spain (big mistake of mine!) and from time to time I read his books over and over again (I have them all in electronic format, and unfortunately not all of them are well translated), and I still remember that magic - an unexpected discovery of a magnificent book.

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thanks so much, Yuri, for that. I believe that McBain always responded to people himself. Although he was very successful, he liked to deal with his readers personally. He was an amazing writer, creating so many entirely believable characters on both sides of the street, and to this day I know several police officers (and one Forensic Pathologist) who claim his are the only realistic crime stories.
      I'm interested in Donald Westlake - that is not a write I have seen before. I'll have to get a copy.
      Sorry to hear you're not happy in Spain. I would love to see more of Spain - well, I'd love to travel all over the world. I just hope things get better for you.

  • @DAGDRUM53
    @DAGDRUM53 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Where's the hounds?

    • @writerlywitterings
      @writerlywitterings  5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Sitting on the bed, asleep! Watch tomorrow's video, and you'll hear them very distinctly!