Rating: 
Summary: Spenser & Hawk in a time warp
Review: Great story! I had trouble with the chronology leading up to the 1881 shootout and agree with the critics that the somewhat random Chronicles from the day of the battle detract from the story. But Parker more than makes up for this by puting a Spenser-like taciturn toughness around Wyatt and building the solid relatonship among the five brothers and between Wyatt and Josie Marcus. The politics of Tombstone are believable with the devious but effective Johnny Behan a real character, not just the stereotypical power broker of Western lore. It's better than a Spenser story because the character is constrained by historical fact and not cast in the often outrageous extremes of a Parker plot.Parker's Earp can get along with anyone, even the ranchers / rustlers like Johnny Ringo, part of a group who are Southern, ranchers and Democrat as opposed to ex-Union and town folk like the Earps. Is the final showdown in March 1882 real? Wyatt has killed Curley Bill, and Behan shows up with a posse and a warrant. While everyone pretends Wyatt's not there, Ringo stares him down and asks if he killed Curley Bill. "I did" "Always knew it would turn out like this. Now I'm going to have to kill you." "If you can." Later Wyatt finds Ringo drunk sitting under a tree. Too noble to have it out with a drunk, he walks away, then turns and fires when he hears the draw at his back. An interesting postscript: Wyatt and Josie move on to LA where Wyatt dies at age 80 in 1929. Josie and Virgil's wife Allie live into the 1940s.
Rating:
Summary: A fine Wild West myth!
Review: GUNMAN'S RHAPSODY, as the flyleaf says, "is the book that Robert B. Parker has always longed to write." Most Americans have a working knowledge of Wyatt Earp, Tombstone & the Gunfight at the OK Corral. So I had some hesitation about partaking in yet another rendition of the life & times of this Old West hero. I liked this Wyatt Earp & his brothers. I liked the characters & their lives with all their flaws & their depths. I could smell the blood & feel the dust; their lives became real; their times became real & the thread of our American history glowed brighter because of this book. Buy GUNMAN'S RHAPSODY without fear & read it! Because when I finished it I felt as if Spenser & Susan had finished the book with me.
Rating:
Summary: Gunman's Rhapsody: Spenser travels time to the Old West
Review: Gunman's Rhapsody, I was pleased to find, is up to Parker's usual page-turning standards. It's a fictional retelling of the Wyatt Earp saga "with the full weight of American history behind it," according to the publisher. If that be so, then Kevin Costner's recent film portrayal of Earp is closer to history than the earlier versions by Burt Lancaster and Henry Fonda. And Parker's insights both deepen and widen the Earp reputation. Parker's pen brings to life a host of storied characters, including Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, friends of Wyatt and the other Earp brothers, as well as foes such as Clay Allison, John Ringo and Curley Bill Brocius. And Parker puts real flesh on the bones of the oft-told story of the feud between Sheriff Johnny Behan and Wyatt over showgirl Josie Marcus, which led to the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral. Josie was the love of Wyatt's life, but in hindsight one almost wonders if all the blood spilled over that romance was worth it. If for none other, it's almost reason enough just for the joy of reading Parker's retelling of this cornerstone saga of the wild and wooly old American West.
Rating:
Summary: Gunman's Rhapsody: Spenser travels time to the Old West
Review: Gunman's Rhapsody, I was pleased to find, is up to Parker's usual page-turning standards.
It's a fictional retelling of the Wyatt Earp saga "with the full weight of American history behind it," according to the publisher. If that be so, then Kevin Costner's recent film portrayal of Earp is closer to history than the earlier versions by Burt Lancaster and Henry Fonda. And Parker's insights both deepen and widen the Earp reputation. Parker's pen brings to life a host of storied characters, including Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, friends of Wyatt and the other Earp brothers, as well as foes such as Clay Allison, John Ringo and Curley Bill Brocius. And Parker puts real flesh on the bones of the oft-told story of the feud between Sheriff Johnny Behan and Wyatt over showgirl Josie Marcus, which led to the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral. Josie was the love of Wyatt's life, but in hindsight one almost wonders if all the blood spilled over that romance was worth it. If for none other, it's almost reason enough just for the joy of reading Parker's retelling of this cornerstone saga of the wild and wooly old American West.
