This book begins with two attempts on Emma Bowles life. And it also begins with the trial of the man who killed Detective Carella’s father, which happened in the previous installment of this series. It ends with a nice little plot twist, to the Emma Bowles story. Not so much for Carella...

This was a good page turner, with lots of courtroom procedure and quite a bit of detective work on the active murder case. The title comes from some of the song lyrics printed within. Or maybe, it's about the kiss of death. Still and all, a good read! ( )

I was thinking this might only be a 3 star read, but the end comes together absolutely beautifully and resolved the misgivings I had. There are 2 plots going on here. One a personal about Carella that allows McBain to flex his courtroom drama muscles. The other is a really noirish tale that involves the bulls investigating attempts on the life of a wealthy woman. As a result you kind of get 3 books in one - a bit of Grisham, a bit of James M Cain and McBain’s normal humour and painstaking procedural detail holding it all together. Creaking stuff. ( )

A woman comes to the 87th Precinct to report two attempts on her life, including recognizing the attempted killer as her husband's former limo driver. When he shows up shot and strung up, Fat Ollie Weeks pushes the case off to the 87th. The husband then hires a private eye to protect his wife as the 87th Street detectives start to investigate. Meanwhile, the trial for the killer of Steve Carella's father occurs simultaneously. The wife then sleeps with the private eye to get even with her philandering husband before he can do what he was initially hired to do. ( )

Carella's father's killer found not-guilty, man hires man to kill his wife and she manages to turn the tables

Sempre 87° distretto, nella sua NY City mascherata. Un giallo che scorre, al solito, con sorprese finali e pochi moralismi. ( )