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Spenser #14
Pale Kings And Princes
“Ebullient entertainment.”—Time
A hotshot reporter is dead. He'd gone to take a look-see at “Miami North”—little Wheaton, Massachusetts—the biggest cocaine distribution center above the Mason-Dixon line.
Did the kid die for getting too close to the truth . . . or to a sweet lady with a jealous husband?
Spenser will stop at nothing to find out.
A hotshot reporter is dead. He'd gone to take a look-see at “Miami North”—little Wheaton, Massachusetts—the biggest cocaine distribution center above the Mason-Dixon line.
Did the kid die for getting too close to the truth . . . or to a sweet lady with a jealous husband?
Spenser will stop at nothing to find out.
318 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1987
600 people are currently reading
1233 people want to read
About the author
Robert B. Parker
492 books2,303 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Robert B. Parker.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 281 reviews
December 24, 2019
This is a run-of-the-mill Spenser. But run-of-the-mill Spenser is still pretty good. You could do better, but, believe me, you could also do worse.
Spenser is hired by a newspaper editor to investigate the death of a reporter. The local Wheaton police department claim the reporter was a womanizer, and that (because of the genital mutilation) the murderer must be a jealous husband, but the newspaper isn’t convinced. The target of the murdered man’s investigation was a large cocaine distribution center, something the Wheaton police—and most everybody else in town—claims does not even exist.
I have to admit this one bored me. If you have never read Spenser before, you might like it. The descriptions, the wisecracks and the fights are as good as usual, and a couple of the incidental characters—a conscientious state trooper and the intellectually challenged son of the Wheaton police chief—are well realized.
But, for this Spenser fan, the form of this novel seems all too familiar. Spenser, as usual, gets in over his head, and therefore must call on the expertise, this time not only of Hawk (who seems less dangerous with every book and more like an African-American Tonto) but also of gal pal Susan Silverman the psychologist (there are two traumatized women who have to be interviewed, oh so delicately). And I have to admit that Spenser needs them, or at least Parker does: he needs them to pad the slim plot of the book.
In spite of this, it is Spenser and still entertaining. If it is at hand, and you need something to read, read it. But do not judge the whole series by this mediocre example.
April 27, 2011
This one took me back to the mid-80’s when almost all the fictional bad guys were cocaine dealers. Nowadays with villains like terrorists, serial killers, pedophiles and other psychotic nut cases hogging the mystery/crime genre limelight, it almost makes me miss the days when a kilo of coke was considered the root of all evil.
A newspaper sent a reporter into Wheaton, Massachusetts, to check out rumors that it’s the major distribution point for cocaine in the northeast, but the reporter turned up dead and castrated. (The idea that a print newspaper would spend money on investigative journalism is another thing that gives me nostalgia for ‘the good ole days‘.) The newspaper hires Spenser to find out who killed him.
Since the local cops are either incompetent or crooked (or both), no progress has been made on the murder and the chief makes it plain that Spenser isn’t welcome. Soon Spenser will be facing off against the Wheaton police, redneck thugs and a Columbian drug kingpin. But maybe the biggest problem that foodie Spenser has is that there isn’t a decent restaurant in town, and he’ll have a lot of problems getting a good meal.
I may have to revamp my theory that that all the Spenser books after A Catskill Eagle don’t match the early quality of the series. I’d forgotten about this one, and it’s a very solid Spenser tale with the wisecracking PI facing off against almost an entire corrupt town. Parker still has Spenser capable of making fatal errors at this point. The story is fast-paced, and the dialogue still feels fresh. We’re past the point where there would be any major changes in the series, but this is still a worthy addition to Spenser‘s adventures.
Next up: Spenser Vs. The Serial Killer in Crimson Joy.
A newspaper sent a reporter into Wheaton, Massachusetts, to check out rumors that it’s the major distribution point for cocaine in the northeast, but the reporter turned up dead and castrated. (The idea that a print newspaper would spend money on investigative journalism is another thing that gives me nostalgia for ‘the good ole days‘.) The newspaper hires Spenser to find out who killed him.
Since the local cops are either incompetent or crooked (or both), no progress has been made on the murder and the chief makes it plain that Spenser isn’t welcome. Soon Spenser will be facing off against the Wheaton police, redneck thugs and a Columbian drug kingpin. But maybe the biggest problem that foodie Spenser has is that there isn’t a decent restaurant in town, and he’ll have a lot of problems getting a good meal.
I may have to revamp my theory that that all the Spenser books after A Catskill Eagle don’t match the early quality of the series. I’d forgotten about this one, and it’s a very solid Spenser tale with the wisecracking PI facing off against almost an entire corrupt town. Parker still has Spenser capable of making fatal errors at this point. The story is fast-paced, and the dialogue still feels fresh. We’re past the point where there would be any major changes in the series, but this is still a worthy addition to Spenser‘s adventures.
Next up: Spenser Vs. The Serial Killer in Crimson Joy.
