Rating: 
Summary: Parkersyncophant
Review: Sorry, Robert, you're lucky I gave this as many stars as I did. I found Sunny charming and delightful to read. The only problem is that she is a female Spencer, who I follow and love. Also, why do you suddenly take a stance against Republicans and fathers? The bad guy is really the father, a Republican (mean-spirited, I suppose as we all are), and a father to boot. You're showing your New England roots. But don't worry, I'll continue to buy your Spencer books, and even your Sunny Randall books, with the knowledge that in the latter I will have to put up with a somewhat tempered feminism. You're not, Spike, are you? That's OK, if you are. I liked the guy and you handled the character very well.
Rating: 
Summary: Family secrets
Review: Sunny and Richie were married for nine years. They had had a house in Marblehead. Richie refused the house. Sunny wrapped her paintings in order to move her things. Her mother said she was disappointed. Her father offered to help with a divorce or with whatever she needed. Families offer protection to their members. Protection is the theme of Parker's story.Sunny was a cop, her father was a cop. Richie resembled her father although he came from a crime family. Sunny moved to investigation and then to private investigation. She is hired to find a teenage runaway. The mother seems too perfect. Sunny is pursuing an MFA nights. She still paints and lives in a loft. The missing girl, Millicent, attended a girls school. The school provided a classical education. Millicent had been missing for ten days. At the school she had no friends, no interests, no achievements. Sunny discovered that Millicent had been to a youth shelter. The person running the shelter said that the kids seemed to have equal measures of defiance and guilt. Sunny needs her ex-husband's help to get her into areas of activity to find Millicent, (Milly). Sunny finds the girl through the connections that Richie Burke makes available to her. Since Milly isn't talking convincingly, Sunny has the the girl move in with her. It develops that others are looking for the girl. They have to go to the mattresses and move to a friend's apartment in the South End. An interesting subtext in the story is that families teach its members how to function, and that no one seems to have taken any time to teach Milly how to function. Parker writes that in Boston organized crime is an oxymoron. There are loose groups. When Sunny returns to her loft, she finds that it had been tossed. The insurance company sends a clean up team to the loft. Sunny is able to identify her primary interest as keeping the girl safe. Through the intervention of Richie Sunny could return to her loft and begin to solve the mystery. This is a strong and enjoyable effort by Robert Parker, writing from his strengths such as knowledge of the Boston environs and police networking.
Rating:
Summary: Family secrets
Review: Sunny and Richie were married for nine years. They had had a house in Marblehead. Richie refused the house. Sunny wrapped her paintings in order to move her things. Her mother said she was disappointed. Her father offered to help with a divorce or with whatever she needed. Families offer protection to their members. Protection is the theme of Parker's story. Sunny was a cop, her father was a cop. Richie resembled her father although he came from a crime family. Sunny moved to investigation and then to private investigation. She is hired to find a teenage runaway. The mother seems too perfect. Sunny is pursuing an MFA nights. She still paints and lives in a loft. The missing girl, Millicent, attended a girls school. The school provided a classical education. Millicent had been missing for ten days. At the school she had no friends, no interests, no achievements. Sunny discovered that Millicent had been to a youth shelter. The person running the shelter said that the kids seemed to have equal measures of defiance and guilt. Sunny needs her ex-husband's help to get her into areas of activity to find Millicent, (Milly). Sunny finds the girl through the connections that Richie Burke makes available to her. Since Milly isn't talking convincingly, Sunny has the the girl move in with her. It develops that others are looking for the girl. They have to go to the mattresses and move to a friend's apartment in the South End. An interesting subtext in the story is that families teach its members how to function, and that no one seems to have taken any time to teach Milly how to function. Parker writes that in Boston organized crime is an oxymoron. There are loose groups. When Sunny returns to her loft, she finds that it had been tossed. The insurance company sends a clean up team to the loft. Sunny is able to identify her primary interest as keeping the girl safe. Through the intervention of Richie Sunny could return to her loft and begin to solve the mystery. This is a strong and enjoyable effort by Robert Parker, writing from his strengths such as knowledge of the Boston environs and police networking.
Rating: 
Summary: great character that could be a great Hunt movie
Review: Sunny is a great female character in the likeness of Spenser. It is wonderful to see the female lead find her way through the same sort of dilemma and challange in her own way. After I read it my daughters grabbed it and enjoyed it just as much. It is nice to see Parker reapply his art.
Rating:
Summary: Parker hits a home run with his new series
Review: Sunny Randall is more than a female equivalent of Spenser, though that's a convenient starting point. Like the Spenser novels, these are told in first person by a Boston private investigator. There is a similar wit about her as there is to Spenser. And Parker's writing style is very similar in this novel -- crisp dialogue, brief but important descriptions, and good character development for the genre. Also, as I found in the Jesse Stone novels, there is the occasional involvement of minor characters from the Spenser novels. But -- to a degree -- Randall thinks about the issues that surround her more than Spenser does (or at least Parker shares more of these insights with us). As Spenser sometimes will bounce ideas and theories off Susan Silverman about the psychological make-up of some his clients, Randall does the same about herself, both internally and with her friend, Julie, who is a psychiatrist. Don't get me wrong -- there's plenty of hard-boiled detective mystery here. But Parker continues to prove that he can write more than one-dimensional characters.
