Blogger News Network (Free subscription) | 11/22/2009
It begins, as many in this series do, in the classic way of a new client visiting the office of the private investigator. This October morning finds attorney Elizabeth Shaw at Spenser’s office. Referred to him by a mutual friend, Rita Fiore, she seeks Spenser’s help on behalf of a group of women who are [...]
It's all about me! (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
From Amazon ~ Spenser agrees to help a quartet of married women fend off extortion demands from stud Gary Eisenhower, with whom each has had an affair. Meanwhile, the husband of one of the women under blackmail threat hires some thugs to deal with the matter. The action takes its time getting to a dead body, but, as usual, the smooth, entertaining prose more than compensates for any deficiencies of...
Lesa's Book Critiques (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
If you read Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels, have you wondered how Spenser developed his code of ethics? How did he become the unusual man he is? Parker answers that question in a novel designed for teens, Chasing the Bear . For teens interested in mysteries, it's an interesting introduction to the entire series. For those of us who have read all of the Spenser books, it answers questions. While...
Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine (Free subscription) | 11/15/2009
Yes, I'm still reading Parker. Yes, I still like the books. I'm pretty sure it's the voice more than anything, certainly not the plots, not in The Professional , in which Spenser is asked to put a stop to an extortionist who's got the goods on four women married to wealthy husbands. Spenser finds the culprit, talks to him, and finds he kind of likes the guy. He also finds there's no way to stop him....
Ed Gorman Blog (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
A Different Take on John D. MacDonald By Brendan DuBois The postings and writings about John D. MacDonald on Ed Gorman’s blog got me thinking about my own memories of this famed grandmaster. One of the most embarrassing details about me being a mystery author is just how ill-informed I am about the field, especially when I first started out. I sold my first short story to Ellery Queen’s...
Blogcritics: Books (Free subscription) | 10/21/2009
Spenser's hunting a blackmailer of rich wives and ends up in a killer's crosshairs. Sponsored Topics: Robert B. Parker - Professional - Arts - Literature - Works
2 Blowhards (Free subscription) | 10/21/2009
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Edward Craig, back in Michigan after bravely braving San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore and living to report his findings here, now unearths for us a surprising nugget of ... well, let him report: * * * * * Michael Blowhard often lamented on this site about the lack of appreciation for the writing skills of popular novelists. These novelists often share...
Maw Books Blog (Free subscription) | 10/19/2009
The New York Times Bestseller List October 18, 2009 Hardcover Fiction THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown. Robert Langdon among the Masons. A TOUCH OF DEAD, by Charlaine Harris. The complete Sookie Stackhouse stories. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. A young white woman and two black maids in 1960s Mississippi. THE PROFESSIONAL, by Robert B. Parker. Rich women are turning up [...]
Lesa's Book Critiques (Free subscription) | 10/09/2009
By my count, I've read forty-five books by Robert B. Parker, probably the most I've read by any author. When I finished The Professional , his latest Spenser novel, I had read all thirty-seven Spenser books, one Jesse Stone, four Sunny Randall, both Philip Marlowe ones, and even a teen novel. And, I just discovered he has "A Young Spenser novel," called Chasing the Bear , in which Spenser...
Word Nerd (Free subscription) | 10/08/2009
Last but in no way least in the pre-Bouchercon guest blogger line-up is Sean Chercover. Sean's no stranger to Word Nerd (There are two past interviews, one after his first book and another around the release of the second ) but this time, it's all him. Chercover is the author of the Ray Dudgeon series (Big City, Bad Blood and Trigger City) and takes a look today at how or why or why not to evolve a...
Blogcritics: Books (Free subscription) | 10/04/2009
A.S. Byatt, Robert B. Parker, Charlaine Harris, Richard Paul Evans, Jonathan Kellerman, Melissa De La Cruz, Jeannette Walls, R.A. Salvatore, Terry Pratchett, Scott Westerfeld... Sponsored Topics: Terry Pratchett - Book - Scott Westerfeld - Shopping - Publications
New York Times (Free subscription) | 10/02/2009
Mystery novels by Sophie Hannah, Nancy Mauro, Robert B. Parker and Dick and Felix Francis.
A Writer's Life (Free subscription) | 09/23/2009
I'm a big fan of Tom Selleck's JESSE STONE movies. I like them even more than the Robert B. Parker books that they are based on. The movies do very, very well for CBS, but that doesn't stop the network...
H. C. Newton's White Noise (Free subscription) | 09/17/2009
We all know the cliche, behind every good man is a good woman. What few bother to note, is that it's frequently true of even decent, tolerable, moderately okay, and us "not horrible" men. In our better moments, they're alongside us...but mostly, they're behind us, prodding us. I know that's the case with The Love of my Life--and by prodding, I mean prodding in a good way. While I refer to...
If You Want to Know About My Life... (Free subscription) | 09/17/2009
The creator of impervious Boston P.I. Spenser and imperfect police chief Jesse Stone turns 77 today, and while his latest books are decent individual reads, they're not worth the $9.99 paperback cover price. (Actually, no mass market or "tall" paperback is worth $9.99 to me.) When I first read the Spenser books, Parker's characters seemed so alive, his world so real, I was reluctant to try...
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