Every Little Crook and Nanny

• McBain (born Salvatore Lombino, adopted “Evan Hunter” as his legal name) set the standard and became the greatest writer of the police procedural. The 87th Precinct series put the squad room front and center as the hero of gritty, police drama. 
• Enormous influence on television. His fingerprints are all over Hill Street Blues and the CSI series. The 87th Precinct ran as a series in 1961; films of The Blackbird Jungle, Fuzz and others hit the big screen over the years. McBain wrote the screenplays for Strangers When We Meet and Hitchcock’s The Birds. 
• Invented the police phrase 24/24. His conceit--the 24 hours before a crime and the 24 hours after a crime are the most important—has become a central concept of crime writing and television, and actual policing. 
• Honored with the most prestigious lifetime achievement awards in mystery writing. Evan Hunter was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1986; in 1998 he was the first American writer to receive the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers Association. 

A nanny will go to any length to save a kidnapped Mafia prince in this madcap mobster farce by the bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series.
 
Her name is Nanny, and she’s the most cutthroat woman in New York. Prim, slender, and dangerously English, she’s responsible for the care of Lewis Ganucci, a spoiled brat whose father just happens to control the city’s largest crime syndicate. Working on Mr. Ganucci’s sprawling Westchester estate is a dream . . . until Lewis disappears.
 
Mr. Ganucci is vacationing in Capri, and Nanny sees no reason to inform him that she lost his boy. The kidnappers want $50,000, and if she can scrape it together before the boss gets back, she has a shot at staying alive. She recruits a mid-level enforcer, Benny Napkins, to help her get the cash and save the boss’s son, kicking off a chain of events so outrageous and delightful that Nanny will die laughing—if she doesn’t get whacked first.
 
An uproarious story of kidnapping, extortion, and cold-blooded murder, this is Ed McBain at his best. If you love Damon Runyon or a great Robert De Niro comedy, you’ll enjoy this entertaining romp about a mobster on a rampage.