"Three nerve-racking stories from bestselling author Ed McBain put detectives from the 87th Precinct on the trail of different killers who take the lives of a rich woman, a rabbi, and a ski instructor."--P. [4] of cover.

An old woman and her cat are shot in an apartment in New York. As officers Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes investigate, they learn the victim was a famous Russian pianist who in her youth gave concerts on both sides of the Atlantic. The killing of the cat tells them it was not a burglary.