October 11, 2025
“Everybody knew me. Nobody liked me. Nobody talked to me. Everybody avoided me. I’d been unpopular before in my life, but never with this kind of heady pervasiveness. People who’d never met me disliked me.” — Spenser
In spite of what casual perusers see at first glance, a deeper dive shows that 73% of Goodreads readers rate the fourteenth entry in the Spenser series, Pale Kings and Princes, 4 or 5 stars. That consensus is more accurate, in my opinion, as I’ve always felt that this is a very solid entry in the series. It’s a relatively early one, but still post-Valediction/Catskill Eagle, as the series slowly shifted toward sterling entertainment in the crime/detective genre, and only occasionally strived for greater resonance.
But that’s not to say there are no resonating moments here in Pale Kings and Princes, because it certainly has a few. Surprisingly, for the millions like myself who have a palpable dislike for Spenser’s shallow, pretentious, snooty love interest, one of the resonating moments comes when they are together. It occurs when actions taken by Spenser while attempting to get to the bottom of a reporter’s murder outside Boston leads to two deaths, and tragically impacts a nice woman working at the town library. Feeling morally and mortally responsible, a quiet and somber Spenser seeks comfort. Susan reminds Spenser of a quote he has used in speaking with her about his work, that death is the mother of beauty:
‘“I didn’t think you were listening,’ I said, and took my hands from hers and slid them up her back and held her against me in the cold night under the bright artificial light on the empty street.”
Spenser has been hired by a rather successful newspaper to look into the murder of a reporter sent to Wheaton to get a story about the cocaine trade. Wheaton is apparently a known hub for drug traffic that rivals South Florida in volume. So far however, no one has been able to prove it, or do anything about it. Spenser arrives and no one wants to talk to him; not even the cops, who may have reasons beyond simply writing the castrated reporter’s murder off as the result of his fooling around with someone’s wife.
The town has an unusually large population of Columbians, and while the growing is actually done in Peru and Bolivia, Spenser knows the presence of such a large group so centrally located to one of the biggest flows of cocaine in the country has to be more than a coincidence. It starts out with no one willing to talk, then escalates to actively attempting to drive Spenser out of town; this of course doesn’t work well for them.
Spenser makes an enemy of the Chief of Police, then meets a Columbian woman who may have an ax to grind called jealousy, which calls into question her information. He also meets a very nice woman at the library who just happens to be the wife of the Chief of Police. The hostility of the town escalates when Spenser angers the man who runs it, and possibly the drug trade, by questioning his stunning yet dangerous wife about her possible carnal involvement with the dead reporter.
This really is a good one, with Hawk finally entering the picture when Spenser appropriates a truck trailer full of cocaine.
“It’s best for society if Hawk is kept busy.”
Along with the always sharp dialog and witty banter, there exists a sprinkling of observation and insight worthy of the early Spenser efforts:
“There was no particular sign of pain. Grief makes less of a mark on people’s appearance than is thought. People torn with sorrow often look just like people who aren’t.”
Sexy Rita Fiore, who as the series went on would become a bright and welcome contrast to the nauseating Susan Silverman, also makes an early series appearance in Pale Kings and Princes. We also meet young State Trooper Lundquist, who proves invaluable to Spenser and Hawk late in the narrative.
It’s winter in this one, and Parker does a good economic job of making the reader feel it. That is especially true as the story races toward its conclusion. A blizzard in fact augments an exciting and well written explosion of violence as Pale Kings and Princes reaches critical mass. A very good entry in the series, entertaining and wildly readable.
In spite of what casual perusers see at first glance, a deeper dive shows that 73% of Goodreads readers rate the fourteenth entry in the Spenser series, Pale Kings and Princes, 4 or 5 stars. That consensus is more accurate, in my opinion, as I’ve always felt that this is a very solid entry in the series. It’s a relatively early one, but still post-Valediction/Catskill Eagle, as the series slowly shifted toward sterling entertainment in the crime/detective genre, and only occasionally strived for greater resonance.
But that’s not to say there are no resonating moments here in Pale Kings and Princes, because it certainly has a few. Surprisingly, for the millions like myself who have a palpable dislike for Spenser’s shallow, pretentious, snooty love interest, one of the resonating moments comes when they are together. It occurs when actions taken by Spenser while attempting to get to the bottom of a reporter’s murder outside Boston leads to two deaths, and tragically impacts a nice woman working at the town library. Feeling morally and mortally responsible, a quiet and somber Spenser seeks comfort. Susan reminds Spenser of a quote he has used in speaking with her about his work, that death is the mother of beauty:
‘“I didn’t think you were listening,’ I said, and took my hands from hers and slid them up her back and held her against me in the cold night under the bright artificial light on the empty street.”
