The disreputable, bigoted, dirty-mouthed but oddly likable Ollie Weeks, a walk-on in Ed McBain's popular 87th Precinct series, gets a book of his own here: not just the mystery of who killed a popular mayoral candidate a few days before the election, but the one Ollie, improbably, is writing. Pity the schmuck who lifts Ollie's only copy of his manuscript from his car--not only is its author in desperate need of what he's sure will be his ticket to fame and fortune, but the befuddled miscreant somehow believes that the caper recounted in Ollie's book is a real one, and that he's in possession of a blueprint for the crime that will allow him to cash in on it. This is a fast, funny read from the master--like a valentine to his fans while they wait for his next big one. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
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.CWA's highest award, the Diamond Dagger.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
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 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Detective "Fat Ollie" (Oliver Wendell Weeks) can win samba contests, play piano, and eat with both hands while talking. This amusing and fast-paced cop story meanders through a cast of characters, including a sexy rookie cop/love interest and a transvestite junkie hooker. As for the eponymous book, Fat Ollie has penned a chronically bad detective novel that has been stolen, and he pursues this "read herring" along with a murder case and a mega-bundle of drugs. Voice actor Ron McLarty creates funny, easily visualized characters. From gravelly, Brooklyn-tinged Ollie to the calm Latino "switch-hitting hooker," McLarty breathes comic life into his characters. Good fun, lots of laughs--Fat Ollie rocks! D.J.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
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. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
People (Page-Turner of the Week) Feloniously funny.


Book Description
All at once, Fat Ollie Weeks had a truly brilliant idea... But as any real writer could tell you, that's how inspiration strikes -- with the sudden force of a violent crime. Known more for his foul mouth and short temper than his way with words, Detective Weeks has written a novel. But just as Isola is rocked by the murder of a mayoral candidate, the only copy of Ollie's manuscript is stolen -- and an all-too-real adventure begins as a thief follows Ollie's fictional blueprint to find a $2 million cache of nonexistent diamonds. Now, the 87th Precinct races to bring poetic justice to a cold-blooded assassin -- and someone's about to add another chapter to the colorful career of Ollie Weeks, a cop who's never played by the book....


Download Description
"Murders happen every day in the big bad city. They're not such a big deal, you know. Even when the victim is a city councilman as well known as Lester Henderson. But this is the first time Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct has written a novel, ah yes. Called Report to the Commissioner, it follows a cunning detective named Olivia Wesley Watts, who, apart from bebf. While Ollie's responding to the squeal about the dead councilman, his leather dispatch case is stolen from the back of his car -- and in it, the only copy of his precious manuscript. Joined by Carella and Kling from the neighboring 87th Precinct, Ollie investigates the homicide with all the exquisite crudeness, insensitivity, and determination for which he is famous. But the theft of his first novel fills Ollie with a renewed passion for old-fashioned detective work. Following the exploits of one of Ed McBain's most beloved detectives, this lively and complicated novel -- the fifty-second in the award-winning 87th Precinct series -- is perhaps his best book yet. "

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Perennial supporting player Ollie Weeks -- the foul-mouthed, politically incorrect detective from the adjacent 88th Precinct -- moves to center stage in Fat Ollie's Book, the 52nd entry in Ed McBain's durable, astonishingly resourceful series of 87th Precinct mysteries. The result is one of the funniest, most compulsively readable novels that McBain (alter ego of Evan Hunter) has yet produced. This time out, Fat Ollie succumbs to an unexpected burst of literary ambition and writes an "authentic," hilariously bad cop novel called Report to the Commissioner. While investigating the murder of prominent City Council member Lester Henderson, Ollie leaves the only copy of his manuscript in the backseat of his car. When he returns to the car, the manuscript, inevitably, is gone. From this point forward, two interlocking plot threads dominate the novel: The high-profile investigation into Henderson's death, and Ollie's single-minded attempts to retrieve his missing masterpiece. The Henderson homicide eventually spills over into 87th Precinct territory, embroiling McBain regulars Steve Carella and Bert Kling in a sad, tawdry tale of sexual betrayal and ungovernable rage. (McBain also introduces a brand-new character, Officer Patricia Gomez, who brings an unexpected touch of romance to Ollie's misogynistic life.) Ollie, meanwhile, doggedly pursues his manuscript, which is now in the hands of a transvestite junkie who is unable to make the crucial distinction between fiction and fact. Supplementing all this is a lively subplot involving Bert Kling's former lover, Eileen Burke, and her role in disrupting a $300,000 cocaine transaction. As always, McBain weaves his various threads into a complex, satisfying whole. The humor, suspense, and sheer storytelling élan that have marked this series from the beginning continue to make themselves felt. There are very few sure things in literature or in life, but 87th Precinct novels -- which continue, after more than 40 years, to expand the possibilities of the police procedural -- make the cut. Easily. Bill Sheehan

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Murders happen every day in the big bad city. They're not such a big deal, you know. Even when the victim is a city councilman as well known as Lester Henderson." "But this is the first time Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct has written a novel, ah yes. Called Report to the Commissioner, it follows a cunning detective named Olivia Wesley Watts, who, apart from being female and slim, is rather like Fat Ollie himself. While Ollie's responding to the squeal about the dead councilman, his leather dispatch case is stolen from the back of his car - and in it, the only copy of his precious manuscript." Joined by Carella and Kling from the neighboring 87th Precinct, Ollie investigates the homicide with all the exquisite crudeness, insensitivity, and determination for which he is famous. But the theft of his first novel fills Ollie with a renewed passion for old-fashioned detective work.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

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). (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

After Isolda's leading mayoral candidate, Lester Henderson, is murdered in the 88th Precinct, Ollie Weeks catches the case. While he's sniffing out the crime scene, someone steals the only manuscript of his first mystery novel-all 36 or so pages of it-from his police vehicle. Now, as fans of the 87th Precinct novels know, Ollie saved Steve Carella's life twice in Money, Money, Money, and Henderson lived in the 87th Precinct. Ollie, then, asks help of Carella, who, with Bert Kling, follows up leads and solves the murder. Meanwhile, the man who stole Ollie's book is looking for $2.7 million worth of missing diamonds and Detective Olivia Wesley Watts, not realizing that both are figments of Ollie's literary imagination. Only McBain can write like this, maintaining tension as he shows Ollie in the mundane acts of eating, trying to get somewhere with a young rookie cop, and worrying about the loss of his book. The complex plotting, clear presentation of characters and their foibles, empathy for human beings, and sense of humor are priceless. One would never know that this is the 52nd book in a series, for it is as fresh and vibrant as all the rest. For all popular fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/02.]-Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

Detective "Fat Ollie" (Oliver Wendell Weeks) can win samba contests, play piano, and eat with both hands while talking. This amusing and fast-paced cop story meanders through a cast of characters, including a sexy rookie cop/love interest and a transvestite junkie hooker. As for the eponymous book, Fat Ollie has penned a chronically bad detective novel that has been stolen, and he pursues this "read herring" along with a murder case and a mega-bundle of drugs. Voice actor Ron McLarty creates funny, easily visualized characters. From gravelly, Brooklyn-tinged Ollie to the calm Latino "switch-hitting hooker," McLarty breathes comic life into his characters. Good fun, lots of laughs—Fat Ollie rocks! D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews