Ed McBain: Long Time No See (USA 2012)

From the Publisher:
It's a cold November when James Harris takes his dog, Stanley, for their usual rounds of panhandling. Blind since Vietnam and married to a blind woman as well, James realizes his disability pension and her part-time job go only so far. The money he makes on the streets is desperately needed -- yet it's still not enough. But after today it won't matter... When Detective Steve Carella finds James' wife murdered as well, her throat slit like her husband's, it is no longer a random crime. And when another blind woman turns up dead, all Carella has to go on is the nightmare James told a psychiatrist after coming home from the war ten years ago. What he finds is a labyrinthine trail of betrayal, sex, and a secret worth killing to keep buried.

An intricately woven and flawlessly layered thriller, Long Time No See is a live wire in the 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain, the bestselling author that People magazine describes as "a skillful writer who excels at pace, plot, and, especially, the complex clockwork of a cop's mind."

Ed McBain: Long Time No See. An 87th Precinct Novel. Thomas & Mercer / Amazon Publ., ISBN: 9781612181776 (March, 2012), 312 p., $13.95.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See (USA 1997)

From the Publisher:
Everywhere you look there is something to see: a working man coming home, a hustler moving on to his next score, a lover turning away with tears in her eyes. In this city, a good cop has seen it all. And he wishes he could forget.

Long Time No See
They never saw their executioner. Because each victim had this in common: they were blind. Steve Carella, a weary detective very much in love with his deaf wife, is stymied in a hunt that began when a Vietnam veteran, his sight taken in war, was found with his head nearly separated from his body. But as the bizarre killing spree goes on, Carella begins to look into the first victim's dreams. And what he sees is a panorama of war, sexuality, secrets, and torment -- and one man's pure, blind rage...

Ed McBain: Long Time No See. 87th Precinct. Warner Books, ISBN: 0446604496 (September, 1997), 304 p., $5.99.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See (UK 1994)

From the Publisher:
Jimmy Harris is the first to have his throat cut. Two similar, savage murders follow in what could be just another busy week on the 87th Precinct.

Except that this time the victims are all blind - and anyone who goes around killing blind folks has to be a crazy.

One bizarre clue exists: a psychiatrist's account of Jimmy's sinister nightmare of sex and violence. But still Detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer are completely in the dark.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See. A Novel of the 87th Precinct. Coronet / Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN: 0340593326 (August, 1994), 302 p., £5.99.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See (USA 1987)

From the Publisher:
SEE NO EVIL... SPEAK NO EVIL
Jimmy Harris lost his eyesight in Vietnam. But it was on a cold city street that he lost his life. Somebody chloroformed his guide dog and slit Harris's throat. Detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer of the 87th Precinct shook their heads at the blood and waste of it all, then took the groggy dog back to headquarters, where it told them all it could -- nothing.

Jimmy's blind wife didn't tell Carella much more. And by the next morning, she wasn't talking at all. She was dead. The only clue Carella could find to the double murder was a nightmare Jimmy had told an Army shrink ten years before... and the detective was too biind to see how a bad dream of sex and violence was the key to the dark places in a killer's mind.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See. An 87th Precinct Novel. Avon Books, ISBN: 0380703696 (August, 1987), 263 p., $3.50.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See (USA 1982)

From the Publisher:
MAKE THE CORPSE TALK
One cold November night Detectives Catena and Meyer of the 87th Precinct examined the dead body of the murdered blind man. Jimmy Harris. Then they went to talk to his widow. She was blind, too, but said she would identify the body anyway. She never did. Next by her throat was cut. Was it for money -- a $25,000 insurance policy? Thrills -- someone with a thing for blind people? Or just hatred? The more Carella and Meyer dig into the case -- from file rooms to massage parlors -- the more they become convinced that the key to the crime lies buried in the past -- and only one man knows the answers. Somehow the corpse of Jimmy Harris must be made to talk...

Ed McBain: Long Time No See. An 87th Precinct Mystery. New York: Bantam Books, 1982, ISBN: 0553231308, 263 p., $2.50.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See (UK 1977)

From the Publisher:
Ed McBain's longest and most fascinating 87th Precinct novel - a murder mystery that becomes a top-notch thriller.
A blind man is found dead, hist throat cut. Nex day his widow is murdered. As detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer hunt down leads to the killer in squadroom files, army bases and what are euphemistically know as massage parlours, they realize that the key lies in the dead man's past. Somehow the corpse must be made to talk.

With terrific characters, crackling dialogue and the authentic grime of police work, this is one of McBain's best books -- which have sold over 250 Million copies world-wide.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See. An 87th Precinct Mystery. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1977, ISBN: 0241896541 (June, 1977), 247 p., £3.95.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See (USA 1977)

From the Publisher:
It was November and it was very cold. The blind man, Jimmy Harris, walked home. "He was seized suddenly from bebind. He felt his chin caught in the crook of someone's elbow, felt his head being jerked back, his jaw raised. And then pain. A searing line of fire across his throat. The collar of his shirt was suddenly wet, Warm."

Detectives Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer of the 87th Precinct examine the dead body, then go to talk to the man's widow. She is blind, too, but says she will be able to identify the body anyway.

She never does. Next day they find her throat cut, too.
Was it for money (a 25,000 insurance policy)? Hate (Harris was black -- his wife was white)? Thrills (a crazy with a thing for blind people)? The more Carella and Meyer dig into the case, hunting down leads in squadroom files and massage parlors, army bases and laboratories, the more they become convinced that the key to the crimes lies in one place, deep in the past -- and that only one man can provide it. Somehow or other, the corpse of James Harris must be made to talk...

Long Time No See is Ed McBain's longest, most intricate 87th Precinct book -- and his very best: a murder mystery that twists and turns down dark passageways to become a topnotch psychological thriller as only McBain can write it. Its dialogue crackles, its characters breathe, but its greatest strength, as always, is that here is the authentic sweat and grime of police work. One of the cops is Italian, but he doesn't wear a dirty raincoat or pretend he's dumb; the other is bald, but he doesn't suck lollipops or dress like a mayor. These are real cops, real victims, real crimes -- and as powerful as they come.

Ed McBain: Long Time No See. An 87th Precinct Mystery. New York: Random House, 1977, ISBN: 0394402936, 274 p., $7.95.