Spenser has been hired by a rather successful newspaper to look into the murder of a reporter sent to Wheaton to get a story about the cocaine trade. Wheaton is apparently a known hub for drug traffic that rivals South Florida in volume. So far however, no one has been able to prove it, or do anything about it. Spenser arrives and no one wants to talk to him; not even the cops, who may have reasons beyond simply writing the castrated reporter’s murder off as the result of his fooling around with someone’s wife.
The town has an unusually large population of Columbians, and while the growing is actually done in Peru and Bolivia, Spenser knows the presence of such a large group so centrally located to one of the biggest flows of cocaine in the country has to be more than a coincidence. It starts out with no one willing to talk, then escalates to actively attempting to drive Spenser out of town; this of course doesn’t work well for them.
Spenser makes an enemy of the Chief of Police, then meets a Columbian woman who may have an ax to grind called jealousy, which calls into question her information. He also meets a very nice woman at the library who just happens to be the wife of the Chief of Police. The hostility of the town escalates when Spenser angers the man who runs it, and possibly the drug trade, by questioning his stunning yet dangerous wife about her possible carnal involvement with the dead reporter.
This really is a good one, with Hawk finally entering the picture when Spenser appropriates a truck trailer full of cocaine.
“It’s best for society if Hawk is kept busy.”
Along with the always sharp dialog and witty banter, there exists a sprinkling of observation and insight worthy of the early Spenser efforts:
“There was no particular sign of pain. Grief makes less of a mark on people’s appearance than is thought. People torn with sorrow often look just like people who aren’t.”
Sexy Rita Fiore, who as the series went on would become a bright and welcome contrast to the nauseating Susan Silverman, also makes an early series appearance in Pale Kings and Princes. We also meet young State Trooper Lundquist, who proves invaluable to Spenser and Hawk late in the narrative.
It’s winter in this one, and Parker does a good economic job of making the reader feel it. That is especially true as the story races toward its conclusion. A blizzard in fact augments an exciting and well written explosion of violence as Pale Kings and Princes reaches critical mass. A very good entry in the series, entertaining and wildly readable.
October 23, 2021
This is another entry into a long running series where each book is a stand alone. In this one, Spenser is hired to look into the death of a reporter who was investigating drugs running out of a small Massachusetts town.
Three stars might be a little too generous but it definitely did not deserve two stars as a rating. All the hallmarks are here for a Spenser book. Spenser being a wise ass and annoying people who are in his way. His relationship with Susan all being lovey dovey. Also, we get Hawk being Hawk which is always terrific. It just didn't work as well as other books in this series. I believe because there were little tweaks to the usual story that were a bit of a miss for me. Which is ironic because I don't want a repeat of the same story. Hawk doesn't appear to the final act and the whole time I am saying "Where is Hawk?". The action is outside of Boston in a series where Boston is its own identity. The biggest tweak was Spenser was looking into a death instead of being a knight in shining armor to a victim. For me, this is one the appeals of these books. The contrast of being a gallant hero and a wise ass that sometimes resorts to violence. I think I missed that contrast in this book.
This was a quick read but not the best entry in this series. I never came close to hating it but it never wowed me. There are some aspects that are on point like the dialogue and the characters. I come to expect that from a Robert B. Parker book and even a so-so book from this author has things in it that makes it worth my time.
Three stars might be a little too generous but it definitely did not deserve two stars as a rating. All the hallmarks are here for a Spenser book. Spenser being a wise ass and annoying people who are in his way. His relationship with Susan all being lovey dovey. Also, we get Hawk being Hawk which is always terrific. It just didn't work as well as other books in this series. I believe because there were little tweaks to the usual story that were a bit of a miss for me. Which is ironic because I don't want a repeat of the same story. Hawk doesn't appear to the final act and the whole time I am saying "Where is Hawk?". The action is outside of Boston in a series where Boston is its own identity. The biggest tweak was Spenser was looking into a death instead of being a knight in shining armor to a victim. For me, this is one the appeals of these books. The contrast of being a gallant hero and a wise ass that sometimes resorts to violence. I think I missed that contrast in this book.
This was a quick read but not the best entry in this series. I never came close to hating it but it never wowed me. There are some aspects that are on point like the dialogue and the characters. I come to expect that from a Robert B. Parker book and even a so-so book from this author has things in it that makes it worth my time.
April 14, 2020
This is my second book in this series and I must admit that I am beginning to get used to the specific writing style of this author and even like it.
There is some pleasant simplicity in his stories. There are no ornaments, a million side threads nor detailed biographies of all, even the least significant, characters. There is a simple but very interesting story. And I think I needed something like that right now. Especially that at the same time I read two other books in which I got stuck mostly because I am not sure where these stories are going and whether I am curious enough to find out. But this is not a problem here.
And at the same time the story is really interesting, even if it is not particularly innovative, and for some it can be a little too violent. This is not a story that I will remember in a few months. But it certainly allows me to get to know Spenser, the main character, better. And it makes me want to read other books in this series.
Sometimes it's good to read a story that doesn't try to be anything more than it is - good entertainment. Now I was definitely in this mood. And this story did not disappoint me.
