Typical early 87th Precinct mystery with a horrendous pun for the title (the “Boys” of the 87th find a large cut-off hand in the first chapter). McBain in this period has a horrible tendency to overwrite (the three page description of the “City” as a woman was excruciatingly purple) and play cute (several times the characters make references to either entertainment or novels, in an early and poor attempt at post-modernism). Introduced in this book is Juan, the Puerto Rican addition to the 87th, as McBain slowly trudges towards diversity, thirty years earlier than Bill Clinton.

[Finished 13 January 1993]