Hush Money (Spenser Mysteries (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: Spenser goes to college! (Mayhem ensues)
Review: Spenser takes two pro bono cases and ends up being stalked and having his car blown up as his reward for his trouble!

This foray into the noire world of Spenser is replete with all of the formulaic plot devices that Robert Parker uses in nearly every Spenser book - commentary on Spenser's relationship with Hawk, his relationship with Susan, on the behavior of Pearl the Wonder Dog, etc. But, it is like visiting old friends - you know what the conversations will be but you still enjoy the visit.

Spenser's foray into Academia is a hoot! If you haven't read this Spenser novel, make a point of it!

Rating:
Summary: Moving Back to Classic Spenser
Review: This one is closer to the original beauty of the first Spenser tales. Fast paced and action packed . . . I recommend this to any fan of Spenser.

Rating:
Summary: Spenser is fun as always, but how does he pay his bills?
Review: This time Spenser takes on two cases for the price of one, which is zero. He even mentions in passing another case he had that he didn't get paid for. When was the last time he made any money? I don't think he is independently wealthy, so I guess he just makes money off the boring cases that we don't read about. Or maybe Susan is supporting him? That aside, this was a good story with lots of twists and surprises. I would like to have seen a bit more of a confrontation with the guys who threaten to kill Spenser and Hawk. They do get theirs in the end, but that is largely offstage. The strength of this book, as always, is the interplay among the characters. The resolution of the stalking subplot was really good, we get to see an unexpected side of Susan. I enjoyed this book, but I still wonder if Parker would keep writing them if his financial arrangements were the same as Spenser's.

Rating:
Summary: Hawk's In It, So You Know It Will Be Good
Review: While TV, in particular Star Trek, has Spock, the mystery genre has Hawk, perhaps the greatest literary creation of all time. In this outing of Boston's top PI, Spenser finds himself being asked to come to the aid of those closest to him. Hawk has a friend whose son is a professor at a big-time university, and it seems that the young man has been jobbed out of tenure. Meanwhile, Susan has a friend who is being stalked by an ex-something-or-another. So everyone's favorite poetry quoting tough guy finds himself on two cases with the hole in the donut as renumeration, and it isn't long before events get quite bizarre.

This is a different kind of Spenser romp. The body count is low, but the action is still quite high. I especially liked the fight in the campus office. We learn more about Hawk's difficult and disturbing past, and plus we get to see him in action pretty much throughout the whole story. We also get to see Spenser rampaging his way through a tenure committee, and we also are treated yet again to further glimpses of his devotion to Susan. Throughout, Parker calls up the old-school hard-boiled PI yarn, and the story adheres faithfully to the genre template laid out by the dean of hard-boiled noir, Raymond Chandler.

Many meaty themes and issues are tackled here with laser-like precision. Parker manages to juxtapose race, sexuality (mainly homosexuality) and politics in a volatile mix which keeps you turning the pages. In addition, several life lessons are dropped here and there, and the psychological motivations of the characters are always excellent. I actually found myself liking Susan's presence this time around. Though I have nothing against the character, she kind of gets in the way of the central premise of tough guys going after and beating up crooks. Then again, she does add another classy dimension and some refined intellectual texture to each story, and to Spenser.

This outing worked really well for me, and I have read it a dozen times at least so far. In fact, it may be the best of the lot. If I were going to write hard-boiled noir with sarcastic wit, this book along with Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye would be my templates.