Hark! The 87th Precinct Podcast

hark87podcast
  • 4.7 (13)
  • BOOKS
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

Ed McBain's 87th Precinct police-procedural novels were published between 1956 and 2005. There were 55 books in the series and Paul, Morgan and Stephen explore them, the spin-offs, adaptations and more from the author.

  1. 12/18/2025 · BONUS

    Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest: Thomas Underground

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct podcast. Well, it's been a while (42 months or so, as of release of this) so we thought it high (not low) time we got back together. Luckily Spike Lee thought to adapt Kurosawa's High and Low into his 2025 film Highest 2 Lowest and so how could we resist this opportunity? Remember, we're Hark87Podcast on most social things, but particularly Bluesky now. Please do rate, review and share the episodes. If you'd like to email us, please use hark87podcast@gmail.com to do so and check out our blog pages for previous episodes, scores and so forth. Why not listen to Paul's song High To Low (by Good Grief) on Bandcamp to accompany this episode?

    1h 15m

  2. 05/25/2022

    Ed McBain's Fiddlers - Book 55, Bonus: Celebration Train

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast bonus episode! In fact, it's the last ever bonus episode. And everything went fine, yessir, no technical hitches or anything (*nervously runs finger around collar, eyes darting about the room*).  We explore as always the original UK and US covers of the books and those of our own editions and some international versions before getting into the films, television and music from the year of release - in this case, 2005. Paul, Morgan and Stevo have made their picks from the year as well. Sort of. See you soon for a concluding episode looking back at our scores and reflecting on the series - thanks for sticking with us. Fare thee well!

    42 min

  3. 05/16/2022

    Ed McBain's Fiddlers - Book 55: A Very Long Pope

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast. In fact, it's the last (except our bonus episode) of the main series of this podcast as we arrive at the final book in the saga of the boys of Grover Avenue. It's Fiddlers. The corpses are piling up and the squad have to figure out what links the killings, whilst navigating their own matters of love, loss and family. Does McBain leave us on a high? Find out within as we investigate not only the book itself, but the other things released by McBain/Hunter during the final year of his life and after that.  Thank you so much for sticking with us and keeping us motivated to do this project. We truly appreciate it. So, until the bonus episode arrives, we'll merely say... Fare Thee Well!

    52 min

  4. 04/27/2022

    Ed McBain's Merely Hate - Book 54a: FIFTY-SIX?

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct bonus extra minipod! Before we approach the final book in the official series of the 87th Precinct, we need to divert down a side-track to look at the book TRANSGRESSIONS - ten novellas selected and edited by Ed McBain. The book includes a novella from the author, set in the 87th Precinct, called Merely Hate, so we can't ignore it. In this brief episode Paul will outline the other authors in the book and a little about this short(-ish) story, whilst you wait for us to bring you our last official episodes!  Until then,  Fare Thee Well.

    10 min

  5. 03/28/2022

    Ed McBain's Hark! - Episode 54, bonus: Stars In Your Mouths

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast bonus episode! This is the bonus for our show all about the 54th (of 55!) novel in the series, Hark! As usual we take a look at the cover designs for the book then settle back into the usual nonsense from the year of publication - in this case it's 2004. Prepare yourself for the Dave Mathews Band, Look and Read and some sequels.  See you soon for the concluding story in the series - FIDDLERS. Fare thee well.

    38 min

  6. 03/16/2022

    Ed McBain's Hark! - Book 54: Violins All Round

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast. It's 2004 and we're finally examining the book that we named the podcast after... HARK! Our old frenemy, The Deaf Man, is back and this time his scheme is more baffling than ever. We dig into this, the penultimate entry in the canon. Nearly there, folks! We outline some of the events in 2004 and you can, of course, join us in the bonus episode for more from that year. Join us soon for the FINAL book in the series, Fiddlers. Fare thee well.

    56 min

  7. 03/02/2022 · BONUS

    Ed McBain's Love Or Money - Book 53a: Air Vent Temptation

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct bonus mini-episode. In 2003 the BBC ran a writing competition and amongst the eight 'famous' authors taking part was Mr McBain himself. After generating a short-story for the competition entrants to complete, the authors also wrote their own end to the tale and so we get an extra little slice of the 87th Precinct to enjoy. Click on the links here for the archived BBC website and the PDF of the complete tale. See you soon for Book 54 - Hark! Fare thee well.

    17 min

  8. 02/04/2022

    Ed McBain's The Frumious Bandersnatch - Book 53, Bonus: The Anti-Palm

    Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast Bonus episode! This is the bonus episode accompanying our look at The Frumious Bandersnatch. You know the drill by now... we look at the book cover designs from the States, the UK and around the world then dig into the music, film and TV of the period of the book's writing/publication.  We've not got many more of these to do as we're onto Book 54 of 55 soon. Thanks for listening! Fare thee well.

    46 min
See All (132)

4.7
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Ed McBain's 87th Precinct police-procedural novels were published between 1956 and 2005. There were 55 books in the series and Paul, Morgan and Stephen explore them, the spin-offs, adaptations and more from the author.

Information