Sixkill

March 21, 2011
An intriguing new supporting character and the usual entertaining dialogue lift the 39th and, sadly, last Spenser novel (after Painted Ladies) from MWA Grand Master Parker (1932â2010). When 20-year-old Dawn Lopata expires of apparent asphyxiation after having sex with megamovie star Jumbo Nelson in his hotel room, Spenser's best friend in the Boston PD, Capt. Martin Quirk, arranges for Nelson's defense attorney to hire Spenser. Though it appears the obnoxious Nelson killed Lopata, Quirk has his doubts. Spenser's initial attempt to get Nelson to talk about what happened ends in mutual threats and insults. While the truth about the fatal night takes a backseat for too long to make the resolution satisfying, the scenes featuring Spenser's longtime love interest, Susan Silverman, are as snappy as ever. Zebulon "Z" Sixkill, the actor's American Indian bodyguard with whom the PI develops an unexpected relationship, would probably have gotten more play in future books had Parker lived to write them.

In the late Robert B. Parker's final Spenser mystery, the intrepid private eye takes a movie star's troubled ex-bodyguard under his wing--both to provide guidance and to find out if the star he used to work for was responsible for the death of a young groupie. Aside from making Spenser's quietly threatening police chief buddy into a shrill carnival barker, series veteran Joe Mantegna does his usual excellent job communicating the story's humor and tension, as well as the characters' turbulent undercurrents. The bodyguard character, Zebulon Sixkill, is further illuminated by Mantegna during several flashback chapters. While the book contains themes and scenarios fans have seen many times before, SIXKILL provides a strong swan song to the author's entertaining career. J.P.M. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine