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Spenser #30
Back Story
First Edition - full numberline, 2004. no crease to spine. This feels like an unread copy, no crease to spine. Mild shelf and edge wear from normal handling. Normal foxing. Satisfaction guaranteed!
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First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
Robert B. Parker
489 books2,296 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 388 reviews
September 21, 2016
Spenser takes on a thirty twenty-eight year old case for the fee of six donuts. If he’d have known he’d end up investigating a bunch of goddamn hippies I assume he’d have demanded a full dozen.
Paul Giacomin, the closest thing Spenser has to a son, brings a young actress named Daryl to the detective for help. Daryl’s mother was killed in the midst of a bank robbery in 1974 by a group of militant radicals, but no one was ever arrested for the crime. Spenser takes on the case as a favor to Paul, and he soon gets on the bad side of a dangerous gangster with a psychotic hitman on his payroll. Even worse, he’ll have to talk to a bunch of dried up old hippies.
This one starts with the intriguing premise of Spenser digging into a very old case, but it soon falls into the familiar routines of a client in need of a good therapist, Spenser smart mouthing various thugs, Spenser bantering with Hawk, Spenser eating some food, Spenser drinking some booze, Susan being annoying as hell, etc. etc. The only thing that really makes this one noteworthy is that it features a crossover to another RBP series when Spenser meets Jesse Stone.
The only other part that I really liked was the scorn and anger that Spenser eventually dishes out on aging hippies. Take that, ya dirty long hairs!
RBP had long ago hit a point where he wouldn't upset the status quo, and a subplot here makes it clear that he didn’t feel any need to shake up the series. Spenser and Susan had acquired a dog named Pearl a dozen books ago, and she was showing signs of old age in the last one. At the beginning of Back Story, Pearl has gone to dog heaven and Spenser is still grieving her in his own stoic way. However, he soon acquires a new dog the exact same color and breed of the old one, and then he and Susan start calling the new dog Pearl. (Which to me is borderline creepy.)
So even though RBP allowed some real world aging to creep into the series in Pearl’s case, he still kept Spenser and his friends in a kind of timeless limbo after a certain point. Yet he refused to change the basic template to even accommodate the idea of having no dog or making it a new dog with a different name or anything that might feel like some kind of change to Spenser’s world. It’s a small point, but it shows how locked down RBP had the Spenser formula at this point .
As a side note: I listened to the audio version of this with Joe Mantegna narrating. Mantegna played Spenser in three TV movies, and he even though he doesn’t fit my mental picture of Spenser at all, he has a knack for delivering Spenser’s quips and observations.
Next up: Spenser takes on Enron and crashes the US economy in Bad Business.
Paul Giacomin, the closest thing Spenser has to a son, brings a young actress named Daryl to the detective for help. Daryl’s mother was killed in the midst of a bank robbery in 1974 by a group of militant radicals, but no one was ever arrested for the crime. Spenser takes on the case as a favor to Paul, and he soon gets on the bad side of a dangerous gangster with a psychotic hitman on his payroll. Even worse, he’ll have to talk to a bunch of dried up old hippies.
This one starts with the intriguing premise of Spenser digging into a very old case, but it soon falls into the familiar routines of a client in need of a good therapist, Spenser smart mouthing various thugs, Spenser bantering with Hawk, Spenser eating some food, Spenser drinking some booze, Susan being annoying as hell, etc. etc. The only thing that really makes this one noteworthy is that it features a crossover to another RBP series when Spenser meets Jesse Stone.
The only other part that I really liked was the scorn and anger that Spenser eventually dishes out on aging hippies. Take that, ya dirty long hairs!
RBP had long ago hit a point where he wouldn't upset the status quo, and a subplot here makes it clear that he didn’t feel any need to shake up the series. Spenser and Susan had acquired a dog named Pearl a dozen books ago, and she was showing signs of old age in the last one. At the beginning of Back Story, Pearl has gone to dog heaven and Spenser is still grieving her in his own stoic way. However, he soon acquires a new dog the exact same color and breed of the old one, and then he and Susan start calling the new dog Pearl. (Which to me is borderline creepy.)
So even though RBP allowed some real world aging to creep into the series in Pearl’s case, he still kept Spenser and his friends in a kind of timeless limbo after a certain point. Yet he refused to change the basic template to even accommodate the idea of having no dog or making it a new dog with a different name or anything that might feel like some kind of change to Spenser’s world. It’s a small point, but it shows how locked down RBP had the Spenser formula at this point .
As a side note: I listened to the audio version of this with Joe Mantegna narrating. Mantegna played Spenser in three TV movies, and he even though he doesn’t fit my mental picture of Spenser at all, he has a knack for delivering Spenser’s quips and observations.
