Evan Hunter, also known by his pen name Ed McBain, was a prominent American author and screenwriter. He was born Salvatore Albert Lombino in New York City in 1926 and legally changed his name to Evan Hunter in 1952. In addition to these names, he also used several other pseudonyms, including Richard Marsten, Hunt Collins, Curt Cannon, Ezra Hannon, Dean Hudson, and John Abbott.
McBain is best known for his crime fiction, which he began writing in 1956 under the name Ed McBain. However, he had already achieved success and recognition as Evan Hunter before this. After serving in the US Navy during World War II, McBain earned a degree from Hunter College in English and Psychology. He then worked for a literary agency in New York while also writing on his own. His first major success came in 1954 with the publication of his novel The Blackboard Jungle under the name Evan Hunter.
McBain is perhaps most famous for his 87th Precinct series, which he wrote under the name Ed McBain. The series, which is set in a fictional city called Isola, features a large cast of detectives and includes over fifty novels. The first book in the series, Cop Hater, was published in 1956. In addition to his work as a novelist, McBain was also a successful screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's film The Birds (1963), as well as for several television series, including Columbo and the NBC series 87th Precinct.
Throughout his career, McBain received numerous awards for his contributions to the world of literature and entertainment. In 1986, he was given the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement by the Mystery Writers of America. He was also the first American to receive the Cartier Diamond Dagger award from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain. McBain passed away in 2005 at the age of seventy-eight after a battle with larynx cancer.
87th Precinct Books
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Cop Hater
1956
2
The Mugger
1956
3
The Pusher
1956
4
The Con Man
1957
5
Killer's Choice
1957
6
Lady Killer
1958
7
Killer's Wedge
1958
8
Killer's Payoff
1958
9
King's Ransom
1959
10
'Til Death
1959
11
Give the Boys a Great Big Hand
1960
12
The Heckler
1960
13
See Them Die
1960
14
Lady, Lady, I Did It!
1961
15
The Empty Hours
1962
16
Like Love
1962
17
Ten Plus One
1963
18
Ax
1963
19
Ax / Axe
1963
20
He Who Hesitates
1965
21
Doll
1965
22
Eighty Million Eyes
1966
23
Fuzz
1968
24
Shotgun
1968
25
Jigsaw
1970
26
Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!
1971
27
Sadie When She Died
1972
28
Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man
1973
29
Hail to the Chief
1973
30
Bread
1974
31
Blood Relatives
1975
32
So Long as You Both Shall Live
1976
33
Long Time No See
1977
34
Ghosts
1980
35
Calypso
1980
36
Heat
1981
37
McBain Brief
1982
38
Ice
1983
39
Lightning
1984
40
And All Through The House
1984
41
Eight Black Horses
1985
42
Poison
1987
43
Lullaby
1989
44
Vespers
1989
45
Tricks
1989
46
Widows
1991
47
Kiss
1992
48
Mischief
1993
49
Romance
1995
50
Nocturne
1997
51
The Big Bad City
1998
52
The Last Dance
1999
53
Money, Money, Money
2001
54
Fat Ollie's Book
2002
55
The Frumious Bandersnatch
2003
56
Hark!
2004
57
Fiddlers
2005
Matthew Hope Books (by with John Sandford, with Ken Auletta)
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Goldilocks
1976
2
Rumpelstiltskin
1981
3
Beauty And The Beast
1982
4
Jack and the Beanstalk
1984
5
Snow White and Rose Red
1985
6
Cinderella
1986
7
Puss in Boots
1987
8
The House That Jack Built
1988
9
Three Blind Mice
1990
10
Mary, Mary
1991
11
There Was A Little Girl
1994
12
Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear
1996
13
The Last Best Hope
1998
87th Precinct Collections
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
McBain's Ladies (As: Evan Hunter)
1988
2
McBain's Ladies Too (As: Evan Hunter)
1989
Matthew Hope Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Goldilocks
1976
2
Rumpelstiltskin
1981
3
Beauty and the Beast
1982
4
Jack and the Beanstalk
1984
5
Snow White and Rose Red
1985
6
Cinderella
1986
7
Puss in Boots
1987
8
The House That Jack Built
1988
9
Three Blind Mice
1990
10
Mary, Mary
1991
11
There Was A Little Girl
1994
12
Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear
1996
13
The Last Best Hope
1998
Standalone Novels
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Rocket To Luna
1953
2
Don\'t Crowd Me / Paradise Party ( As: Evan Hunter)
1952
3
The Big Fix
1952
4
Don't Crowd Me
1953
5
Rocket to Luna (By: Richard Marsten)
1952
6
Danger: Dinosaurs!