There is some pleasant simplicity in his stories. There are no ornaments, a million side threads nor detailed biographies of all, even the least significant, characters. There is a simple but very interesting story. And I think I needed something like that right now. Especially that at the same time I read two other books in which I got stuck mostly because I am not sure where these stories are going and whether I am curious enough to find out. But this is not a problem here.
And at the same time the story is really interesting, even if it is not particularly innovative, and for some it can be a little too violent. This is not a story that I will remember in a few months. But it certainly allows me to get to know Spenser, the main character, better. And it makes me want to read other books in this series.
Sometimes it's good to read a story that doesn't try to be anything more than it is - good entertainment. Now I was definitely in this mood. And this story did not disappoint me.
May 4, 2011
The first couple of pages of this book irritated me with their conformance to so many hard-boiled detective cliches. Then I read the other 295p in two sessions - and I wish it had been only one, because the break came just before the denouement and it lost a bit of tension because of that. Not the author's fault, rather the tyrany of clocks combined with my ridiculous (lack of) sleep rhythm.
Apparently this is the bajillionth book in the series of novels about Spenser, former cop, PI with a Code of Honour. There are approximately another bajillion that come after it, too. It's a genuine 'friller, page-turning, not easily predictable. It's also not quite as cliched as it appears (in the first two pages). Spenser isn't a womaniser, for instance. He is also humanised and raised "above the streets" not so much by hints of intellectual depth (e.g. Marlowe's chess games and Joe Kurtz' reading list) as by the peeks behind his mask. The hard-boiled detective is a persona - Spenser uses it because it is expected of him and because it offers emotional protection. Also, Spenser does not really have a Code of Honour, after all. Instead he just has a sensse of right and wrong that isn't necessarily rigid or overly informed by the concept of duty - nothing about it seems codified at all, in fact.
So initially Spenser is a lone gunman going up against a corrupt town, single-handed. It could have gone into A Fistful of Dollars territory but actually never strayed a step in that direction and by the end Spenser had put together such a regular little Scooby Gang that I was half surprised that a Slayer, a werewolf, a vacuum-head, a brainy girl and a wise-cracking side-kick didn't show up. Or a brainy girl, a vacuum-head, a jock, a coward and his cowardly mutt...
Anyroad, this was such fun amusement that I would happily read more from Parker, but I have heard rumours that the latter part of the series shows a decline in quality. Maybe I shall try to hunt up the first one. Perhaps I should hire a PI to do it for me, but I think the trail of corpses might make me feel both scared and possibly guilty. Spenser wouldn't feel the former of those two; maybe the latter.
Apparently this is the bajillionth book in the series of novels about Spenser, former cop, PI with a Code of Honour. There are approximately another bajillion that come after it, too. It's a genuine 'friller, page-turning, not easily predictable. It's also not quite as cliched as it appears (in the first two pages). Spenser isn't a womaniser, for instance. He is also humanised and raised "above the streets" not so much by hints of intellectual depth (e.g. Marlowe's chess games and Joe Kurtz' reading list) as by the peeks behind his mask. The hard-boiled detective is a persona - Spenser uses it because it is expected of him and because it offers emotional protection. Also, Spenser does not really have a Code of Honour, after all. Instead he just has a sensse of right and wrong that isn't necessarily rigid or overly informed by the concept of duty - nothing about it seems codified at all, in fact.
So initially Spenser is a lone gunman going up against a corrupt town, single-handed. It could have gone into A Fistful of Dollars territory but actually never strayed a step in that direction and by the end Spenser had put together such a regular little Scooby Gang that I was half surprised that a Slayer, a werewolf, a vacuum-head, a brainy girl and a wise-cracking side-kick didn't show up. Or a brainy girl, a vacuum-head, a jock, a coward and his cowardly mutt...
Anyroad, this was such fun amusement that I would happily read more from Parker, but I have heard rumours that the latter part of the series shows a decline in quality. Maybe I shall try to hunt up the first one. Perhaps I should hire a PI to do it for me, but I think the trail of corpses might make me feel both scared and possibly guilty. Spenser wouldn't feel the former of those two; maybe the latter.
June 11, 2023
Spenser takes on a small town controlled by a drug dealer using his wisecracks and cockiness with backup help from his pal Hawk and girlfriend Susan.
May 23, 2017
(The word "maroon" appears 7 times in this novel)
Even the least Spenser book is still not bad. This one falls into that category.
The plot is complex, but the pacing is very uneven, and somewhat chaotic before the big climax fight at the end.
There is little advance on the relationship between Susan and Spenser here; there is one mention about being careful with it. The rest seems to be static but delicate.
See my review of Crimson Joy for more Spenser Series opinion...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There are some fun quotes, see below.
Even the least Spenser book is still not bad. This one falls into that category.
The plot is complex, but the pacing is very uneven, and somewhat chaotic before the big climax fight at the end.