Next up: Spenser takes on Enron and crashes the US economy in Bad Business.
March 23, 2013
A woman walks into Spenser's office and asks him to solve a twenty-eight year-old murder in return for a half dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Sounds like a fair trade to me, and it certainly does to Spenser as well. Of course it helps that the client, Daryl Silver, is a friend of Spenser's surrogate son, Paul Giacomin.
Daryl's mother, Emily Gordon, was killed during the course of a bank robbery. Daryl insists that her mother was in the bank for perfectly legitimate and innocent reasons, "like cashing traveler's checks or something," but it takes Spenser about five minutes to discover that Gordon had gotten involved with a radical group called the Dread Scott Brigade, which had apparently carried out the robbery.
It's not clear who shot Emily Gordon during the course of the crime. Was it friend or foe? However, it is quickly clear that powerful forces want this ancient case left undisturbed. The F.B.I. has frustrated the discovery of the true facts of the case and a powerful mobster also warns Spenser off the case.
No one, of course, orders Spenser off the case. He recruits his trusty sidekick, Hawk, to assist, even though by now, the Krisipy Kremes are long gone. The plot doesn't amount to much, but the book is a fun read. There's a fair amount of action and, happily, this is one of those Spenser novels in which Hawk's presence overshadows that of the obnoxious Susan Silverman. Thus we don't have to put up with an inordinate amount of stomach-turning saccharine by-play between Spenser and Susan and that by itself is enough to make this one of the better books in the latter part of the series.
Daryl's mother, Emily Gordon, was killed during the course of a bank robbery. Daryl insists that her mother was in the bank for perfectly legitimate and innocent reasons, "like cashing traveler's checks or something," but it takes Spenser about five minutes to discover that Gordon had gotten involved with a radical group called the Dread Scott Brigade, which had apparently carried out the robbery.
It's not clear who shot Emily Gordon during the course of the crime. Was it friend or foe? However, it is quickly clear that powerful forces want this ancient case left undisturbed. The F.B.I. has frustrated the discovery of the true facts of the case and a powerful mobster also warns Spenser off the case.
No one, of course, orders Spenser off the case. He recruits his trusty sidekick, Hawk, to assist, even though by now, the Krisipy Kremes are long gone. The plot doesn't amount to much, but the book is a fun read. There's a fair amount of action and, happily, this is one of those Spenser novels in which Hawk's presence overshadows that of the obnoxious Susan Silverman. Thus we don't have to put up with an inordinate amount of stomach-turning saccharine by-play between Spenser and Susan and that by itself is enough to make this one of the better books in the latter part of the series.
March 8, 2019
I suppose Back Story is just “the mixture as before” (as Somerset Maugham said of his later stories), but it is a good mixture, executed with precision and balance, and it kept me thoroughly entertained.
Paul Giacomin, now a theater director and playwright, introduces his mentor Spenser to friend Daryl Silver, a young actress from the West Coast. 28 years ago, Daryl’s mother was gunned down during a Boston bank holdup, and the crime has never been solved. It is a cold, cold case, without much chance of resolution, but Paul is the closest thing Spenser will ever have to a son, and, besides, they brought him a treat unavailable in Boston: six donuts from Krispy Kreme.
As I said, it is the mixture as before, with really bad mobsters, a stone cold hired killer named Harvey, Susan—and Spenser himself—in danger, and Hawk, Vinnie and even Tony Marcus’ crew Ty-Bop and Junior rallying around for support. This time, though, the mystery is a good one, with a surprising murderer, and it takes a few twists and turns before the end.
I’d like to end with what I thought was a fine passage of Parker’s unobtrusively artful prose. It has a few Spenser hallmarks—a mention of Susan, a literary allusion, an economical description of a city landmark, a handgun (a Browning), and the promise of violence to come—but this time all of the elements combine to show us that Spenser is afraid, that he believes that the hitman Harvey who is stalking him this moment might be the one who brings him down.
Harvard Stadium was a bowl, open at the northerly end. At the top of the stadium was a covered arcade where people could circle until they found their seating section. With the Browning in my right hand, I went up the stairs on the run, grateful at this moment for the hours with Susan. It was still a long way to the top. I felt conspicuous in the bright moonlight. I thought of a line from Eliot . . . something about the nerve patterns displayed on the wall by a magic lantern . . . My back felt tight, I could feel a gun sight on it. I could hear my heartbeat and my labored breathing as I went up. I was wearing sneakers, but my footfalls still seemed blatant in the pale, empty stadium. No one shot me.
October 24, 2012
Revisiting a good novel from nearly a decade ago is like returning to a favorite restaurant. There’s a risk, but usually the reward is memories confirmed.
