Money, Money, Money

Written by Ed McBain

Narrated by Ron McLarty

It is Christmas in the city, but it isn't the giving season. A retired Gulf War pilot, a careless second-story man, a pair of angry Mexicans, and an equally shady pair of Secret Service agents are in town after a large stash of money, and no one is interested in sharing.
The detectives at the 87th are already busy for the holidays. Steve Carella and Fat Ollie Weeks catch the squeal when the lions in the city zoo get an unauthorized feeding of a young woman's body. And then there's a trash can stuffed with a book salesman carrying a P-38 Walther and a wad of big bills.
The bad bills and the dead book salesman lead to the offices of a respected publisher, Wadsworth and Dodds. This is good news for Fat Ollie, because he's working on a police novel -- one written by a real cop -- and he's sure it's going to be a bestseller.
Ed McBain returns to his legendary 87th Precinct with a suspenseful story of greed, conflict, and the eternal search for money, money, money.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 1, 2001
• ISBN: 9780743541411

Ed McBain

Ed McBain, a recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Grand Master Award, was also the first American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers Association's highest award. His books have sold more than one hundred million copies, ranging from the more than fifty titles in the 87th Precinct series (including the Edgar Award–nominated Money, Money, Money) to the bestselling novels written under his own name, Evan Hunter—including The Blackboard Jungle (now in a fiftieth anniversary edition from Pocket Books) and Criminal Conversation. Fiddlers, his final 87th Precinct novel, was recently published in hardcover. Writing as both Ed McBain and Evan Hunter, he broke new ground with Candyland, a novel in two parts. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. He died in 2005. Visit EdMcBain.com.

Reviews for Money, Money, Money

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think this is the longest beginning of an 87th Precinct book where none of the detectives appear, not till page 41 (Cotton shows up very briefly on page 21)!The story has a little bit of everything - drugs, burglary, counterfeit money, the Secret Service, terrorists, and a book publisher! And a woman gets eaten by lions! And Fat Ollie Weeks, who has a reprehensible personality, and beliefs that are totally opposite of mine, but I find that I really like when he's in these stories!This is one of the best 87th Precinct books I've read to date, which is crazy considering it is the 51st of the series! Quite an achievement by the author! Now, on to the next!

[bekkil1977 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a really good one, involving counterfeiters, drug deals, conspiracies, and a small time burglar tying it all together. Ollie and Carella are partnered together after a lion in a park that straddles the 87th and 88th precincts mauls a woman. Since she was discovered in between the two, they have to work the case together. Turns out the woman is an ex-marine named Cassandra Ridley, and she flies planes from Texas to Mexico, delivering counterfeit money for very real drugs. A book publisher is a front for a drug ring, and their salespeople are actually dealers. Ollie saves Steve's life not once but twice during the course of their investigation that threatens to bring down the multi-billion dollar drug/counterfeit ring.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book on CD read by Ron McLartyThis is book # 51 (!) in the 87th Precinct series of police procedurals, set in a fictious large city “back East,” and featuring the detectives of the 87th Precinct. In this novel seemingly unconnected murder victims are ultimately tied together in a conspiracy involving drug-dealing and counterfeiting. This is the first book by McBain that I’ve read, and it will not be the last! Fast-paced, intricate plotting and colorful characters make for a quick and enjoyable read, despite the high body count. It may be Christmas but the criminals are busy, and so are the police. I loved that Detective Ollie Weeks is taking piano lessons, and wants to write a novel. And that Steve Carella is nearly eaten by a lion! I was interested from page one to the very end.Ron McLarty does a great job reading the audio book. I particularly liked his voices for “Fat Ollie” and Will Struthers (burglar and hero).

[lamour_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Its Christmas and Detective Steve Carella and Fat Ollie Weeks of the 87th Precinct are called to the zoo because the lions are eating the body of a nude woman. Then they have to deal with a burglar who happens to have the fur coats of the victim and also a lot of cash that they think might be counterfeit. Then a book salesman shows up dead in a garbage can. As the detectives delve further into the case, they discover the publishing company has more going for it than just books no one buys such as the importing and selling of drugs. This is my first Ed McBain and it won't be my last for this was a fast moving narrative with twists and turns including the last minute addition of Arab terrorists into the climax.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know how he does it. McBain, a.k.a. Evan Hunter, author of The Blackboard Jungle, has been turning out excellent police procedurals for half a century. Most are based on a mythical 87th Precinct in an unidentified city resembling New York. All have great plot lines and wonderful dialogue that often borders on the hysterical. It's like having a bunch of guys get together and have them talk at cross purposes in short, staccato phrases that individually make sense, but together have an undercurrent of lunacy or ridiculousness that is very amusing.

