Why the Heck Would They Change His Name?

Cop Hater was the first book in Ed McBain's awesome 87th Precinct series, inspired by Dragnet and thus created with the idea of presenting police work in a relatively realistic manner, but with the identity of the lead protagonist shifting between different detectives in the precinct from one book to the next. The lead in this first book was Steve Carella, who (after McBain's unsuccessful attempt to kill him off in the third book) would become the most common lead protagonist.

Cop Hater involves the murder of several police officers. At first, it appears the killer must be a psycho who just wants to kill cops. But Carella gradually begins to suspect there might be a deeper purpose, which in turn leads to inadvertently putting his fiance, deaf/mute Teddy Franklin, in danger. It's an excellent story with a very satisfying ending.

It was published in 1956 and I just recently learned that it was adapted into a film in 1958, with Robert Loggia playing the lead character.

It's a very faithful adaptation of the book, with a screenplay written by Henry Kane--another talented crime novelist. The cast is great, with the detectives all looking like regular, working-class joes, doing their job and following up clues in a methodical fashion. Eleanor Parker does a wonderful job as Teddy Franklin and establishes a real rapport with Loggia.

There's a fun bit involving a gang of teen gang members who have been arrested after they attacked a cop. The leader of the gang is played by an impossibly-young Jerry Orbach, years before he switched sides and became a grizzled veteran cop on Law and Order.

Not only did the movie keep the book's plot intact (which includes scenes of cops following up leads that prove to be dead ends, adding to their growing frustration), but it also includes the plot point that the city is suffering a really intense heat wave. As in the book, the heat keeps everyone sweaty and on edge, adding to the overall tense atmosphere of the story.

There are several odd changes, though, both involving name changes. First, Loggia's partner is changed from Hank Bush to Mike Maguire. I suppose this might be because the actor (Gerald O'Loughlin) looks more like a Maguire than a Bush.

The other and more inexplicable change is to Loggia's character. He's not Steve Carella. He's Steve Carelli.

It's not that big a deal and certainly doesn't affect the quality of the movie, but I can't help but wonder why. The character still has an obviously Italian name, so it wasn't that. (Besides, for a 1950s film, it didn't shy from including a black detective in the precinct.) It's such a silly, little change. Was it a typo in the script no one noticed? Was it some weird decision by an annoying producer?

We'll probably never know. The movie is on Amazon Prime and is worth watching.

You have the right to remain silent--the Police Procedural

Ed McBain (the pen name of Evan Hunter) wrote the "87th Precinct" novel--Cop Hater--in 1956. The last--Fiddlers--was published in 2005, the year McBain died. That's 55 books in 49 years (and McBain wrote a lot of stuff outside this series as well).

But it's quality as well as quantity that makes McBain the obvious choice for great Police Procedurals. McBain's protagonists--most often detective Steve Carella--are are believable characters that you can easily accept as real human beings. Particularly appealing about Carella is the loving relationship he maintains with his deaf-mute wife, Teddy. The very first 87th Precinct book I ever read included a scene in which a beautiful witness comes on to Carella. But Carella shows an almost casual desire to remain faithful to the woman he loves--something that marks him as a thoroughly decent human being and instantly puts the reader firmly on his side.

Good characterizations are, of course, particularly important in a procedural novel. Whereas traditional whodunits and most hard-boiled detective stories are set in a world at least slightly removed from reality, procedurals use real life police methodology to generate drama and suspense. You have to believe in the people you meet within the framework of such a story or none of it will hold up.

Carella and his fellow cops live in a fictional city roughly analogous to New York City. Other than the fact that none of them age appreciably over a half-century, McBain keeps the realism level high. His plots are as solid as his characterizations and (though some of the novels are better than others) I don't think there is a single 87th Precinct book I failed to enjoy.

It's interesting to note, though, that within the realistic confines of the police procedural, McBain does manage to pay tribute to other mystery sub-genres. Killer's Wedge (1959), for instance, involves Carella using some old-fashioned deductive reasoning to solve a locked room mystery.

Killer's Wedge is a hostage drama, as well. While Carella is solving his case, the rest of the cops are being held at gun point back at the precinct house by a revenge-crazed woman. It is in every way a fun novel.

Several other novels, such as The Heckler and Fuzz, feature a master criminal known only as The Deaf Man, who functions as a reoccuring arch enemy. King's Ransom is a kidnapping story, while Lady Killer involves a race against time to stop a killer.

But most often we find a basic police procedural plot lying between the covers of an 87th Precinct novel. Perhaps the most entertaining example of this is Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here (1971), which covers one 24-hour period at the 87th Precinct. Rather than follow just one case, this one is basically a series of interlocking short stories, with each detective assigned to the Precinct investigating a different crime. It is yet another fun read, highlighting McBain's skill at solid plot construction as well as sharp characterizations.