So too is Robert B. Parker’s “Back Story.” It has been nearly two years since this wonderful author has passed away. It seems like less time because he was prolific and had several novels in the pipeline. There are also two new incarnations with Ace Atkins taking Spenser forwarded (quite favorably, as reviewed here) and Michael Brandman breathing new life into Jesse Stone (I’ll review his “Fool Me Twice” soon).
I wanted to revisit “Back Story” because it is one of the few times that Spenser and Stone cross paths. A chance to connect with characters now gifted to other authors in their earlier formative period. As to Stone, you can understand why Tom Selleck was chosen to play him in the series of Sunday night movies.
It is Spenser that reveals so much, by doing so little.
One can also see that the Spenser of the last decade did not come to us fully formed. Here, in the appropriately titled “Back Story,” we see Parker as a great craftsman assembling the enduring qualities that have made Spenser (and Hawk, and Susan) so enjoyable.
During a tough-guy’s introspection, which Parker seems unique in imbuing with such passion, self-knowledge and soulfulness, we see Spenser’s literary heft that we’ve grown to respect in a quote of W.H Auden: “Malt does more than Milton can to justify the ways of God to man.” Plus the raw self-honesty of a true hero, here reflecting on the shooting of several thugs: “Rarely in pursuit of so measly a grail.”
But finally the most true moment of insight into this complex loner and protector: “If you’re gonna live life on your own terms, then there have to be terms.” Where are the lines? How to you hold on to morality in a world of compromises? Are there things much worse than death?
So too is Robert B. Parker’s “Back Story.” It has been nearly two years since this wonderful author has passed away. It seems like less time because he was prolific and had several novels in the pipeline. There are also two new incarnations with Ace Atkins taking Spenser forwarded (quite favorably, as reviewed here) and Michael Brandman breathing new life into Jesse Stone (I’ll review his “Fool Me Twice” soon).
I wanted to revisit “Back Story” because it is one of the few times that Spenser and Stone cross paths. A chance to connect with characters now gifted to other authors in their earlier formative period. As to Stone, you can understand why Tom Selleck was chosen to play him in the series of Sunday night movies.
It is Spenser that reveals so much, by doing so little.
One can also see that the Spenser of the last decade did not come to us fully formed. Here, in the appropriately titled “Back Story,” we see Parker as a great craftsman assembling the enduring qualities that have made Spenser (and Hawk, and Susan) so enjoyable.
During a tough-guy’s introspection, which Parker seems unique in imbuing with such passion, self-knowledge and soulfulness, we see Spenser’s literary heft that we’ve grown to respect in a quote of W.H Auden: “Malt does more than Milton can to justify the ways of God to man.” Plus the raw self-honesty of a true hero, here reflecting on the shooting of several thugs: “Rarely in pursuit of so measly a grail.”
But finally the most true moment of insight into this complex loner and protector: “If you’re gonna live life on your own terms, then there have to be terms.” Where are the lines? How to you hold on to morality in a world of compromises? Are there things much worse than death?
October 19, 2011
Another unremarkable, but entirely readable novel by Robert B. Parker. Why do his fans praise him so highly? Why do his critics dump so much crap on him when every book is a clinic on compelling dialog? People!
November 26, 2014
Ok, it was ok. Liked it fine but nothing to write home about. Another one down in the Parker series.
February 25, 2020
Solid book but it never really turned the corner. The gang was all here but for some reason Parker didn’t let them fly. As it usually is for me, I didn’t really care about Spenser’s client or her story. I guess it’s a simple as that. I’m probably just expecting way too much out of them.
June 25, 2021
2.5
Spenser investigates a twenty-eight year old murder.
Of all the Robert B. Parker books I’ve read I have to say that this one turned out to be the biggest disappointment. Which is a shame, because it started so well.
There are some of the usual Parker descriptions, characters, and sharp and witty observations – mainly in the first half; but for me, what little progression there actually is in the narrative happens so slowly, that I lost interest and nodded off a few times as it built to its great big anti-climactic end.
A minor spoiler in this paragraph. A big example of the anti-climax involves a henchman by the name of Harvey. He’s built as a real nasty piece of work. Now somewhere in the middle of the novel we have a big macho face to face between Spenser, Harvey (whom Spenser has already met), and Harvey’s tough-talking boss. Great stuff. You think Harvey’s going to get his comeuppance later in the novel in a big climactic showdown. But no. It oddly happens at night, there’s no face to face, no dialogue, so when Spenser blows his man away there’s no reaction to see or hear. What drama has been built up in a couple of previous meetings is completely thrown away in a nothing scene where the combatants are not even facing one another – it’s all very distanced and devoid of any emotion as Spenser gets rid of his irritant.
