The Con Man cover

The Con Man

87th Precinct • Book 4

by Ed McBain

Narrated by Dick Hill

3.77 ABR Score (4.1K ratings)
★ 3.91 Goodreads (3.9K) ★ 4.14 Audible (146)
6h 7m Released 2011 Mystery

About This Audiobook

A con artist is working the streets of Isola, charming his way through small-time scams and larger frauds with smooth talk and easy smiles, until his methods turn lethal. When a young woman's body washes up in the river, the detectives of the 87th Precinct find themselves hunting a killer whose only consistent trait is his ability to present as harmless. Steve Carella leads the investigation, following the trail of cancelled checks that map a dead woman's life.

Dick Hill's hard-boiled cadence is perfectly matched to Ed McBain's economical prose, and he handles the precinct's ensemble cast with ease, giving each detective enough vocal distinctiveness to track without overdoing the character work. Hill brings the right amount of cynical weariness to a book from 1957 that still feels contemporary in its understanding of how predators use charm as a weapon. The audiobook captures McBain's efficiency, the way each chapter does exactly what it needs to do and no more.

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