Rating: 
Summary: Time Travel for Spencer
Review: Have you ever put aside a Parker book, too bored to continue? This one was a first for me.
Parker's protagonist, Wyatt Earp, sounds surprisingly like Spencer, and various other characters remind me strongly of Susan, Hawk, etc. The dialogue that delights when spoken in Parker's Spencer series, sounds flat here. Sadly, I don't think this Western book works, but I'll be eagerly awaiting his next mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing But Worth a Read
Review: Having read everything Parker has written, and enjoying it all a good deal, I found this book curiously disappointing. It was simply too similar to the recent film "Tombstone." That might not be Parker's fault, entirely, because both that film and this book (and, I suppose, the movie "Wyatt Earp") are based on the same historical or legendary events. Still, some of the book seems extracted from the film intact. Most of the book differed in its specifics from the Hollywood version so that I didn't feel I was simply reading the screenplay, but it was disturbingly similar a bit too often. Still, it's well written. The narrative moves along nicely and the dialogue is sparse and engaging. I certainly enjoyed the author's attempt at trying to write a western - it was an easy, fun novel to read. If he ever reads these reviews, I'd be interested to get the author's comments on the similarity to "Tombstone." Perhaps I'm way off here.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing But Worth a Read
Review: Having read everything Parker has written, and enjoying it all a good deal, I found this book curiously disappointing. It was simply too similar to the recent film "Tombstone." That might not be Parker's fault, entirely, because both that film and this book (and, I suppose, the movie "Wyatt Earp") are based on the same historical or legendary events. Still, some of the book seems extracted from the film intact. Most of the book differed in its specifics from the Hollywood version so that I didn't feel I was simply reading the screenplay, but it was disturbingly similar a bit too often. Still, it's well written. The narrative moves along nicely and the dialogue is sparse and engaging. I certainly enjoyed the author's attempt at trying to write a western - it was an easy, fun novel to read. If he ever reads these reviews, I'd be interested to get the author's comments on the similarity to "Tombstone." Perhaps I'm way off here.
Rating: 
Summary: A Robert Parker Novel that's a Terrible Waste
Review: I am such a fan of Robert Parker, particularly the Spenser novels, that I preorder them in anticipation long before their publication date. This book, Gunman's Rapsody, was an enormous disappointment. I love Robert Parker and I love western lore, so this was a double whammy as far as I'm concerned. Basically, this book is a scene by scene recap of Kevin Costner's film, Wyatt Earp. That's it. There was no real exploration of character and no real story. It was almost a novel based on a screen play. What a pity. And what a waste of time and effort. I can't believe I read the whole thing. Up until the last page, I hoped for it to get better. I am so disappointed. I will wait until publication before buying future Parker books. I feel I've been had.
Rating:
Summary: A Good, Quick Read
Review: I decided to read this book after having glanced at a couple of pages. I don't know Parker's other works and this is the first Western genre novel that I've read. In short, it's a good read and Parker does a good job of portraying the characters in a realistic manner rather than the overblown "larger than life" characters in other books. The simple style matches the much simpler time where the story is set. And Parker does a good job of matching the story to the actual history, at least as much as we really know about it. I disagree with SWH (above) about not pursuing the Doc/Wyatt relationship. He (Wyatt) is pretty clear that the only thing that joins them is loyalty based on common experience. For this novel, that suffices. About the only question I was left asking was why Bat Masterson appeared in it at all. His re-appearance mid-story doesn't add anything and is about the only uneven thing in the book. Overall...a good day at the beach/park/on the plane read.
Rating:
Summary: This pains me, but....
Review: I GENUINELY hate writing this, as I'm a huge fan of Parker's work, but I'm also honest, so here goes... I've seldom been so disappointed in a book in my life. I've the feeling that Parker was going for a kind of "spare" feel to his prose in GUNMAN'S RHAPSODY, but all he managed was to make it feel thin, instead. And this could have been so much more. Is this evidence that Parker is trying to churn out books, rather than take the neccesary time to give us wonderful works like A CATSKILL EAGLE, or ALL OUR YESTERDAYS? I dunno, but if so, please slow down!
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