And I may not be popular for saying this, but the cutesy cutesy doggy stuff (that I’d read in previous novels and found funny) is by now starting to cloyingly grate. Enough!
This is number thirty-one of the forty Spenser novels Parker wrote. I’ll have a break now and return in a couple of months to read some more of Parker’s Sunny Randall books - the two of which I’ve read I both enjoyed.
Spenser investigates a twenty-eight year old murder.
Of all the Robert B. Parker books I’ve read I have to say that this one turned out to be the biggest disappointment. Which is a shame, because it started so well.
There are some of the usual Parker descriptions, characters, and sharp and witty observations – mainly in the first half; but for me, what little progression there actually is in the narrative happens so slowly, that I lost interest and nodded off a few times as it built to its great big anti-climactic end.
A minor spoiler in this paragraph. A big example of the anti-climax involves a henchman by the name of Harvey. He’s built as a real nasty piece of work. Now somewhere in the middle of the novel we have a big macho face to face between Spenser, Harvey (whom Spenser has already met), and Harvey’s tough-talking boss. Great stuff. You think Harvey’s going to get his comeuppance later in the novel in a big climactic showdown. But no. It oddly happens at night, there’s no face to face, no dialogue, so when Spenser blows his man away there’s no reaction to see or hear. What drama has been built up in a couple of previous meetings is completely thrown away in a nothing scene where the combatants are not even facing one another – it’s all very distanced and devoid of any emotion as Spenser gets rid of his irritant.
And I may not be popular for saying this, but the cutesy cutesy doggy stuff (that I’d read in previous novels and found funny) is by now starting to cloyingly grate. Enough!
This is number thirty-one of the forty Spenser novels Parker wrote. I’ll have a break now and return in a couple of months to read some more of Parker’s Sunny Randall books - the two of which I’ve read I both enjoyed.
July 16, 2017
Back Story by Robert B. Parker.
This Spenser story, published around 2003, ranks among my favorites.
Emily Gordon was killed during a bank robbery some 30 years ago. Daryl Gordon, Emily's daughter, enters Spenser's life with a heartfelt plea to find her mother's killer. There are less than a few clues to trace back to that fateful day. Security cameras never caught a glimpse of her and no one witnessed Emily being shot. To add to that list of non-clues the FBI report has been missing.
Spenser goes forward with this search for a killer that's never been held accountable for a murder committed those many years ago.
The hide and seek gun fight inside an arena had me glued to my seat with seat belt fastened. Terrific story with depth of characters. Well done to Joe Mantegna for his performance.
This Spenser story, published around 2003, ranks among my favorites.
Emily Gordon was killed during a bank robbery some 30 years ago. Daryl Gordon, Emily's daughter, enters Spenser's life with a heartfelt plea to find her mother's killer. There are less than a few clues to trace back to that fateful day. Security cameras never caught a glimpse of her and no one witnessed Emily being shot. To add to that list of non-clues the FBI report has been missing.
Spenser goes forward with this search for a killer that's never been held accountable for a murder committed those many years ago.
The hide and seek gun fight inside an arena had me glued to my seat with seat belt fastened. Terrific story with depth of characters. Well done to Joe Mantegna for his performance.
November 21, 2018
Spenser's sort-of son, Paul, introduces him to Daryl, an actress in one of Paul's plays. She has a hangup of her mother being killed - 28 years previously. Spenser and Hawk bump heads with the FBI, the CIA, and a local mobster.
I enjoyed the roller coaster of the mystery solving, with Spenser darting to the West coast and back, then back to the coast. I'm not a fan of the dogs in this series, Pearl I and Peal II, and not just because I'm a cat person.
I enjoyed the roller coaster of the mystery solving, with Spenser darting to the West coast and back, then back to the coast. I'm not a fan of the dogs in this series, Pearl I and Peal II, and not just because I'm a cat person.
April 21, 2018
Sometimes, I need to read a Spenser, so I remember how much fun reading can be.
March 4, 2018
BACK STORY by Robert B. Parker was published in 2003. Spenser is asked by Paul Giacomin to help his friend Daryl discover who killed her mother 28 years before. There was a bank heist and moms ended up dead but the case was never solved. The price to investigate, a six pack of donuts.
Classic Spenser and Hawk dialogue spiced with some violent action and many unpleasant truths revealed. Pearl the Wonder Dog has passed away before the opening of this story and we begin with a trip north in search of another that might replace the hole in both Susan and Spenser’s hearts.
The writing is simple and sparse, the dialog crackerjack, the action snappy and the story done so well that it seems as if anybody could write like this.
Try it several times and you will gain a greater appreciation for the skills of the late, great Mr. Parker.