There is little advance on the relationship between Susan and Spenser here; there is one mention about being careful with it. The rest seems to be static but delicate.
Susan leaned forward and kissed me gently on the lips.
“One of the things I like best about you,” she said, “is how earnest you are about your work. You pretend to be such a wise guy, and you are so rebellious about rules; but you are so careful to do what you say you’ll do.”
“There’s not too much else to be careful about,” I said.
“Post Christian ethics,” she said.
“I'm careful about you,” I said.
“Yes,” she said, “about me, and about us.”
“You too,” I said.
“We’ve both learned to be careful of us,” she said.
We looked at each other. The connective force of our gaze was palpable.
“Forever,” I said finally.
Susan nodded.
See my review of Crimson Joy for more Spenser Series opinion...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
There are some fun quotes, see below.
December 9, 2025
This story is just an average Spenser novel. Not too exciting but still a Spenser.
December 25, 2021
" I loved the way her calf tapered to her ankle. I loved the way she chewed slightly on her lower lip as she decided which blouse to put on top. Watching her was timeless. Sound seemed to stop. Light seemed clearer. "
There may be several reasons for readers to like Pale Kings and Princes (1987), Robert B. Parker's 14th installment of his Spenser series. Spenser's love for Susan would be one of them. Hawk's character would be another. For some readers also the occasionally witty writing and some clever repartees. I don't believe anyone would enjoy the novel for its silly premise of the plot that there exists a small town in Massachusetts, which is a center of a big cocaine operation, and most people in town, including the entire police force, are participants in the conspiracy. After all, we know that no conspiracy that involves more than a handful of people is feasible. Oh wait... I forgot...
Anyway, let's recap the setup of the plot. The publisher of a regional paper hires Spenser to find out who killed a young reporter who had been investigating the cocaine operation. Naturally, the local police are all on the take, so they will not give Spenser any help. But don't worry: the author conjures a clever, ambitious, and basically honest state trooper, who will help Spenser find the truth, after two more people are killed. There is also superhuman Hawk:
Despite the silly concept of a massive conspiracy and all the clichés, I almost enjoyed reading the novel, relishing wittyish passages like:
There may be several reasons for readers to like Pale Kings and Princes (1987), Robert B. Parker's 14th installment of his Spenser series. Spenser's love for Susan would be one of them. Hawk's character would be another. For some readers also the occasionally witty writing and some clever repartees. I don't believe anyone would enjoy the novel for its silly premise of the plot that there exists a small town in Massachusetts, which is a center of a big cocaine operation, and most people in town, including the entire police force, are participants in the conspiracy. After all, we know that no conspiracy that involves more than a handful of people is feasible. Oh wait... I forgot...
Anyway, let's recap the setup of the plot. The publisher of a regional paper hires Spenser to find out who killed a young reporter who had been investigating the cocaine operation. Naturally, the local police are all on the take, so they will not give Spenser any help. But don't worry: the author conjures a clever, ambitious, and basically honest state trooper, who will help Spenser find the truth, after two more people are killed. There is also superhuman Hawk:
"'We stay here,' Hawk said, 'we gonna have to shoot up a mess of Wheaton cops.'The plot culminates in a silly shootout, which inspired me to consider an alternative title for the novel, Pale Plot and Climax.
'I know,' Susan said.
'There ain't but maybe fifty of them,' Hawk said.
'But then all the other cops in the world will be on our case,' I said.
'We may run out of ammunition,' Hawk said."
Despite the silly concept of a massive conspiracy and all the clichés, I almost enjoyed reading the novel, relishing wittyish passages like:
"'Tired?' Susan said.Two-and-a-quarter stars.
'And hungry and in the throes of caffeine withdrawal, and sexually unrequited for six days,' I said.
'There are remedies to all those problems,' Susan said. 'Trust me, I have a Ph.D.'
'From Harvard too,' I said."
February 20, 2016
Granted I've been very busy this week at work so I was a little distracted, but when a book this short takes me 6 days to finish, it failed to grab me. Spenser is hired by a newspaper to find out who murdered their investigative journalist looking into Colombian cocaine smuggling in Wheaton, Massachusetts as the local police have made no progress and may even be receiving payment from the cocaine smugglers not to find anything. But the murder could also have nothing to do with cocaine and instead be the result of an amorous journalist sleeping with the wife or wives of the locals.
The drug smugglers are from a time before cell phones and the internet and thus Spenser's actions can plausibly be successful. The evil drug lords, however, seemed to be more like small-time thugs who dominate the town of Wheaton than infamous, deadly Colombian cocaine smugglers. It was hard to take them seriously or get worried for Spenser safety, thus some of the tension was absent from the book.
While the wrap up was a nugget perhaps worth the read, Spenser is over-the-top smart mouthed throughout. I like the bantering humor of this character (particularly with Hawk), but it just didn't click for me in this book. He hangs out in Wheaton, Maine, Boston trying to knock something loose, gets his car blown up and, for the mop up, Hawk joins him for the finale. If one wants to see the 'hanging out until something breaks' done well, read Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret series.