Rating:
Summary: NO! Not Spenser in a dress...
Review: Sunny Randall, P.I. is a whole wonderful new(hopefully) series of her own. As a major Parker fan, I can't wait for each new book. I was not dissapointed with this one either. Yes, it's different, well guess what so is the whole male/female race. I really enjoyed the new cast of this book, "luved" the dog. Found it very interesting, that she had married & divorced "one of the bad guys". I hope there will be more Sunny Randall books. As all of Parker's books I found this fast paced, entertaining, quick read.
Rating:
Summary: Very much a Spenser story (but very much without Spenser)
Review: Sunny Randall, the Boston Private Investigator of Robert B. Parker's 1999 novel "Family Honor," is a former cop, college graduate, aspiring painter, divorcee, who owns a miniature bull terrier named Rosie. Only 5'6" and 115 pounds Sunny is not, as she observes at one point, a 200 pound ex-boxer. This comment is particularly telling because why Parker makes a concerted effort to offer some key differences between the character of Sunny Randall and his more famous Boston P.I. creation, the plot of "Family Honor" is a rather blatant mixture of several Spencer novels: Sunny is looking for a Millicent Patton, a runaway who has turned to hooking (like April Kyle in "Ceremony); Sunny finds Millicent and discovers she has to be a surrogate parent that can teach the young girl how to be a human being (like Paul in "Early Autumn"); as always, there is more to the case than meets the eye, having to do with the political aspirations of Millicent's father (like in "The Widening Gyre"). Consequently, we are covering familiar territory with a new guide. It is pretty much impossible not to be aware of the differences between Sunny and Spencer: instead of Hawk she has Spike, a flamboyant and dangerous gay man; instead of an absolute commitment to a soul mate she is trying to work out her mixed feelings for her ex-husband (similar to Parker's other recent creation, Jesse Stone); instead of having no other living relatives she has a supportive father and a mother she will never impress. Just to make things interesting, Sunny's ex-husband Richie Burke is related to one of the mob families in Boston, and while he is technically "clean" he knows what is going on. One of the nicest things about the Spenser series is the way Parker, for the most part, took his time in creating the major elements and developing them. In contrast, the pieces come together much too quickly in "The Family Honor." I have to wonder if Parker has been thinking about creating a female detective for the last couple of years since Susan Silverman has been especially active in the last few Spenser novels, hitting people with bricks or warning they will be sleeping with the fishes, which now all seems like dry runs for this new character. For all the differences, Parker's readers are going to know they have been this way before. As always, this are great books to read if you are living the commuter lifestyle.
Rating:
Summary: Parker's back, full throttle!
Review: The best Parker I've read in ages, tho even his lesser books are great fun. Sunny is sharp, wise, funny, tough - the writing sings, and the character descriptions made me laugh. I'd rank this right up there with the best Spenser (Early Autumn, Looking for Rachel Wallace). Parker is back in touch with his twinkle, and his love of women -and at the peak of his form. Best in genre I've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reading, Fast Action
Review: This book was a fun summer book. The plot was quick and the action was fast pace. Finally a woman who is self- confident and entertaining.I like the idea that she had a little dog, and that she did not feel that she or any woman needed a man to complete her.I look forward to morebooks starting Sunny Randall.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly delightful!
Review: This is not Spenser having a gender identity crisis. What this is, is what I hope is only the first book of a whole new series. Meet Sunny Randall, a tough but feminine Boston PI with an artistic soul and a Mob-connected ex-husband who she still loves but can't live with. Sunny has a great loft, a charming dog-child named Rosie with whom I am completely infatuated, and a fearless gay pal named Spike who not only cooks but rides shotgun when necessary. When Sunny is hired by wealthy, jaded, ultra-snobbish Brock and Betty Patton to find their 15-year-old runaway daughter Millicent, it doesn't take her long to locate the child on the mean streets of Boston and liberate her from her pimp. But until the question of why Millicent chose to flee the known, i.e., a mansion with staff and all the amenities, for the harsh and ugly unknown is answered, Sunny has no intention of relinquishing the girl to her parents. Millicent isn't talking aside from refusing to set foot back in her parents' home. Sunny takes the girl home with her to think things through, but it isn't long before two armed thugs show up at her door, compelling Sunny to dispatch one of them with a shotgun. Sunny is forced to move in temporarily with Spike to ensure Millicent's safety while she tries to figure out who wants the girl dead and why. This book is not only a first-rate detective story, but is replete with themes of the effects of love, betrayal, loss, friendship, and forgiveness on the human (and canine) heart. Sunny Randall is as earnest and hardworking as Anna Pigeon and Kinsey Milhone, though she dresses better; as tough and straightforward as Kat Colorado and V. I. Warshawski; and as funny as Stephanie Plum and Carlotta Carlyle. She's a bright and welcome new star in the female detective arena. Please, Mr. Parker -- give us more!
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