The Mugger cover

The Mugger

87th Precinct • Book 2

by Ed McBain

Narrated by Dick Hill

3.72 ABR Score (5.2K ratings)
★ 3.89 Goodreads (5.0K) ★ 4.05 Audible (179)
6h 1m Released 2011 Mystery

About This Audiobook

A mugger is working the streets of the 87th Precinct's territory, preying on women and announcing himself each time with a courtly bow and the phrase "Clifford thanks you, madam." When the crimes escalate from robbery to murder, young patrolman Bert Kling makes it personal after the victim is connected to his social circle. Ed McBain's second 87th Precinct novel establishes the procedural ensemble format that would define decades of police fiction.

Dick Hill narrates with the brisk, unadorned efficiency that McBain's clipped prose demands, capturing the mid-century New York atmosphere and the blue-collar police culture without sentimentality. The audiobook's compact runtime suits the novel's pace, which wastes no words and moves with the confidence of a writer who already understood his form at the series' second entry. Hill is a natural fit for the precinct's world, his voice carrying the period's particular mix of pragmatism and civic purpose.

More in 87th Precinct

He Who Hesitates (87th Precinct)

He Who Hesitates (87th Precinct)

Book 1

3.83 (8.8K)

5h 17m

Cop Hater

Cop Hater

Book 1

3.83 (8.8K)

6h 31m

The Pusher

The Pusher

Book 3

3.95 (4.1K)

6h 34m

The Con Man

The Con Man

Book 4

3.91 (3.9K)

6h 7m

Killer's Choice

Killer's Choice

Book 5

3.91 (2.9K)

5h 43m

Killer's Payoff

Killer's Payoff

Book 6

3.95 (2.9K)

6h 15m

Killer's Wedge

Killer's Wedge

Book 7

3.98 (2.1K)

5h 38m

Lady Killer

Lady Killer

Book 8

3.9 (2.5K)

5h 29m

'Til Death

'Til Death

Book 9

3.93 (1.9K)

5h 40m

King's Ransom

King's Ransom

Book 10

3.82 (2.4K)

6h 40m

Give the Boys a Great Big Hand

Give the Boys a Great Big Hand

Book 11

3.91 (2.6K)

5h 59m

The Heckler - a novel of the 87th Precinct

The Heckler - a novel of the 87th Precinct

Book 12

3.92 (1.8K)

7h 8m

See Them Die

See Them Die

Book 13

3.81 (1.6K)

6h 24m

Lady, Lady, I Did It!

Lady, Lady, I Did It!

Book 14

4.01 (1.5K)

5h 41m

The Empty Hours

The Empty Hours

Book 15

3.85 (1.3K)

7h 4m

Like Love

Like Love

Book 16

3.92 (2.0K)

6h 15m

Ten Plus One

Ten Plus One

Book 17

3.99 (1.7K)

6h 48m

Axe

Axe

Book 18

3.87 (1.7K)

5h 37m

Eighty Million Eyes

Eighty Million Eyes

Book 21

4 (1.5K)

5h 57m

Shotgun

Shotgun

Book 23

3.88 (1.3K)

5h 23m

Jigsaw

Jigsaw

Book 24

3.88 (1.6K)

5h 30m

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!

Book 25

3.93 (2.2K)

6h 7m

Sadie When She Died

Sadie When She Died

Book 26

3.94 (2.5K)

6h 3m

Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man

Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man

Book 27

4.1 (1.7K)

6h 34m

Hail to the Chief

Hail to the Chief

Book 28

3.74 (2.1K)

5h 29m

Bread

Bread

Book 29

3.83 (1.5K)

6h 43m

Blood Relatives

Blood Relatives

Book 30

3.9 (1.5K)

6h 3m

So Long as You Both Shall Live

So Long as You Both Shall Live

Book 31

3.94 (1.4K)

5h 19m

Long Time No See

Long Time No See

Book 32

4.01 (1.5K)

9h 40m

Calypso

Calypso

Book 33

3.84 (1.3K)

8h 14m

Ghosts

Ghosts

Book 34

3.9 (1.7K)

7h 6m

Heat

Heat

Book 35

3.92 (1.7K)

7h 54m

Ice

Ice

Book 36

3.92 (3.1K)

12h 11m

Lightning

Lightning

Book 37

3.92 (1.4K)

10h 16m

Eight Black Horses

Eight Black Horses

Book 38

3.93 (1.6K)

8h 17m

Poison

Poison

Book 39

3.95 (2.2K)

8h 30m

Tricks

Tricks

Book 40

3.95 (1.5K)

8h 12m

Lullaby

Lullaby

Book 41

3.81 (1.6K)

10h 43m

Vespers

Vespers

Book 42

3.78 (1.5K)

12h 2m

Widows

Widows

Book 43

3.87 (1.3K)

11h 15m

Kiss

Kiss

Book 44

3.87 (1.6K)

11h 2m

Mischief

Mischief

Book 45

3.72 (992)

3h 10m

Money, Money, Money

Money, Money, Money

Book 51

3.78 (1.3K)

6h 6m

Fat Ollie's Book

Fat Ollie's Book

Book 52

3.66 (1.3K)

8h 17m

The Frumious Bandersnatch

The Frumious Bandersnatch

Book 53

3.66 (1.1K)

10h 23m

Hark!

Hark!

Book 54

3.71 (1.2K)

11h 9m

Fiddlers

Fiddlers

Book 55

3.91 (1.7K)

6h 3m