There Was A Little Girl

Matthew Hope, defense attorney extraordinaire, is shot on page one and spends the rest of the case in his hospital bed. So it’s up to his friends (a PI, a cop, his DA girlfriend) to figure out why he was shot. Hope can’t tell them. He is in a semi-coma and can’t communicate what he knows. The case t......more

#73 from Ed McBain, my Most Read Author, is another tale in the Matthew Hope series about a lawyer in Florida - apart from flashbacks, Hope is in ITU for the whole book, after being shot. His friends and associates investigate on his behalf in a tale which centres around a travelling circus.......more

Well written, and non-pretensious detective novel. The plot is fairly interesting and the dialog is done well. I think this story is similar to what makes its way onto TV these days. The story is told almost passively from the eyes of the primary character (who is in a coma) and the eyes of several d......more

I've much enjoyed all the Matthew Hope series that I've read. This one started off gangbusters and I really got hooked. However, it sagged badly for me in the middle, and then picked up again toward the end. I think part of the issue is that there were two female characters who were not very clearly......more

Long time reader of Ed McBain and this was an interesting story with multiple characters well described. Plot was developed well and kept my interest. Will look out for more "Matthew Hope" novels.......more