ED MCBAIN'S FIRST 87thPRECINCT NOVEL

Swift, silent, and deadly -- someone is knocking off the 87th Precinct's finest, one by one. Thehowof the killings is obvious: three .45 shots from the dark add up to one, two, three very dead detectives. Thewhyand thewhoare the Precinct's headaches now.

When Detective Reardon is found dead, motive is a big question mark. But when his partner becomes victim number two, it looks like open-and-shut grudge killings. That is, until a third detective buys it.

With one meager clue, Detective Steve Carella begins his grim search for the killer, a search that takes him into the city's underworld to a notorious brothel, to the apartment of a beautiful and dangerous widow, and finally to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head....