Fat Ollie's Book

December 23, 2002
Even when MWA Grand Master McBain (aka Evan Hunter) isn't in top form, he is very good and such is the case with this 87th Precinct novel, which really belongs to Det. Oliver Wendell Weeks of the 88th Precinct. Fat Ollie, of the gross appetite and the even grosser ignorance of political correctness, played a surprisingly heroic role in the last 87th Precinct novel, Money, Money, Money
(2001). Now he claims star billing and repayment of a debt owed by Det. Steve Carella. Two major crimes occur at almost the same time: the shooting of Councilman (and possible mayoral candidate) Lester Henderson as he is getting ready for a rally and the theft of the just completed manuscript of Ollie's first novel, Report to the Commissioner. Ollie enlists Carella's help (Henderson lived in the 87th) and pursues both the murderer and the thief. McBain's broad humor is much in evidence as he pokes fun at detective novels and their readership through excerpts from Fat Ollie's ponderous book. On the other hand, Ollie's outrageous bigotry, like that of TV's Archie Bunker, never seems to hurt or offend anyone and palls over an entire novel. Still, McBain creates wonderfully strange characters, like the transvestite hooker who latches on to Ollie's book, and crimes that are somehow ingenious, stupid and utterly convincing. Agent, Jane Gelfman (Jan. 2)FYI:McBain is the only American to have received the British CWA's highest award, the Diamond Dagger.

March 3, 2003
Fans of the Berenstain Bears audiobooks are in for a shock when they listen to McLarty's performance here. Instead of reading the voice of Papa Bear (which he's done for numerous Berenstain Bears audios), McLarty portrays Oliver Wendell Weeks, a hard-boiled detective in the 88th precinct. A slob and an equal opportunity racist (he hates everyone), Ollie has written a novel, Report to the Commissioner, which is stolen from his car while he's investigating a murder. Ollie is more concerned with solving the theft than the murder—it was the only manuscript, typewritten (he doesn't know a thing about computers). The thief, unbeknownst to Ollie, has read the book and believes it's an actual report to the Commissioner, full of valuable information, such as the location of a large quantity of fictional diamonds. McLarty's reading is on the money. He plays Weeks with the lovable gruffness of one of Ollie's idols, W.C Fields, and fleshes out, with equal doses of gravelly humor and punch, the rest of characters in this surly yarn, from McBain regulars Carella and Kling to a thieving, cross-dressing, Hispanic junkie prostitute. Simultaneous release with the Simon & Schuster hardcover (Forecasts, Dec. 23, 2002).

September 15, 2002
A new A&E series on the 87th precinct will feature Fat Ollie, but catch him here as he arrests a gone-bad book publisher and then finds that the only copy of a crime novel he's managed to write has been stolen.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2002
City councilman Lester Henderson is dead. He was shot at a rehearsal for a speech in which it was assumed he would officially announce his candidacy for mayor. Fat Ollie Weeks, whose success as a homicide detective has been built on the "better-lucky-than-good" premise, catches the emergency call. Ollie blunders his way through preliminary crime-scene questioning, antagonizing witnesses, potential suspects, and his fellow officers with his standard combination of bigotry, presumption, and arrogance. But even as he turns the investigation over to the evidence technicians, his focus shifts. The only copy of his beloved manuscript, a police procedural called " Report to the Commissioner," is missing. Ollie unofficially abdicates his responsibilities in the Henderson murder so he can concentrate on the recovery of his manuscript. Meanwhile, the junkie who stole it thinks it's a " real" police report that details an upcoming drug deal, and he begins to plan a rip-off. This is the 50-plus entry for the 87th Precinct crew, and none has been funnier. The excerpts from Ollie's novel will bring tears of laughter to readers' eyes as McBain skewers the inherent conceits of the procedural genre as well as bad writers everywhere. Wonderful entertainment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)