Hail to the Chief

Name: Hail to the Chief
Rating: 3.74 (2061 reviews)
Author: Ed McBain

87th Precinct • Book 28

by Ed McBain

3.74 Goodreads

(2.1K ratings)

192 pages Published 1973 Mystery

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Why You'll Love This

A baby is among the six dead before Carella and Kling even know a war is being fought — and the man pulling the strings doesn't exist on paper.

Great if you want: a tight, gritty procedural with real social stakes
The experience: fast and punchy — McBain wastes nothing in under 200 pages
The writing: McBain's dialogue crackles; his precinct scenes feel lived-in and unrehearsed
Skip if: you expect deep character development in every entry

About This Book

When rival street gangs start leaving bodies across the 87th Precinct's turf — six dead, including an infant — Detectives Steve Carella and Burt Kling find themselves chasing something far more dangerous than ordinary gang violence. Someone is orchestrating the bloodshed from the shadows, and the closer the detectives get to the truth, the more the city's racial tensions threaten to explode. McBain grounds the story in the kind of stakes that feel brutally real: communities fracturing, innocent lives caught in the crossfire, and a criminal intelligence that seems always one step ahead.

What makes this slim, 87th Precinct entry so satisfying is how efficiently McBain works. At under 200 pages, there's no fat here — every scene pulls weight, every exchange reveals character or advances the hunt. McBain's dialogue has always been his sharpest tool, and it crackles throughout, capturing the weary rhythms of precinct life without romanticizing them. Readers already invested in Carella and Kling will find familiar pleasures; newcomers will discover why this series built such a loyal following across decades.