Susan appears to go back and forth between Boston and Wheaton to basically sleep with Spenser, give him rides and cars, and join him in making fun of the local restaurants and food/wine/alcohol offerings. Frankly, they came across as big city snobs. The white knight, caring Spenser comes into play at the end for the wrap up finale, but for much of the book they both appear vacuous.
The drug smugglers are from a time before cell phones and the internet and thus Spenser's actions can plausibly be successful. The evil drug lords, however, seemed to be more like small-time thugs who dominate the town of Wheaton than infamous, deadly Colombian cocaine smugglers. It was hard to take them seriously or get worried for Spenser safety, thus some of the tension was absent from the book.
While the wrap up was a nugget perhaps worth the read, Spenser is over-the-top smart mouthed throughout. I like the bantering humor of this character (particularly with Hawk), but it just didn't click for me in this book. He hangs out in Wheaton, Maine, Boston trying to knock something loose, gets his car blown up and, for the mop up, Hawk joins him for the finale. If one wants to see the 'hanging out until something breaks' done well, read Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret series.
Susan appears to go back and forth between Boston and Wheaton to basically sleep with Spenser, give him rides and cars, and join him in making fun of the local restaurants and food/wine/alcohol offerings. Frankly, they came across as big city snobs. The white knight, caring Spenser comes into play at the end for the wrap up finale, but for much of the book they both appear vacuous.
March 25, 2012
Lost track of what number in the Spenser series this book is, but it doesn't matter, it was up to par with so many of the others before it.
Parker hasn't lost his touch and I always enjoy reading a reminder about Spenser's ethics. Susan tunes in with "You pretend to be such a wise guy, and you are so rebellious about rules; but you are so careful to do what you say you'll do." To me, this is the crux of who Spenser is and the same, although at a different level, can be said for Hawk. This is the primary reason, in my mind, they're great backups for each other. They both know that the other 'has his back.'
Susan a part of the plot by assisting Spenser in 'breaking down' two not so stable women who have possible clues as to who killed a journalist. The journalist was hired by a newspaper magnate (who also hired Spenser) to investigate cocaine trafficking in a small community. Happily for me because he's so cool, Spenser called upon Hawk to help.
Fast moving book especially towards the end.
Fortunately for Spenser, it's always something to solve or resolve. Glad that Parker continues to find that something because my fondness for these primary characters grows with each read.
Parker hasn't lost his touch and I always enjoy reading a reminder about Spenser's ethics. Susan tunes in with "You pretend to be such a wise guy, and you are so rebellious about rules; but you are so careful to do what you say you'll do." To me, this is the crux of who Spenser is and the same, although at a different level, can be said for Hawk. This is the primary reason, in my mind, they're great backups for each other. They both know that the other 'has his back.'
Susan a part of the plot by assisting Spenser in 'breaking down' two not so stable women who have possible clues as to who killed a journalist. The journalist was hired by a newspaper magnate (who also hired Spenser) to investigate cocaine trafficking in a small community. Happily for me because he's so cool, Spenser called upon Hawk to help.
Fast moving book especially towards the end.
Fortunately for Spenser, it's always something to solve or resolve. Glad that Parker continues to find that something because my fondness for these primary characters grows with each read.
August 20, 2018
This is a re-read, but I have yet to re-read anything that doesn't feel like I am reading it for the first time. This is the first of Robert B. Parker's Spenser books that I ever read, borrowed from a neighbor in my dorm at UMass/Amherst, 31 years ago. Set in a fictional town on the ass-end of the Quabbin Reservoir, Pale Kings and Princes was a great introduction to what has to be my favorite mystery series.
August 18, 2021
3.5 stars. Spenser is hired to solve the murder of a newspaper reporter. Spenser stirs things up and the result is another good book in the Spenser series.
March 11, 2022
Am I the only one who can't stand Susan??
May 7, 2024
This was a bit of a filler book. Do I love Spenser? Yes, but the plot for this one was completely asinine.
It was a pretty shallow and not fleshed out narrative. Meh. It’s more of a comfort read than anything. You know the characters and what they will do and not too much deviations in this book. Spenser cracks wise a bit too much, Susan gets in the mix and Hawk bails them out in their time of need. Rinse repeat 🔁
It was a pretty shallow and not fleshed out narrative. Meh. It’s more of a comfort read than anything. You know the characters and what they will do and not too much deviations in this book. Spenser cracks wise a bit too much, Susan gets in the mix and Hawk bails them out in their time of need. Rinse repeat 🔁
May 15, 2025
first audiobook lmao didnt listen in detail tbh
February 5, 2022
Spencer is hired to investigate the murder of a reporter and as usual manages to annoy more than his fair share of people a long the way. This is Spencer at his wisecracking best and even Susan manages to not be to annoying in this one. A really solid entry in the Spencer series.