Classic Spenser and Hawk dialogue spiced with some violent action and many unpleasant truths revealed. Pearl the Wonder Dog has passed away before the opening of this story and we begin with a trip north in search of another that might replace the hole in both Susan and Spenser’s hearts.
The writing is simple and sparse, the dialog crackerjack, the action snappy and the story done so well that it seems as if anybody could write like this.
Try it several times and you will gain a greater appreciation for the skills of the late, great Mr. Parker.
December 26, 2016
The big news in book #30 of the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker is the death of Pearl the Wonder Dog between book #29 and #30. Pearl wasn't getting along very well in the last book and at the beginning of this one we find out she left us. No worries though, Spenser and Susan get Pearl II.
The Back Story to Pearl's passing isn't too bad either. In fact it has a twist which I always enjoy.
Spenser is asked to investigate a murder that took place 28 years ago. Spenser's almost son Paul asks Spenser to help his friend Daryl to help find out who killed her mother, Emily Gordon when she was at a bank cashing traveler's checks nearly 3 decades ago. A bank robbery took place by a group called The Dread Scott Brigade.
Spenser does his investigation for 6 Krispie Kremes. Lots of Hawk. Shoot out at Harvard Stadium at the end. A look back at the hippie generation. Reminded me of the Patty Hearst saga which was happening about when Emily Gordon was killed at the bank.
One of the better Spenser stories.
The Back Story to Pearl's passing isn't too bad either. In fact it has a twist which I always enjoy.
Spenser is asked to investigate a murder that took place 28 years ago. Spenser's almost son Paul asks Spenser to help his friend Daryl to help find out who killed her mother, Emily Gordon when she was at a bank cashing traveler's checks nearly 3 decades ago. A bank robbery took place by a group called The Dread Scott Brigade.
Spenser does his investigation for 6 Krispie Kremes. Lots of Hawk. Shoot out at Harvard Stadium at the end. A look back at the hippie generation. Reminded me of the Patty Hearst saga which was happening about when Emily Gordon was killed at the bank.
One of the better Spenser stories.
September 21, 2024
Whoa 🤯 I finished my 30th Spenser book. I’ve read a few Jesse Stone books as well so when they had a cross over in this book that was quite interesting 🧐
First off.. naming the new puppy Pearl is creepy AF. You can never replace the old dog with a new dog. Susan is a sociopath and it makes senses she is a head shrinker as a profession. Ugh.
The back and forth with Hawk is what makes these books worth reading. This 28 year old crime was meh. There were a few surprises though. Which rarely happens in a formulaic plot but there it was…
This case was brought on my Paul’s coworker I guess we will call her Daryl. Her parentage was not great. It’s amazing she even became a fully fledged human tbh.
Of course Spenser solved it but at what cost. Hmmm.
First off.. naming the new puppy Pearl is creepy AF. You can never replace the old dog with a new dog. Susan is a sociopath and it makes senses she is a head shrinker as a profession. Ugh.
The back and forth with Hawk is what makes these books worth reading. This 28 year old crime was meh. There were a few surprises though. Which rarely happens in a formulaic plot but there it was…
This case was brought on my Paul’s coworker I guess we will call her Daryl. Her parentage was not great. It’s amazing she even became a fully fledged human tbh.
Of course Spenser solved it but at what cost. Hmmm.
February 7, 2016
The 30th Spenser book is one of the better late Spensers. He is approached by Paul Giacomin (his almost adopted son) and a friend (an actress in Paul's latest play) to solve the murder of the friend's mother twenty-eight years earlier. The woman was shot during a bank robbery by a self-styled revolutionary group, but no one was ever apprehended, despite the group's public claims at the time.
What draws Spenser's immediate interest is that there is a suppressed FBI intelligence report on the group that not even Spenser's law enforcement friends (or his friend, Iles, of the CIA) can obtain. Martin Quirk and the new FBI SAC tacitly encourage Spenser's investigation, but others do not. He is a target from the minute that he begins to poke around in the past. Several attempts are made on his life, all the work of a long-time crime lord named Karnofsky, who makes no secret of his involvement in the attempts. Backed by Hawk, and a bit by Vinnie Morris, Spenser makes the process of clipping him an expensive one. (There is one particularly good shoot-out in a stadium.) Spenser does some genuine detection, and the book ends satisfactorily. Susan is around, as is the replacement to Spenser and Susan's dog, Pearl (named Pearl II, of course), but she's not quite as irritating as sometimes.
