Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Novels Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Book 22 in the series could be described as loose, light, fibrous or fluffy matter and also a slang term for the police?

Answer: Fuzz

Plot line: After an absence of many years the 'Deaf Man' returns to plague the detectives of the 87th precinct. The 'Deaf Man', yet to be unmasked by the police detectives, plans to extort money from local dignitaries by asking them to pay or die. This, however, is a smokescreen for his real crime, whatever that may be.

2. The next book on the shelf, book 20, could be described as a child's toy which represents a baby or small person. It is also an expression for a girl or woman who is considered attractive?

Answer: Doll

Plot line: She was a living doll, until she was slashed to death. Detective Steve Carella and Bert Kling take the case, even though Kling is making an enemy of everyone. However, the detective then goes missing, presumed dead and the rest of the squad go all out to solve the case. They really need to find a little doll with all the answers.

3. Book 18 and the first to use a one word title could be described as a bladed tool or a sudden termination of employment?

Answer: Ax

Plot line: The boys of the 87th Precinct know that it took a maniac to kill George Lesser, aged 87, with an ax, but the only oddballs who could have done it, Lesser's wife and son, have air-tight alibis. Just as detectives Carella and Hawes are about to shelve the case, the marauder strikes again.

4. The title of Book 41 is defined as a soothing song designed to send your baby to sleep?

Answer: Lullaby

Plot line: The squad room at 5.15 New Year's morning looked much as it did on any other day, but an exceptionally heinous crime was already sending a wave of outrage through even the veteran detectives on the precinct. A wealthy couple discovered their baby and the teenage sitter murdered.

As parents themselves, Carella and Mayer resolve to bring in the perpetrator at any cost. Meanwhile gang warfare is overtaking the city streets.

5. The 42nd book in the series can be described as a religious service usually held in the late afternoon or early evening?

Answer: Vespers

Plot line: Father Michael Birney lies dead behind the church rectory with multiple stab and slash wounds surrounded by his beloved roses. Also teenage crack barons are fighting in the streets, looking for drugs which may be hidden in the church. Who killed Father Birney and why? Listen. You won't believe your ears.

6. Book 43 on the shelf can be identified by this definition - a number of women who have all lost their husbands in death?

Answer: Widows

Plot line: The detectives investigate the number of a beautiful blonde in the penthouse apartment along with her older married lover, but for Detective Steve Carella it is the murder of his own father in a bakery holdup which sends him on a fevered hunt for the one who made his mother a widow.

7. Number 35 in the series can be defined in these terms - a sensation of warmth or hotness, a slang term for the police and a single course in a race?

Answer: Heat

Plot line: When a failed painter and twice-failed husband is found dead in his sweltering apartment, everyone assumes it is suicide. But Detective Steve Carella knows that suicides leave notes and they don't turn off the air conditioning on the hottest night of the year. Carella is on the trail of a killer.

8. Book 44 on the shelf could be described as the touching of lips between two persons or the slight touch of two snooker balls?

Answer: Kiss

Plot line: Certain that someone is trying to kill her, Emma Bowles turns to another killer for protection. Only a dedicated cop trapped in a defective legal system can save her.

9. Book 37 in the series is a brilliant spark of electricity occurring during a thunderstorm. Comes in sheet or fork varieties?

Answer: Lightning

Plot line: Lightning strikes with repeated terror, as a diabolical hangman murderer leaves one pretty co-ed after another dangling from the city's lampposts. It's up to Carella and the dedicated detectives of the 87th Precinct to fathom the darkness of the criminal's twisted mind.

10. Book 29 in my collection can be defined as a foodstuff made from flour, either with or without yeast, or a slang name for money?

Answer: Bread

Plot line: The bread in this case is money. Lots of money. Money lost in a warehouse fire. Money gained in an extraordinarily successful business. Money waiting in the cheque-printing machine of an insurance company. Carella and Cotton Hawes have taken over the arson case and find a tale of fire, money and murder, lots of it.

Source: Author sad-woman

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The antics of the 87th Precinct are my favourite set of books and I noticed that a great many of them have one word titles. From the dictionary definitions given, see if you can name my top reads.

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