That's not to say sex and violence are absent. McBain provides a real sense of the horror, seaminess and corruption that pervade society. This, the 51st in the 87th Precinct series, may be one of his best and most convoluted. Detective Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th squad is introduced in this one — to me, anyway, after all I haven't been able to read all of them yet. He gets involved because the leg of a murder victim winds up in his turf, the killers having tried to dispose of the body by throwing her, an ex-military pilot flying drugs across the Mexican border, to the lions. The detectives and SWAT team gather to try to determine how to retrieve what's left before the lion polishes off the remains. "They ran for the guillotine doors, the lion behind them, ran into the tunnel under the moat, and up the ramp, into the run behind the holding cages, startling Hardy, who realized too late that a lion was loose. He stabbed the button that began closing the guillotine doors behind the three vets — but the lion was inside as well. The doors clanged shut. Everyone was suddenly in a long, narrow holding cage with a lion who'd just had his first taste of human flesh. The access door to the work area was at the far end of the cage. Between the door and the lion were four zoo keepers, three veterinarians, two animal behaviorists, two curators, an assistant director, a director, three detectives, and a partridge in a pear tree." Now, that partridge makes that a classic paragraph in my book. The lion goes after Steve Carella, the common thread in the precinct series, who is saved by Fat Ollie Weeks at the last minute. Now Steve owes him one. Ollie is an aspiring novelist and pianist. Anyone who has ever taken piano lessons will appreciate the recital [pun intended:] of his conversation with his teacher. Ollie, who has more self-esteem than realism, declares he is having trouble with the first three notes of the exercise. His teacher, exasperated, suggests perhaps he has no talent, an impossibility in Ollie's book. " 'But those first three notes are one and the same note! Bom, bom, bom,' she said, striking the same note again and again and again. 'It is impossible for you to be having trouble with the identical note struck three times. It is physically impossible, Mr. Weeks. Bom, bom, bom,' she said, hitting the note again. 'It's so simple a rodent could tap it out with his nose.' 'It isn't that I haven't been practicing,' he said." I'll spare you a recitation of the plot. It's wonderful. Suffice to say, it involves counterfeit money, the Secret Service, the FBI, two precincts, Fat Ollie, some Iranian terrorists, an Israeli violinist, a burglar wooing a call girl, and a publishing house that's really a CIA front masquerading as drug smugglers. You can't go wrong with Ed McBain.

[nandadevi_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a above average McBain novel of the 87th Precint series. Partly for it's comedic pace (reminding me of Donald Westlake - or indeed McBain when he hits his stride...), and partly for its prescient (and well researched) analysis of drugs, counterfeiting and terrorism. Issued pretty much the same day as the attack on the Twin Towers it was destined for some kind of fame. As always there's plots within plots, back stories and things just left hanging there. Do they still make movies out of this sort of novel? You kind of wish they did.

[markatread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cass Ridley flew in Iraq in the first Gulf War. Now she is out of the military and flying drugs out of Mexico for a quick $200,000. She ends up naked in the lion exhibit at the zoo as breakfast for the lions on December 22nd. Half of the lion exhibit is in the 87th precinct and half of it is in the 88th precinct and since one of the lions drug one of Cass's legs into the 88th precinct side of the compound, Steve Carella and Fat Ollie end up with responsibility for the murder. Along the way a burglar, counterfiet money, Secret Service men, murdred book sellers, Iranian terrorist, drug sellers and blonde prostitutes that end up being hit persons have to be accounted for before Carella and Fat Ollie can enjoy their holidays. Carella is still struggling with his fathers recent murder and Fat Ollie is still misanthropic. Fat Ollie also saves Carella's life twice and is learning to play the piano, well he is "kind of" learning to play the piano. And then he and Carella have to go to a publishing house to investigate the death of one of the sales representatives that worked there and Fat Ollie pitches a book he is wanting to write and........Ed McBain juggles a lot of story elements expertly and never drops one of the balls he is juggling. In the end, the conclusion stretches credibility some but is still in keeping with the 87th series that Money, Money, Money is the 51st entry in. Ed McBain is not only able to write 51 books about these guys without sounding bored and tired of the chore of writing about them, he is able to write one in Money, Money, Money that is funny, human, and exciting.