School Days

August 8, 2005
Any new installment in Parker's long-running series starring tough, wisecracking Boston PI Spenser is a pleasure, and this time out high-maintenance girlfriend Susan Silverman is out of town, giving readers unfettered Spenser face time. The wealthy Lily Ellsworth hires Spenser to prove the innocence of her grandson, Jared Clark, accused of a Columbine High School–style shooting that has left five students and two teachers dead. Jared has confessed to the crime, and Spenser faces major opposition from local law enforcement officials, school authorities, dysfunctional parents, opposing lawyers and deadly gang-bangers. As always, Spenser solves the case in a surprising manner, shoots some bad guys and has several attractive women offer him sex, all of which he handles in his proficient, wisenheimer way. Susan's German shorthaired pointer Pearl gets a lot of attentive babysitting, but longtime sidekick Hawk is nowhere in evidence. Those who have stuck with Spenser as Parker invented (and set loose) other case-crackers will be rewarded once again with another solid installment in this fine, enduring series.

September 1, 2005
Declared a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2002, Parker is one of the icons of contemporary American mystery, and Spenser, his Boston-based private eye, has become one of the better-known characters of the genre. This 33rd Spenser novel is vintage Parker, though Hawk, Spenser's sociopathic sidekick, does not appear, and Susan Silverman, the P.I.'s eternal inamorata, makes only a brief appearance at the end. When Lily Ellsworth, the grandmother of one of two teens accused of a Columbine-style high school shooting, hires Spenser to prove her grandson is innocent, Spenser swings into his usual action, asking dangerous questions, wisecracking with authority figures, admiring beauty in women and in his dog, and quoting classical literature. Everyone interested in mystery and contemporary writing in general should read at least one of the Spenser novels, if only to get a taste of the influence of classic mystery writers like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and John D. McDonald. For all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/1/05.]" -Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale"

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2005
Spenser returns! He fights, he flirts, he cooks, he wisecracks, he quotes poetry! This thirty-third outing for the Boston private eye is one of the most psychologically astute and well-choreographed entries in the entire series. And it has the added attraction of exiling Spenser's annoyingly perfect longtime girlfriend, Susan, to a conference, leaving the temporarily solo sleuth to resist some pulp fiction-like female advances with his acerbic version of knightly honor. Meanwhile, there's murder: a wealthy grandmother hires Spenser to clear her 17-year-old grandson of being the co-conspirator and co-killer in a school shooting at a private school that has left five students, a teacher, and an administrator dead. The boy's buddy has named him, and he has confessed to the crime. Everyone--police, school officials, the defense lawyer, and the immediate family--has given up on the kid, but Spenser has never seen a slammed door he didn't long to break down. Soon he's questioning everyone in the kid's circle, looking for the chink in that slammed door. Along the way, he rummages through all sorts of closets in the privileged world of the private school, turning up links to the underworld. The only flaw in this terrific performance is Parker's dialogue, which, though full of witty patter, often makes his characters sound as if they're reading an old-time-radio detective drama. Still, this is a high point in one of the genre's classic series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)