NOTE: Susan has asked Spenser and Hawk if they ever get afraid about two dozen times in the series, just as she always asks about the meaning of manhood and the personal code by which Spenser lives. She hasn't gotten the message yet that hers are usually irrelevant questions. The early questioning made sense. The later questioning doesn't. Once Spenser and Hawk took the world apart to save her in "The Widening Gyre," Susan should have recognized that they were beyond easy understanding or quick fixing. I often miss Brenda Loring, Spenser's love involvement from the first two or three books.
The best line in the book refers to drinking a Martini: "It tasted like John Coltrane sounds."
What draws Spenser's immediate interest is that there is a suppressed FBI intelligence report on the group that not even Spenser's law enforcement friends (or his friend, Iles, of the CIA) can obtain. Martin Quirk and the new FBI SAC tacitly encourage Spenser's investigation, but others do not. He is a target from the minute that he begins to poke around in the past. Several attempts are made on his life, all the work of a long-time crime lord named Karnofsky, who makes no secret of his involvement in the attempts. Backed by Hawk, and a bit by Vinnie Morris, Spenser makes the process of clipping him an expensive one. (There is one particularly good shoot-out in a stadium.) Spenser does some genuine detection, and the book ends satisfactorily. Susan is around, as is the replacement to Spenser and Susan's dog, Pearl (named Pearl II, of course), but she's not quite as irritating as sometimes.
NOTE: Susan has asked Spenser and Hawk if they ever get afraid about two dozen times in the series, just as she always asks about the meaning of manhood and the personal code by which Spenser lives. She hasn't gotten the message yet that hers are usually irrelevant questions. The early questioning made sense. The later questioning doesn't. Once Spenser and Hawk took the world apart to save her in "The Widening Gyre," Susan should have recognized that they were beyond easy understanding or quick fixing. I often miss Brenda Loring, Spenser's love involvement from the first two or three books.
The best line in the book refers to drinking a Martini: "It tasted like John Coltrane sounds."
September 5, 2021
Entertaining listening 🔰😀
Another will written romantic thriller adventure mystery novel by Robert Parker book 30 in the series with the usual interesting will developed characters plus new bad 👎guys. The story line is set in Boston where Spenser is hired to solve a 28 year old and the fun begins. I would recommend this series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening 🔰2021
Another will written romantic thriller adventure mystery novel by Robert Parker book 30 in the series with the usual interesting will developed characters plus new bad 👎guys. The story line is set in Boston where Spenser is hired to solve a 28 year old and the fun begins. I would recommend this series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening 🔰2021
October 18, 2020
In this 30th book in the Spenser series, Spenser finds himself investigating a Boston bank robbery from 28 years earlier. A woman named Emily Gordon was killed in the bank during the robbery, but the identity of her killer has never been discovered. The woman’s daughter Daryl is a friend of Paul Giacomin, Spenser’s quasi-adopted son, so when Daryl asks Spenser to find out who killed her mother, he agrees, mostly as a favor to Paul. Spenser tells everyone that his fee is the half dozen Krispy Kreme donuts that Paul and Daryl brought to his office.
Spenser learns that a revolutionary group that called itself the “Dread Scott Brigade” (pun intended) committed the robbery. Emily was visiting Boston from California, and Daryl believes that she was an innocent victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
After Spenser talks to police captain Martin Quirk about the case, Quirk gives him access to the case file. Spenser finds that there are essentially no clues in the case. But something puzzles him: despite a reference to an FBI intelligence report, there is no such report in the file. Neither the police nor the FBI can tell him what happened to the report. Suspecting a coverup, Spenser goes to work. With a lot of help from Hawk and some help from friendly police and FBI sources, he tracks down Emily’s family members, friends, and acquaintances. Meanwhile, he receives death threats, and someone threatens Susan Silverman too. It becomes clear that there was in fact a coverup, and someone is not happy that Spenser is stirring things up.
Spenser is finding it difficult to put the facts together, but it doesn’t dampen his outlook, especially when he can make self-deprecating jokes with Hawk:
“‘If I weren’t a master detective,’ I said, ‘I’d be getting frustrated. ‘You been walking around all these years thinking you a master detective?’ Hawk said.… ‘I have been detecting the ass off of this thing now for what, two weeks? I know [he lists all the facts he knows] … ‘And you put all that together …’ Hawk said. ‘And you got squat,’ I said. ‘And several people trying to kill you.’ ‘Being a master detective has its downside,’ I said.”
And later, when they’re tracking a witness: “‘I’ll bet my reputation that he’s brought her home.’ ‘You got no reputation,’ Hawk said. ‘Okay, so it’s not a risky bet.’”
Humorous exchanges like this between Spenser and Hawk, as well as Spenser’s internal monologues, are a major reason why I enjoy the Spenser series. Some of those internal monologues showcase Spenser’s wit. When Spenser thinks about the fact that he has killed a number of people (all bad guys trying to kill him, of course) on college campuses, he jokes to himself: “‘If I shot anyone else on a college campus, I’d probably be eligible for tenure.’”
