McBain's forte is his ability to evoke the atmosphere of big-city streets and the workaday world of a police squadroom. In Bread …, the familiar faces of the 87th Precinct are investigating arson in a fire that gutted a warehouse jammed with a half-million dollars worth of miniature wooden animals. This lilliputian menagerie leads to a tale of greed, double-dealing, a real estate firm and love nest in the black ghetto, and some very unpleasant characters and facts…. McBain not only solves an exciting case but, as always, captures a feeling for the problems of everyday law enforcement on the streets.

Jean M. White, "The Case of the Cornflake Crunch," in Book World—The Washington Post, November 17, 1974, p. 4.∗