Robert B. Parker’s back Story is the 30th of the
Spenser books. For me, it was one of the better later entries in the series.
A friend of Paul’s,
a young woman who is a fellow dancer-actor, asks Spenser to find who killed
her mother.
The crime happened
twenty-eight years ago during a bank robbery.
Supposedly, the
killing involved a radical group robbing banks as a social statement.
Of course, there
is more than that involved. Spenser and Hawk end up killing several thugs. The
local mob threatens Susan. Everything about the murder turns out NOT to be as
it seemed.
This story has
some milestones, most notably the introduction of Pearl II, the second of Spenser
and Susan’s dogs.
Spenser and Hawk
work with Jesse Stone, Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief. As most know, Stone
is the main character in another Parker series.
If you like clear
justice in your detective stories, this book will not satisfy. There are at least two
major principles in the Spenser series: (1) Spenser “solves” the case
by pushing in and blundering through; and (2) Things don’t always turn out in a
neat, packaged way.
I admire Robert
B. Parker. His Spenser books became more routine as the series progressed, but they
were still good reading. When you bought a Spenser you knew what kind of plot
and style you would get. And you could enjoy them within that context.
Few writers build
the kind of legacy Robert B. Parker built.
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