1953
7
Cut Me In
1954
8
Runaway Black / Runaway (By: Richard Marsten)
1954
9
Runaway Black
1954
10
Death of a Nurse
1955
11
The Blackboard Jungle
1954
12
Murder in the Navy (By: Richard Marsten)
1955
13
Murder in the Navy
1955
14
Tomorrow's World / Tomorrow & Tomorrow (By: Hunt Collins)
1956
15
Tomorrow's World
1956
16
So Nude, So Dead (By: Richard Marsten)
1956
17
Vanishing Ladies (By: Richard Marsten)
1957
18
Second Ending
1956
19
The Spiked Heel (By: Richard Marsten)
1957
20
Vanishing Ladies
1957
21
Strangers When We Meet ( As: Evan Hunter)
1958
22
The Spiked Heel
1957
23
I'm Cannon--For Hire
1958
24
Even the Wicked (By: Richard Marsten)
1958
25
The Gutter and the Grave
1958
26
Strangers When We Met
1958
27
Big Man (By: Richard Marsten)
1959
28
Even the Wicked
1958
29
A Matter of Conviction ( As: Evan Hunter)
1959
30
Buddwing ( As: Evan Hunter)
1961
31
Big Man
1959
32
The Sentries
1965
33
A Matter of Conviction
1959
34
Buddwing
1964
35
Nobody Knew They Were There ( As: Evan Hunter)
1971
36
Seven
1972
37
The Paper Dragon
1967
38
Doors (By: Ezra Hannon)
1975
39
Where There's Smoke
1975
40
A Horse's Head
1967
41
Guns
1976
42
Last Summer
1968
43
Sons
1969
44
Gangs! / Walk Proud
1979
45
Love, Dad ( As: Evan Hunter)
1981
46
Nobody Knew They Were There
1971
47
Far from the Sea ( As: Evan Hunter)
1982
48
Every Little Crook and Nanny
1972
49
Lizzie ( As: Evan Hunter)
1984
50
Come Winter
1973
51
Another Part of the City
1986
52
Streets of Gold
1974
53
Downtown
1989
54
Criminal Conversation ( As: Evan Hunter)
1994
55
Doors
1975
56
Privileged Conversation ( As: Evan Hunter)
1995
57
Driving Lessons
1998
58
The Chisholms
1976
59
Alice In Jeopardy
2004
60
Love Dad
1981
61
Far from the Sea
1982
62
Lizzie
1984
63
Gangs!
