It's hard to see why the Ed McBain books about the 87th Precinct have been so popular through the years. He turns them out by formula, and his 26th title, "Let's Hear It from the Deaf Man,"… is no exception. The best that can be said is that the prose moves fast, even if it is of the roughhewn-features-and-flinty-blue-eyes department. Otherwise, this novel about police routine has nothing to recommend it…. (p. 34)

Newgate Callendar, in The New York Times Book Review (© 1973 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), April 1, 1973.

[Last Summer] was mildly convincing on the surface … but oddly superficial at the core. Deep down, as the saying goes, it was shallow, the stuff perhaps of a modish, middle-brow, box-office film….

The scene is set [in Come Winter] for a repeat—and a development—of the activities of the earlier book…. Will Mr Hunter write the...