Ed McBain

Despite being an American, Ed McBain’s work was often adapted to films in other countries. Some of his novels were loosely translated in to French films, such as “Blood Relatives” and “Without Apparent Motive”. Both these films became successful in France.

The best place to start is the Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusak series, the earliest of Ed McBain's multi-book series: it opens with The Sunday Pigeon Murders (1942) and runs to 3 books across 1942–1958, ending with The April Robin Murders (1958). Ed McBain's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Ed McBain has 163 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1942 and 2012. 94 of them belong to 6 named series — the largest being the 87th Precinct series with 55 books — and 69 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Ed McBain's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusak (1942–1958, 3 books), 87th Precinct (1956–2005, 55 books) and Matthew Hope (1976–1998, 13 books), plus 1 more.

This guide splits Ed McBain's 163 books into 6 named series and 69 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: 87th Precinct (55 books, 1956–2005); Matthew Hope (13 books, 1976–1998); Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusak (3 books, 1942–1958); 87th Precinct Collections (2 books, 1988–1989); Selected Shorts (17 books, 1993–2012), plus 1 further series.