But Spenser also ponders the big questions, wondering whether his chosen work is worth it, given the killing it sometimes involves. Wondering what kind of man he is. When it comes to these questions, he usually turns to Susan Silverman for validation, and she always delivers. Spenser’s idealization of Susan is often annoying. Exhibit 1 in Back Story is his description of Susan’s “ineffable femaleness.” Thankfully, he just says this to the reader; he doesn’t say it out loud to Susan. I’d be willing to bet that even she would find it a bit much. But since Susan’s love keeps him going, and her insights are sometimes even helpful in his investigations, I guess I’ll have to cut him some slack.
Back Story is fast-moving and entertaining. Spenser is at the top of his game, and I enjoyed the cold-case plot, with its cultural references to hippies and revolutionaries in the 1960s and ’70s. Hawk is heavily involved in this one, which is always a plus, and Susan’s scenes are relatively limited, also a plus. As I work my way through the Spenser canon, I’m glad I’ve now read this one, and I’m looking forward to #31.
Spenser learns that a revolutionary group that called itself the “Dread Scott Brigade” (pun intended) committed the robbery. Emily was visiting Boston from California, and Daryl believes that she was an innocent victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
After Spenser talks to police captain Martin Quirk about the case, Quirk gives him access to the case file. Spenser finds that there are essentially no clues in the case. But something puzzles him: despite a reference to an FBI intelligence report, there is no such report in the file. Neither the police nor the FBI can tell him what happened to the report. Suspecting a coverup, Spenser goes to work. With a lot of help from Hawk and some help from friendly police and FBI sources, he tracks down Emily’s family members, friends, and acquaintances. Meanwhile, he receives death threats, and someone threatens Susan Silverman too. It becomes clear that there was in fact a coverup, and someone is not happy that Spenser is stirring things up.
Spenser is finding it difficult to put the facts together, but it doesn’t dampen his outlook, especially when he can make self-deprecating jokes with Hawk:
“‘If I weren’t a master detective,’ I said, ‘I’d be getting frustrated. ‘You been walking around all these years thinking you a master detective?’ Hawk said.… ‘I have been detecting the ass off of this thing now for what, two weeks? I know [he lists all the facts he knows] … ‘And you put all that together …’ Hawk said. ‘And you got squat,’ I said. ‘And several people trying to kill you.’ ‘Being a master detective has its downside,’ I said.”
And later, when they’re tracking a witness: “‘I’ll bet my reputation that he’s brought her home.’ ‘You got no reputation,’ Hawk said. ‘Okay, so it’s not a risky bet.’”
Humorous exchanges like this between Spenser and Hawk, as well as Spenser’s internal monologues, are a major reason why I enjoy the Spenser series. Some of those internal monologues showcase Spenser’s wit. When Spenser thinks about the fact that he has killed a number of people (all bad guys trying to kill him, of course) on college campuses, he jokes to himself: “‘If I shot anyone else on a college campus, I’d probably be eligible for tenure.’”
But Spenser also ponders the big questions, wondering whether his chosen work is worth it, given the killing it sometimes involves. Wondering what kind of man he is. When it comes to these questions, he usually turns to Susan Silverman for validation, and she always delivers. Spenser’s idealization of Susan is often annoying. Exhibit 1 in Back Story is his description of Susan’s “ineffable femaleness.” Thankfully, he just says this to the reader; he doesn’t say it out loud to Susan. I’d be willing to bet that even she would find it a bit much. But since Susan’s love keeps him going, and her insights are sometimes even helpful in his investigations, I guess I’ll have to cut him some slack.
Back Story is fast-moving and entertaining. Spenser is at the top of his game, and I enjoyed the cold-case plot, with its cultural references to hippies and revolutionaries in the 1960s and ’70s. Hawk is heavily involved in this one, which is always a plus, and Susan’s scenes are relatively limited, also a plus. As I work my way through the Spenser canon, I’m glad I’ve now read this one, and I’m looking forward to #31.
