Ed McBain, AKA Evan Hunter, wrote more than eighty novels, including the influential “87th Precinct” series, the longest-running series of crime novels in history. His books have sold more than 100 million copies. In 1986, he was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization’s highest honor, and in 1998 he became the first American to receive the British Crime Writers’ Association’s highest award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger.