Spenser's Boston

by Robert B. Parker, Kasho Kumagai (Photographer)

Who better to tour us through such Bostonian sites as the Ritz Bar and Beacon Hill than author Parker, creator of Beantown's most famous private-eye, Spenser? 5 1/2" x 7 1/2". Color photos.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mystery

200 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

pictures of Boston as one of my fav detective character's sees Boston. excellent photos!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally got my hands on this book! Robert B. Parker is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have missed him since his passing, and it is so great to hear his “voice” again as Spenser. This book is mostly of photographs of Boston by Kasho Kumagai with excerpts of books by Parker. We are also taken on a tour of Spenser’s Boston as he and Susan Silverman guide Rachel Wallace.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

BOTTOM LINE: Nice little book filled with beautiful pictures of Boston, accompanied by short bits from Robert Parker's "Spenser" books - a classy production, first published in Japan five years previously.

Includes many black and white, and a goodly amount of glorious color photos of Boston, mixed with the prose, including a nice long article by Robert B. Parker, almost a short story, but not a mystery - tells of an afternoon's trek through Boston with Spenser, Susan Silverman, and the visiting Rachel Wallace, touching upon many of Spenser's (and Parker's) favorite haunts. As a native Bostonian and long-time Spenser fan I'm an easy sell for this puff piece, and found it to be very good to look at, thoughtfully arranged and presented, and not so long you become bored. Some of the pictures are simply stunning. A nice little treat for Spenser fans.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The photos were awesome. It was mainly photos but if you have been to Boston you will appreciate this book.

184 pages and very little writing.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big Spenser fan. I've wanted to read this for a long time. There are many photos of Boston. Spenser and Susan take Rachel Wallace on a walk through interesting parts of the city. Their walk would be a good template for you the next time you visit.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Parker's little contribution, he walks a few characters through a tour of the city in 1994 or so.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

917.4461 Photographs of Boston and it's surroundings by Kasho Kumagai, with a short essay by Robert B. Parker. Photos are interspersed with quotes from the Spenser novels.