September 30, 2016
The 14th volume of the Spenser series by Parker contains drugs, affairs and murders. All in the small town of Wheaton, Massachusetts. Spenser is sent there to investigate the murder of a newspaper reporter who is shot and castarated. Valdez was investigating the cocaine business in Wheaton and was also rumored to be messing around with the married women of Wheaton.
Pretty standard Spenser novel. Nothing new or earth shattering. Spenser questions people. They don't answer him. He keeps questioning people they finally get fed up with him and tell him things. No real secret in who the bad guy is, just how they went about doing it. Hawk doesn't get involved till the end so not much witty banter between them.
Nothing special but not a bad way to spend a Saturday either.
Pretty standard Spenser novel. Nothing new or earth shattering. Spenser questions people. They don't answer him. He keeps questioning people they finally get fed up with him and tell him things. No real secret in who the bad guy is, just how they went about doing it. Hawk doesn't get involved till the end so not much witty banter between them.
Nothing special but not a bad way to spend a Saturday either.
June 10, 2022
Hawk's comment, "A fine mess you got us into this time, Ollie," a line from a black and white Laurel and Hardy film, could serve as a review of any of Robert Parker's Spenser series, containing, as it does, the heart of Parker's esoteric world view and the truism that Spencer often has to call on Hawk - in the best ones - to get him out of a mess. Laurel and Hardy aren't the only elements that hark back to another time here. Remember before fentanyl, there was cocaine and before the internet, newspapers? A newsman got too close to the former and the latter pays Spenser to find what's going on. It's a Parker classic, without too much Susan Silverman sillinesss (Ever notice she's the only one with a last name?)
May 20, 2012
I've always liked Susan, but in this book I really came to appreciate her relationship with Spenser. She was part of the team of Spenser and Hawk like never before. There is one point in the story where Susan has to leave her makeup behind in a hotel room, and she likens it to "leaving her face behind." It is great and so..."Susan." Still, Spenser is still the leading character throughout the tale. Hawk, as ever, is the backup plan man. This was a really good read, and I recommend it heartily.
February 7, 2022
Entertaining mystery listening 🔰😀
Another will written romantic thriller mystery adventure novel book 14 in the Spenser Series by Robert B. Parker. Murder of a young man 🚹 reporter in Massachusetts gets Spenser hired to 👍 investigate. After two more murders, Spenser and Hawk are in a show down with the killers. I would highly recommend this novel and series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or 🎶 listening to novels 🔰🏡😄🐕 2022
Another will written romantic thriller mystery adventure novel book 14 in the Spenser Series by Robert B. Parker. Murder of a young man 🚹 reporter in Massachusetts gets Spenser hired to 👍 investigate. After two more murders, Spenser and Hawk are in a show down with the killers. I would highly recommend this novel and series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or 🎶 listening to novels 🔰🏡😄🐕 2022
February 22, 2009
I like the Spenser books. They're smart without being smug (as compared to Sanders' McNally books). It's also interesting to note how much less text it took 20 years ago to make a satisfactory mystery. Today all the books are twice as thick, with smaller margins and a smaller type size. And yet I don't feel like I was missing anything with the shorter book.
August 20, 2021
One of the better in the series. Spenser is investigating a reporter's disappearance and finds himself in the middle of murder, drug trafficking and police corruption. Parker's ability to tell a story with economy is inspiring.
January 31, 2022
Hawk, Susan & Spenser. Always good.
September 30, 2019
I always enjoy the Spenser novels. This one was no exception, although I wouldn't rank it as one of the best.
The Central Argus newspaper hires Spenser to investigate the murder of its reporter Eric Valdez in Wheaton, Massachusetts (a fictional town set about 40 miles west of Boston). Wheaton is reputed to be the capital of cocaine trafficking in the Northeast, and the newspaper had sent Valdez to look into it.
Spenser soon discovers that no one in Wheaton is willing to talk about Valdez or cocaine. The police make it clear that Spenser is persona non grata, and they try their best to thwart his investigation. This leads Spenser to suspect that the police chief and/or other members of the force may be linked to the cocaine trade.
Spenser's investigation is complicated by the uneasy relationship between the Colombian and Anglo communities in Wheaton. It's also complicated by Valdez's reputation as a womanizer, raising the possibility that he was killed for a reason unrelated to his investigation.
As usual, Spenser mostly operates on his own and plays things close to the vest, but he does welcome some help from a state trooper who shares his doubts about the local police. Ultimately, he also brings in Hawk for added muscle and Susan Silverman for support and advice. Hawk doesn't make his appearance until near the end, which is a bit of a minus in my book. Susan is there throughout, either in person or in Spenser's typical idealizing thoughts, but for some reason she's not quite as irritating in this one as she usually is. Or maybe I'm just building up an immunity.