1989
64
Scimitar
1992
65
Criminal Conversation
1994
66
Privileged Conversation
1995
67
Candyland
2000
68
The Moment She Was Gone
2002
69
So Nude, So Dead
2015
70
Runaway
2016
Children's Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Find the Feathered Serpent
1952
2
The Remarkable Harry ( As: Evan Hunter)
1961
3
The Remarkable Harry
1961
4
The Wonderful Button
1961
5
The Wonderful Button ( As: Evan Hunter)
1961
6
Me and Mr. Stenner
1976
7
Me and Mr. Stenner ( As: Evan Hunter)
1976
Non-Fiction Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Let's Talk
2005
Short Story Collections
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The McBain Brief
1982
2
Barking at Butterflies
2000
3
Running from Legs and Other Stories
2002
4
Learning to Kill
2006
5
Keller's Adjustment; Forever
2006
6
Transgressions
2006
7
I Like 'Em Tough
2016
8
The Jungle Kids
2016
Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusak Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Sunday Pigeon Murders ( By: Craig Rice)
1942
2
The Sunday Pigeon Murders
1942
3
The Thursday Turkey Murders ( By: Craig Rice)
1943
4
The Thursday Turkey Murders
1943
5
The April Robin Murders
1958
6
The April Robin Murders (With: Craig Rice)
1958
Transgressions Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Transgressions
2005
2
Transgressions (With: Stephen King, Lawrence Block, Anne Perry, Jeffery Deaver, Sharyn McCrumb, Donald E. Westlake, Bonnie Jeanne Perry, Joyce Carol Oates, Walter Mosley, John Farris)
2005
3
Transgressions, Vol. 2
2006
4
Transgressions, Vol. 2 (With: Stephen King, Lawrence Block, John Farris)
2006
5
Transgressions, Vol. 3 (With: Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb, Donald E. Westlake, John Farris)
2006
6
Transgressions, Vol. 4 (With: Anne Perry, Sharyn McCrumb)
2006
Selected Shorts Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
For Better and for Worse (By: Symphony Space)
1993
2
Even More Laughs (By: Jonathan Lethem, T.C. Boyle, Philip Roth, Stephen Colbert, Miranda July, Christine Baranski, Alec Baldwin, Robert Sean Leonard, Symphony Space, Jerry Zaks, Julia Slavin, Harry Mathews, Thomas Meehan, Marian Seldes, Parker Posey)
1998
3
Timeless Classics (By: Shirley Jackson, James Thurber, Raymond Carver, John Shea, Jack London, Edith Wharton, D.H. Lawrence, Richard Connell, Maria Tucci, James Naughton, Charles Keating, Symphony Space, Marian Seldes, Isaiah Sheffer, Steven Gilborn)
2006
4
Falling in Love (By: E. Nesbit, Padgett Powell, Maile Meloy, Rick Bass, Edna O'Brien, Fionnula Flanagan, Hope Davis, Laurie Colwin, Ted Marcoux, Christina Pickles, Jane Curtin, William Hurt, Symphony Space)
2007
5
Food Fictions (By: Symphony Space)
2007
6
Travel Tales (By: Symphony Space)
2007
7
Edith Wharton (By: Symphony Space)
2007
8
Pets! (By: Symphony Space)
2007
9
Tales of Betrayal (By: John Cheever, Tessa Hadley, John Biguenet, Adam Haslett, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Symphony Space, Galina Vromen)
2007
10
Family Matters (By: Symphony Space)
2007
11
Are We There Yet? (By: Symphony Space)
2008
12
A Touch of Magic (By: Ray Bradbury, T.C. Boyle, Maria Tucci, James Naughton, Haruki Murakami, Jonathan Safran Foer, Kevin Brockmeier, Donald Barthelme, Daniel Gerroll, Symphony Space, Andrew Lam, Jerry Zaks)
2009
13
The William Hurt Collection (By: Richard Ford, Tobias Wolff, Aleksandar Hemon, William Hurt, Ron Carlson, Symphony Space)
2009
14
Whodunit? (With: Dashiell Hammett, Shirley Jackson, John Shea, Louise Erdrich, Nadine Gordimer, René Auberjonois, Fionnula Flanagan, Robert Sean Leonard, C.S. Montanye, Symphony Space, Isaiah Sheffer, Hattie Winston)
2009
15
American Classics (By: Edgar Allan Poe, Joyce Carol Oates, Eudora Welty, John Cheever, Alice Walker, Donald Barthelme, John Sayles, Amy Tan, Symphony Space)
2010
16
New American Stories (By: Sherman Alexie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Aleksandar Hemon, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Symphony Space)
2011
17
Poe! (By: Symphony Space)
2012
Ed McBain Anthologies
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Great Stories of Mystery and Suspense
1981
2
Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels
1986
3
The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories
1988
4
The Second Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction
1988
5
City Sleuths and Tough Guys
1989
6
Crimes of Passion
1993
7
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1996
1995
8
Murder For Love
1996
9
Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories
1996
10
The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories
1996
11
Crime After Crime
1999
12
The Best American Mystery Stories 1999
1999
13
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 1
2000
14
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2
2000
15
Writers on Writing
2001
16
The Mysterious Press Anniversary Anthology: Celebrating 25 Years