The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures Book

Heavens! I'm starting to like Ed McBain's writing. Which is ironic because I've loved it since I read Cop Hater, my first by him. The reason he's growing on me is that while he always writes good, suspenseful police procedurals well, he became with 8 Black Horses (87th Precinct, 1895) a writer who didn't get on my nerves for saying something objectional from time to time.

McBain is not chauvinistic, racist, or bigoted in 8BH. One might even say he's liberal in this one. He still writes a few horrendous words in some character's dialog, yet I've come to believe it's all for affect. I don't feel he's living through his characters. However, if you see a bit of him in them, you must admit he's done a credible job writing diverse personalities.

Speaking of characters, there are some beautifully written bad guys in this one. McBain has spent a lot of effort over time to understand the ruthless criminal mind. He's developed them well giving weight and background to their modus operandi. They perpetrate some shenanigans that will blow your mind.

There are also some very good guys to like especially detective Steve Carella. He's so astute and balanced in situations when you feel he should snap. Still, this reader finds him plausible because most people I know go about their work and play and don't let the world get them down. Carella feels like that.

McBain is essentially a story writer. This is not literature per se. Who cares? The tales he tells are tall. He's serious when he needs to report the criminal aspects of the story. He goes on the tangents that readers come to expect in realistic fiction. His humor keeps the ugly dread of violent crime from overwhelming the reader.

Something I like a lot is the graphics in McBain's books. He's one of the few fiction writers who do it. They're not fancy illustrations. Really, just props such as documents that a police detective would use when trying to solve a case. Post-mortem reports. Fingerprint reports. Things like that add credibility and realness to a mystery. He must have butted heads with publishers, editors, and printers who surely resisted the extra work graphics require.

Notes
There's a wonderful riddle written in this one.
8BH takes place late in the year and the festivities are prime for a mystery.