The Last Dance:
A Novel of the 87th Precinct
By Ed McBain
Simon & Schuster, $25
ISBN 0684855135

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Kevin Baker
Dave Barry
Ben Bova
Carrie Brown
Jill Conner Browne
Thomas Cahill
Winston S. Churchill
Beverly Cleary
Patricia Cornwell
Robert Crais
Jeffery Deaver
Barbara Delinsky
Kinky Friedman
Mary Gordon
Douglas Gresham
David Guterson
Melinda Haynes
Patrick Hemingway
Carl Hiaasen
Stephen Hines
Tami Hoag
Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster
Jan Karon
Tracy Kidder
Catherine Lanigan
Ed McBain
Bobbie Ann Mason
Sue Miller
Sena Jeter Naslund
Joyce Carol Oates
Patrick O'Brian
Charles Osgood
Donny Osmond
Frank Peretti
Ellen Phillips
Monty Roberts
Anita Shreve
Neil Simon
Scott Turow

Children's Authors

Arlene Alda
Graeme Base
John Bemelmans Marciano
Stan and Jan Berenstain
Elise Primavera
Maurice Sendak
David Shannon
David Wiesner

Title of your new book:
The Last Dance

Describe your book in 50 words or less:
It's the 50th novel in the 87th Precinct Series. The apparent suicide of an old man leads to a murder investigation that takes the cops back to a musical performed in the twenties

What's your favorite thing about this book?
Fat Ollie Weeks

What's your favorite book? Favorite movie?
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Gone with the Wind

Which writer's work influenced you least?
Agatha Christie

About what will your next book be?
A murder committed in a zoo.

Your most aggravating habit?
Punctuality

Which one extremely famous person would you like to read your book?
Rudy Giuliani

If you had a yacht, what would you name it?
Toy

What one thing would you like to learn to do?
Speak French and Italian fluently

Ed McBain, a pseudonym for Evan Hunter, has written the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and many novels, including The Blackboard Jungle. He is also writing a musical, The Night They Raided Minsky's, due to open on Broadway in early 2000. The Last Dance: A Novel of the 87th Precinct is being published by Simon & Schuster this month.

Author photo by Dragica Dimitrijevic.