All in all, it's a fine story told with Parker's trademark wit and philosophizing. Others in the series are better, in my opinion, but I wouldn't pass this one up.
The Central Argus newspaper hires Spenser to investigate the murder of its reporter Eric Valdez in Wheaton, Massachusetts (a fictional town set about 40 miles west of Boston). Wheaton is reputed to be the capital of cocaine trafficking in the Northeast, and the newspaper had sent Valdez to look into it.
Spenser soon discovers that no one in Wheaton is willing to talk about Valdez or cocaine. The police make it clear that Spenser is persona non grata, and they try their best to thwart his investigation. This leads Spenser to suspect that the police chief and/or other members of the force may be linked to the cocaine trade.
Spenser's investigation is complicated by the uneasy relationship between the Colombian and Anglo communities in Wheaton. It's also complicated by Valdez's reputation as a womanizer, raising the possibility that he was killed for a reason unrelated to his investigation.
As usual, Spenser mostly operates on his own and plays things close to the vest, but he does welcome some help from a state trooper who shares his doubts about the local police. Ultimately, he also brings in Hawk for added muscle and Susan Silverman for support and advice. Hawk doesn't make his appearance until near the end, which is a bit of a minus in my book. Susan is there throughout, either in person or in Spenser's typical idealizing thoughts, but for some reason she's not quite as irritating in this one as she usually is. Or maybe I'm just building up an immunity.
All in all, it's a fine story told with Parker's trademark wit and philosophizing. Others in the series are better, in my opinion, but I wouldn't pass this one up.
March 15, 2019
This story is based on the scourge of many cities, including those that are smaller, the drug trade. An investigative reporter that was looking into the drug trade in Wheaton, Massachusetts was murdered, and his editor hires Spenser to investigate. Cocaine is the primary drug and it appears that Wheaton is a major hub in the regional drug trade. As is all too common, the local police are unreliable at best and willing to serve as operatives for the drug lords at worst.
Yet, despite the death and violence associated with the drug trade, this story is more about the human passions of jealousy, hatred, improperly directed sexual drive and revenge for emotional rather than financial wrongs. While that tends to delay Spenser from reaching the proper conclusions earlier, in the end it is necessary for there to be a traditional violent confrontation between Spenser and Hawk on one side and the drug dealer and henchmen on the other. Since so much of the case is based on human passion rather than basic greed, Susan’s advice is more important in this story than in some of the other Spenser stories.
Spenser solves the case and once again walks away the victor against the dark forces, which take many forms. It is a reminder that even drug dealers and crooked cops are human and subject to the full range of human emotions.
Yet, despite the death and violence associated with the drug trade, this story is more about the human passions of jealousy, hatred, improperly directed sexual drive and revenge for emotional rather than financial wrongs. While that tends to delay Spenser from reaching the proper conclusions earlier, in the end it is necessary for there to be a traditional violent confrontation between Spenser and Hawk on one side and the drug dealer and henchmen on the other. Since so much of the case is based on human passion rather than basic greed, Susan’s advice is more important in this story than in some of the other Spenser stories.
Spenser solves the case and once again walks away the victor against the dark forces, which take many forms. It is a reminder that even drug dealers and crooked cops are human and subject to the full range of human emotions.
August 8, 2020
Guilty pleasures. I sat in my favorite chair and blitzed through this book between breakfast and lunch ...not even a late lunch. These are slight volumes, compared with other books I read, and that's likely part of their charm. Spenser is predictably unpredictable, surprisingly literate, resourceful, and tough. His sidekicks Susan and Hawk are perfect foils for him, and I like his relationships with them. Together they face a different evil each round -- when I lived there, I never thought of Boston as such a dangerous place! I guess I'm glad I didn't read Parker then! -- and wind it up in the last few pages. Lots of bodies this time, and two Spensers in a week due to the random nature of their delivery from the library. I'm looking forward to something more substantial next.
April 9, 2017
Funny in re-reading Parker how little I remember of the plots. This particular book written in the 1980's takes me back to a Boston and Massachusetts long gone and yet I remember it well . The bulk of the book is set in a fictitious town called Wheaton (there is a real Wheaton in Maryland and in Illinois.) There is a Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts and it's a lovely New England campus. Parker's Wheaton is a dead end to nowheresville. One of everything: gas station, motel, restaurant...Spenser and his team find themselves trying to unearth and bring to justice a cocaine ring and dealing not only with the Columbians who constitute one-third of the populace, but also the locals they own and the small town bigotry that follows isolationism There aren't any happy endings in this one. Many die. Time has probably made such a town worse.
September 8, 2017
The usual characters, Spenser, Susan, Hawk ect in a Massachusetts mill town which has become the cocaine capital of New England. Spenser is hired to find who killed a reporter who was looking into the cocaine trade. The client was the newspaper editor who sent the reporter. Spenser finds more than the editor was hoping for including corrupt police and several murders that happen in the wake of his investigation. Not really too many surprises in this one, but plenty of violence.
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