Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (USA 2012)

From the Publisher:
He dresses in black and stalks the streets of the 87th Precinct. He is a shadow, always searching for his next victim. And when he finds it, all that will be left is a severed hand.

For Detectives Carella and Hawes, this new killer is an enigma. He leaves no trace of his crime -- no evidence at all. Even the severed hands have had their fingertips sheared off. With nothing much to go on, the detectives work off the hunch that the black-clad killer has a grudge against the 87th, and begin a frantic manhunt before any more of his handiwork appears on their streets.

One of world-renowned crime master Ed McBain's most grisly and intense novels in the famed 87th Precinct series, Give the Boys a Great Big Hand is a finely tuned build-up of brooding malevolence and frantic desperation...

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. An 87th Precinct Novel. Thomas & Mercer / Amazon Publishing, ISBN: 9781612181622 (March, 2012), 202 p., $13.95.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (UK 2004)

From the Publisher:
The mystery man wore black, and he was a real cut-up king. Why else was he leaving blood-red severed hands all over the city? Was he an everyday maniac with a meat cleaver, or did he have a special grudge against the 87th Precinct?

Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes went along with the grudge theory, because the black-cloaked killer didn't leave any clues to go on - the grisly hands even had the fingertips sliced off. And how do you nail a murderer when you can't identity or unearth most of his victims?

That's what the boys of the 87th Precinct have to do: find a killer before he carves up any more corpseless hands!

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. An 87th Precinct Novel. Orion, ISBN: 075285979X (September, 2004), 195 p., £6.99.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (UK 1984)

From the Publisher:
Severed above the wrist, its fingertips cut to ribbons, the 'great big hand' given to the boys of 87th Precinct won little applause. Steve Carella had to search the trashcans and stripclubs of the hig city for what was left of a white male between eighteen and twenty-four -- and find his killer.

It was sicker than some, uglier than most. It was just a job. But the encores were much more grisly...

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. An 87th Precinct Mystery. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984, ISBN: 0140023100, 169 p., £1.75.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (USA 1975)

From the Publisher:
BLACK, RED AND DEAD!
The mystery man wore black, and he was a real cut-up king. Why else was he leaving blood-red, severed hands all over the city? Was he an everyday maniac with a meat cleaver, or did he have a special grudge against the 87th Precinct? Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes went along with the grudge theory, because the black-cloaked killer didn't leave any clues to go on. Even the grisly tidbits turning up around town had the fingertips sliced off, so they couldn't lend Carella and Hawes a helping hand. And how do you nail a murderer when you can't identify or unearth most of his victim? But that's what the boys of the 87th Precinct had to do: find a killer before he carved up any more corpseless hands!

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. An explosive, sizzling 87th Precinct Mystery. New American Library / Signet Y6683 (September, 1975), 176 p., $1.25.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (UK 1965)

From the Publisher:
Severed above the wrist, its fingertips cut to ribbons, the 'great big hand' given to the boys of 87th Precinct won little applause. Steve Carella had to search the trashcans and stripclubs of the hig city for what was left of a white male between eighteen and twenty-four -- and find his killer.

It was sicker than some, uglier than most. It was just a job. But the encores were much more grisly...

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965, Penguin C2310, 169 p., 3'6.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (USA 1968)

From the Publisher:
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER...
It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle -- if you like your puzzles full of messy details. The first piece was supplied gratis -- a severed human hand with fingerprints slashed away. But for Steve Carella and the boys of the 87th Precinct, the rest was harder to come by. The pieces lay scattered all over the city, in waterfront bars, backstage at strip joints, and in junkie pads. What slowly emerged was a picture of unimaginable horror...

ED MCBAIN
As mystery and novel aficionados know, the name Ed McBain is a pseudonym for the world-famous best- selling novelist, Evan Hunter. His 87th Precinct Mysteries have become the most popular detective series of the decade.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. A 87th Precinct Mystery. New York: Dell, 1968, Dell 2909, 188 p., 50¢.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (USA 1960)

From the Publisher:
Patrolman Richard Genero couldn't see clearly in the driving rain. The man -- or perhaps the tall woman -- standing at the bus stop was dressed entirely in black. Black raincoat, black slacks, black shoes, black umbrella which hid the head and hair. A bus pulled to che curb, spreading a canopy of water. The door snapped open. The Person -- man or woman -- boarded the bus and the rain-streaked doors closed, hiding the black-shrouded figure from view. The bus pulled away from the curb, spreading another canopy of water which soaked Genero's trouser legs.

"Hey!" he yelled after the bus. "You forgot your bag!"

Genero picked up the bag -- a small, blue overnight bag issued by an airline. He unzipped the bag and reached into it. Then he gripped the bus-stop sign for support. The bag held... a severed human hand.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. A new 87th Precinct Mystery. New York: Permabooks, 1961, PermaBooks M4187, 180 p., 35¢.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (USA 1960)

From the Publisher:
Patrolman Richard Genero couldn't see clearly in the driving rain. The man -- or perhaps the tall woman -- standing at the bus stop was dressed entirely in black. Black raincoat, black slacks, black shoes, black umbrella which hid the head and hair. A bus pulled to che curb, spreading a canopy of water. The door snapped open. The Person -- man or woman -- boarded the bus and the rain-streaked doors closed, hiding the black-shrouded figure from view. The bus pulled away from the curb, spreading another canopy of water which soaked Genero's trouser legs.

"Hey!" he yelled after the bus. "You forgot your bag!"

Genero picked up the bag -- a small, blue overnight bag issued by an airline. He unzipped the bag and reached into it. Then he gripped the bus-stop sign for support. The bag held... a severed human hand.

The police lab gave both bag and hand a thorough examination and discovered next to nothing.
Steve Carella, Cotton Hawes, Meyer Meyer and the other 87th Precinct detectives, had a murderer to find, and they had to begin without even knowing who the victim was.

The Missing Persons Bureau files supplied two leads, both of which led nowhere.
Everything that looked even faintly like a clue was checked and double-checked and they all led to the same place -- a dead end.
Then, when the break finally came and several clues turned up at once, they neatly contradicted each other. It was the toughest case the 87th Precinct detectives had ever faced.

Ed McBain: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand. An Inner Sanctum 87th Precinct Mystery. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1960, 218 p., $?.??.