In this city, you have to pay attention. In this city, things are happening all the time, all over the place, and you don't have to be a detective to smell evil in the wind.
Take this week's tabloids: the face of a dead girl is splashed across the front page. She was found sprawled near a park bench not seven blocks from the police station. Detectives Carella and Brown soon discover the girl has a most unusual past. Meanwhile, the late-night news...

In this 87th Precinct thriller, Detective Steve Carella must track down a killer who's systematically rubbing out all the city's graffiti artists, leaving each victim mischievously splashed with paint and blood. Foul play takes another form when an old nemesis, the Dead Man, taunts Carella and the eight-seven with riddling clues for solving a crime - or crimes - not yet committed. Given what he's deduced from the prankish perpetrator, Carella strongly...

In the face of an alarming rise of crime in the city of Boston, the efforts of the police men and women of the 87th Precinct are constantly undermined by red tape, confusing leadership, and general, all-around bungling.