One Man's Opinion: POISON by ED McBAIN

 

My latest outing with the 87th Precinct was Poison. It's an excellent tale on the whole, with perhaps one big flaw that I could have lived without. 

Carella and Hal Willis land a case with a poison victim where suicide seems highly unlikely. They're drawn to the last number that he called and eventually get through, finding a really interesting woman was the subject the victim was attempting to contact. Her name is Marilyn and she has a lot of casual partners, each of whom find her absolutely adorable. 

All the detectives have is the names of her lovers and they set about tracking them down . In the meantime, another of the lovers is killed, which creates a whirlpool of intrigue. 

It's great to get a story told where Willis is the lead character and, the way things pan out, it's difficult not to enjoy spending time with him. As he spends time with Marilyn, he gets sucked in by her special qualities in a way that so many have done before. It's not long before he's totally hooked, which is problematic given that she's a significant suspect in the murder cases. The joy for the reader is that it's not clear what her involvement is until the final revelation.

Marilyn is also a fabulous character. As is increasingly clear with the evolution of the series, the sensual and sexual are at the forefront. On the whole, that's pretty cool, though I did feel it created the flaw mentioned earlier. As we find out about her, there's a significant chunk of plot dedicated to her back story. It's interesting and tragic, yet I struggled to stay with the book at that point because I was so engrossed in the detective work and the awkwardness of Willis's position. The subject matter here was difficult and the interruption to my enjoyment was, frankly, irritating. That complaint aside, the rest of the piece is terrific and is wonderfully put together. I have no idea how McBain managed to churn out such beauties without diluting the content or becoming dull- the 87th Precinct novels are an amazing creation and my respect for them simply grows as I get through them. 

A nice aside for Columbo fans, there's a link here to Uneasy Lies The Crown which I'm sure many will appreciate (if that's a spoiler for you, congrats on being such a Columbo fan and I apologise in advance).