Back Story

February 10, 2003
Spenser's respectable 30th outing (he debuted 30 years ago in The Godwulf Manuscript) finds the veteran Boston PI teaming briefly with Jesse Stone, the cop hero of a newer Parker series (Death in Paradise, etc.). The move works because Parker plays it low-key, presenting Stone as just one of many characters who cross Spenser's path as the PI—hired by a friend of his adoptive son, Paul, for the princely sum of six Krispy Kremes—digs into the 28-year-old murder of a woman during a bank robbery; the friend is the slain woman's daughter and wants closure. Before Spenser bumps into Stone, the top cop in Paradise, Mass., he connects the killing to the daughter of big time Boston mobster Sonny Karnofsky, an old foe. When Spenser won't back off, Karnofsky threatens Spenser's girlfriend, Susan, then orders a hit on the PI. Enter as protection longtime sidekick Hawk; other series vets make appearances too on Spenser's behalf, including cops Belsen and Quirk and shooter Vinnie Morris. An interesting new character, a Jewish FBI agent, also helps out. The repartee between Spenser and Hawk is fast and funny; the sentiment between Spenser and Susan and the musings about Spenser's code are only occasionally cloying; and there's a scattering of remarkable action scenes including a tense shootout in Harvard Stadium. Series fans will enjoy this mix of old and new, but the title kind of says it all: this series, probably the finest and most influential PI series since Chandler, could use some forward momentum.

November 1, 2002
Spenser's back to help a friend of his prot g, Paul, track down the men who killed her mother years ago in a holdup.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2003
Spenser, the highly literate, street-smart private eye, has had a 30-year run through the criminal byways of Boston since the publication of " The Godwulf Manuscript." His latest adventure, the twenty-ninth, showcases the strengths of the series: well-developed characters, a deftly constructed plot, dialogue that is witty and crisp without sounding pretentious, evocative settings, and that Parker extra, a clearly defined and beautifully executed moral code. Paul Giacomon, the throwaway kid that Spenser rescued and raised, is now an actor in his thirties. He asks Spenser to investigate a really cold case, the murder of a friend's mother 28 years before in a 1970s revolutionary raid on a Boston bank. Reflecting both his terse wit and well-muscled ethics, Spenser replies, "How enticing," when he's informed that his remuneration for this case will be a carton of Krispy Kremes. Part of the pleasure of this Spenser is watching him gumshoe his way through a series of offices (including the Boston Police Department and the FBI) and homes (ranging from Beantown apartments to an old hippie crib in San Diego), skewering the inhabitants of each with his dead-on perceptions. This Spenser moves. Once he launches his investigation, he discovers that both the FBI and the Mob want the case to remain unsolved, and he's regularly assailed by threats and physical violence. A chase scene through the woods and a hair-raising climax in an Ivy League football stadium are trademark Parker in their well-choreographed creepiness. A terrific addition to the Spenser canon.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)