This is the thirty-eighth (38) Spenser novel written by Robert B. Parker. It was originally published in 2009.  Recurring characters include Susan Silverman, Vinnie Morris, Hawk, Tony Marcus, & Ty Bop.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Preceded By: Rough Weather

PLOT SUMMARY:

Spenser is hired by a [...]]]> BOOK DETAILS/INFORMATION:

This is the thirty-eighth (38) Spenser novel written by Robert B. Parker. It was originally published in 2009.  Recurring characters include Susan Silverman, Vinnie Morris, Hawk, Tony Marcus, & Ty Bop.

NOTE: This review will contain spoilers.

Preceded By: Rough Weather

PLOT SUMMARY:

Spenser is hired by a lawyer named Elizabeth Shaw to get to the bottom of her client’s problem – blackmail.  Shaw’s clients, wives of rich older men, have a mutual connection: they’ve all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower— and now that he’s done doing the dirty with them, he’s getting dirtier… he’s going after the cash.   Spenser is hired to make Eisenhower “cease and desist,” but as many of Parker’s novels nothing is as it seems.  As bodies start turning up, Spenser’s call to action turns from blackmail to murder.  Susan Silverman offers her take on the situation and Spenser calls on old friends Hawk and Vinnie Morris to help him get to the bottom of things.

COMMENTARY:

I’ve had this post in my drafts for a while now and I felt compelled to finish it based on the untimely passing of Robert B. Parker.  As with all of Parker’s novels it’s all about dialogue.  The back and forth between Spenser and his clients makes for a very quick read though it does seem like we’ve been down these paths before.  I’ve never been a Susan hater but I don’t necessarily need to hear (from her) how good she and Spenser are in bed or that she went to Harvard yet again.

As he did in Rough Weather, Spenser ends up letting a murderer walk in the end of the book.  I’m sure this is all about “The Code” but I just don’t get it.  I could almost forgive it in the last novel based on the fact that it was with Rugar but this was a brand new character that Spenser had no history with.  This one left me scratching my head.

I’ve read every Spenser novel that Parker has ever written so I won’t bother with an objective recommendation.  I’m so so sad that this is the last Spenser novel (unless there’s something sitting on the shelf that we don’t know about).  On a purely selfish level I’m glad that we’ve got one more Jesse Stone novel to look forward to.  It’s been a great ride Spenser…thanks for everything.

This is the third Spenser novel written by Robert B. Parker.  It was originally published in 1975.  Recurring character Patricia Utley makes her first appearance in this book.

Preceded By: God Save the Child
Followed By: Promised Land

PLOT SUMMARY:

Spenser is back at it and has been [...]]]> BOOK DETAIL/INFORMATION:

This is the third Spenser novel written by Robert B. Parker.  It was originally published in 1975.  Recurring character Patricia Utley makes her first appearance in this book.

Preceded By: God Save the Child
Followed By: Promised Land

PLOT SUMMARY:

Spenser is back at it and has been hired by the Boston Red Sox to determine if their best pitcher (Marty Rabb) is throwing games… throwing them to the mob.  Along the way (as he’s prone to do) Spenser pulls one thread and gets himself involved in a plot that is more than meets the eye.  Spenser quickly learns that Marty is being blackmailed due to some of his wife’s (Linda) past transgressions.  It turns out that before becoming the prim and proper baseball wife that she is currently, Linda did some time in Boston as a high-class prostitute doing some “video” work.

COMMENTARY:

As with most of the Spenser novels I really enjoyed this one.  It’s always weird to me when Parker deals with anything that you can put a specific time period to.  In this case it’s baseball and the Boston Red Sox.  That said, it really doesn’t get in the way as long as you’re thinking of the Sox as a fictitious team rather than the “real” 1975 Boston Red Sox.  We get to see some more of the “Code” that Spenser often refers to when he deal with Marty later on in the book.  In many ways Spenser is an athlete playing a game.

It’s always interesting to me to see Spenser not “with” Susan and this is essentially the end of them being “single”.  I suppose I’d put this one in the “pretty good” category but when it comes to the Spenser universe there’s nothing Earth shattering here.  What it does do is really start to show off Spenser’s sense of “morals” and why he does what he does.  His solution to Linda Rabb’s problem is one that I’m not sure many of us could fathom but for Spenser it’s the only way to bring things to a conclusion.