Vespers

As with other single-word titles in the 87th Precinct series, Vespers has meaning for more than one plot line. The book begins with a troubled priest reciting the prayers, then being brutally slain, but there are other troubled people and other crimes with the theme of endings. In particular, this volume closes a story arc that began several novels ago. There are a lot of secrets, and not just the ones heard in the confessional. The detectives are under pressure from the mayor on down to solve this terrible crime, but with a lot of strange twists and turns, it isn’t clear where their focus should be. There is also a parallel story, about a Satanic church operating just a few blocks away from the Catholic church. Ed McBain handles the multiple subplots with his usual deft touch, but somewhat less humor than normal. This is in keeping with the story, but if you’re a long-time fan, you might be surprised by how dark the tale is.

McBain utilizes a complex setting to introduce and support the many characters that he weaves into his narrative. Like all good mysteries, it includes enough “new evidence” to keep you intrigued by how things will work out in the end. McBain moves beyond the “good” label by making each of the suspects entirely believable, no matter how evil or innocent they might at first appear. There is also an element of religion that should appeal to readers, whether conservative believers or wanderers in their own lives. That these two diametrically opposed belief systems exist within four city blocks of each other makes it all the more intriguing. McBain opens with a murder, then introduces characters through various settings to establish their possible connections to the murder, and allows the story to evolve with effective twists and turns, some surprising, others not so. What made this mystery stand out for me is that there weren’t any fillers to provide needless after-the-facts details at the end. Every chapter, including the last one, presents an important aspect of the narrative

The goings-on in Precinct 87 are weirder and meaner than usual, and it wasn’t helped by the Kindle version. Each chapter follows various characters around, hopping from on to the other. I have to assume that in the paper version there is some visual indication of the shift – extra spacing, a symbol, something – but there is no such indication in the Kindle version I read. Result: you are reading about person A, and become aware that something odd is going on, to finalize realize you’re now reading about person B, and you have to go back and figure out where the shift happened. Confusing. When shift happens….

Ed McBain is the American grand-daddy of the police procedural, and when I was younger, I read almost everything he wrote. Now he just annoys me, largely over the mechanics of writing. He’ll change character point-of-view (POV) from Character A to Character B without any indication that he’s doing so, which is just confusing for the reader. I read for pleasure, so being intentionally or negligently tripped (repeatedly). The POV switches may be on opposite sides of the city, or may be different in time, and you’re just supposed to figure that out all by yourself? Puh-lease!

I’ve read most of the 87 precinct novels and this was not a favorite. One one hand, the mystery was complex and we’ll developed, and there were some great twists at the end. On the other hand, the sex and satan worship scenes were creepy. Maybe I’m getting prudish in my old age. I appreciate its craftsmanship, enen as I squirmed through parts. I would like to have given it 3.5 stars.

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