Kiss

Yesterday I reread Ed McBain's "Kiss". I had forgotten how good this one was. It starts off with a woman named Emma coming into the 87th precinct to report that a man is trying to kill her, has already made two attempts and failed, and now she realizes who he is: a man who used to drive her husband named Roger Turner Tilly. Then Tilly turns up dead. Emma's husband, Martin, hires a private detective from Chicago to come and be Emma's bodyguard. She quickly determines that her husband wants her dead and has hired Andrew (the bodyguard) to kill her--and she's right, that's exactly what's going on. Emma talks Andrew into turning on Martin, killing him instead of her, and promises to marry him so they can share Martin's fortune. What Andrew doesn't know is that the police have told Emma that they think Andrew's trying to kill her, and that he bought a certain type of gun. Emma lets Andrew commit the murder knowing the police already suspect him and will pin it on him, which they do. Unfortunately, they can't prove Emma had anything to do with it, and neither can Andrew, so off he goes alone to prison while Emma inherits all her husband's money. I love it!
Meanwhile (you know there's something else going on) Carella's attending the trial of the man who killed his father, and he ends up being acquitted. Ouch. Very sad.
I noticed that McBain dedicated this book to his second wife, Mary Vann, whom he divorced a few years after the book was published. In the dedication, he said it was for her because she worked so hard for it. Considering the theme of the book, I thought it was funny.