Nocturne: A Novel of the 87th Precinct (87th Precinct Mysteries (Hardcover))

Just in case anybody thought the 47 earlier novels in the 87th precinct were a fluke, McBain's gone and revitalized the routine with Nocturne"". -- The New York Times Book ReviewIn Isola, the hours between midnight and dawn are usually a quiet time. But for 87th Precinct detectives Carella and Hawes, the murder of an old woman makes the wee hours anything but peaceful -- especially when they learn she was one of the greatest concert pianists of the century long vanished. Meanwhile 88th Precinct cop Fat Ollie Weeks has his own early morning nightmare: he's on the trail of three prep school boys and a crack dealer who spent the evening carving up a hooker. Once she had filled the concert halls of Europe with beautiful music. Once her name had been in headlines, her performances heralded in newspapers around the world. Now she lay dead on the cold floor of a cold apartment on the coldest night of the year: a little old woman with a shattered bottle of cheap liquor by her body and two fatal gunshot wounds to her chest. Svetlana Dyalovich, found dead at midnight, was one more homicide in one more endless night in the city. For detectives Carella and Hawes, no murder is ever routine, and while this one looks at first like a robbery, the evidence doesn't add up. And when Carella and Hawes interview Svetlana's hard-edged, lounge-singing granddaughter - a woman accompanied by two armed bodyguards - they start looking for a missing envelope full of money and for a killer who had more than robbery on his mind. Once she had filled the concert halls of Europe with beautiful music ? her name commanded headlines, her performances heralded in newspapers worldwide. Now she lay dead on the cold floor of a cold apartment: a little old woman with a shattered bottle of cheap liquor by her body and two fatal gunshot wounds to her chest. Svetlana Dyalovich, found dead at midnight, was one more homicide in one more endless night in the city. For detectives Carella and Hawes, no murder is ever routine, and while this one looks at first like a robbery, the evidence doesn't add up. And when Carella and Hawes interview Svetlana's hard-edged, lounge-singing granddaughter - a woman accompanied by two armed bodyguards - they start looking for a missing envelope full of money and for a killer who had more than robbery on his mind

In Isola, the hours between midnight and dawn are usually a quiet time. But for the 87th Precinct detectives Carella and Hawes, the murder of an old woman makes the wee hours anything but peaceful—especially when they learn she was one of the greatest concert pianists of the century long vanished. Meanwhile 88th Precinct cop Fat Ollie Weeks has his own early morning nightmare: he's on the trail of three prep school boys and a crack dealer who spent the evening carving up a hooker.

An old woman and her cat are shot in an apartment in New York. As officers Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes investigate, they learn the victim was a famous Russian pianist who in her youth gave concerts on both sides of the Atlantic. The killing of the cat tells them it was not a burglary The phone was ringing as Carella came into the squad-room.