December 28, 2020
I listened to this audiobook. Spenser is a private eye in Boston. He is a boxer and a brawler. He is eloquent and coarse. He is sensitive and brutal. He is funny and deadly. In this book he is asked to look into the death of a woman 28 years ago. The woman’s daughter wants to know who shot her mother during a bank robbery in 1974. The case was never solved, but there are some things known about the bank heist. It involved a radical 70’s group calling itself The Dread Scott Brigade. The client was only 6 when her mother died at the bank. She moved from Boston to California to live with her hippie dad. Spenser has to dig up the past and quickly learns that a local gangster does not want him to work on the case. In fact, he tries to have Spenser killed multiple times. Why? Also, some FBI types also want him to back off. Why? Spenser turns to his best friend Hawk for protection and help unraveling the past. What he finds takes him to California and back. It takes him from his client’s strung out father, to the gangster’s daughter, who was in the Dread Scott Brigade. What he learns is certainly not what his client will want to know about her past. Spenser must weigh the things he has learned against the consequences of that knowledge not only to his client, but to him and his long time girlfriend Susan’s safety and security. I like these short books. Spenser and Hawk are a hoot. Good plot.
July 13, 2017
The 30th Spenser story? So this one is not that much different from the first. The only difference is a new dog. But there is the clever dialogue, the sexy innuendoes, the good cops that help him, the only thing I think was missing was a real physical fight. Spenser hits a guy hard and knocks around a druggie but there was not some super muscle body guard who gets taken out by Spenser. This was an old case, 28 years, with a group of hippie radicals robbing a bank, a woman in the group gets killed and nobody knows who shot her. The woman who was shot was supposed to be the mother of a young woman who wanted to find out how her mother died. The young woman's family tree suddenly explodes and nobody is who they were supposed to be. Father, Mother, Daughter are all missed named. Spenser does have to shoot about five people in this one. So he has a moral debate with himself about whether he is an ethical person. Susan, yes, Susan is in this as well, still the most fantastic woman ever born, assures him is a a good guy. It was a quick and easy beach read type book.
June 18, 2019
I am really enjoying reading these Spenser stories. They cover so much else while giving us a rip-roaring good mystery. There is stuff about adult relationships and racial relationships and our relationships with our past, the collective past and violence.
This mystery dips into the riotous Sixty's with hippies, free love and radical groups. So many people don't want Spenser to dig into what happened then. Spenser, being Spenser, just has to know both what the mystery solution is and why he's getting this pushback over something that happen 30 years ago, in the book's past. There may be no justice for the cold crime, but that happens often.
This mystery dips into the riotous Sixty's with hippies, free love and radical groups. So many people don't want Spenser to dig into what happened then. Spenser, being Spenser, just has to know both what the mystery solution is and why he's getting this pushback over something that happen 30 years ago, in the book's past. There may be no justice for the cold crime, but that happens often.
May 18, 2020
As a huge fan of the authors Jessie Stone series, I was compelled to read a Spenser story as I've accumulated quite a pile of Robert B Parker books. This is the first Spencer I've read. The drama starts out with Spencer agreeing to solve a 28 year old murder in exchange for some donuts. As the story unwinds we find Spencer involved with members of the mob, old hippie/anarchist groups, attempts on his life, and the usual detective novel stuff. Like one of Parker's other characters, Sunny Randall, Spencer has a sidekick named Hawk who assumes a similar role as Spike in the Sunny Randall books. As usual, there's some interaction with another of the authors characters, Jessie Stone, when Spencer and Hawk travel to Paradise where Jessie Stone is the Police Chief. The dialog uses some dry humor and like the Stone series, many short sentences with and easy relationship between the participants. If you're a fan of the Sunny Randall or Jessie Stone series, you will enjoy this book. Although there an obvious "back story" to the characters relationships: Spencer, Hawk, and Paul, which were probably established in prior books, this won't get in the way of the story.
March 14, 2017
You have Spenser, Hawk, Vinnie, Quirk and Paul, with maybe a little too much Susan, so all in all no surprises. However, it was enjoyable and if you are a fan of the series or you want to read the whole thing you're going to read it anyway. It shouldn't take you more than four or five hours so read it!
December 10, 2018
Vintage Robert Parker, the ultimate vacation reading. Plenty of action, witty dialogue, and philosophy. An unexpected treat is the intersection of beloved characters from another Parker series. In short, exactly what you would expect of a Spenser novel. Enjoy.
August 31, 2019
This story was just as enjoyable as all Robert B. Parker's books. I am still waiting for Buckskin comes out!
October 6, 2024
Some of the books seem to be a one day read. Fun but not a lot of depth. This is one of the better ones. Don’t get me wrong, Robert Parker’s worst Spenser book is better than most I read. Love his Spenser series.
August 9, 2025
A fun and quick read. Detective with a very sarcastic sidekick. Author jumps right into the murder mystery and stays on point the entire book. No fluff to fill the pages.
January 5, 2021
3.5 stars for great banter and repartee, mostly between Spenser and Hawk, also with Susan. Enjoyable audio; plot so-so and forgettable. I needed some light reading...
April 21, 2024
Paul asks Spenser to help a friend of his find out who killed who mother.
So like all other cases, Spenser goes all in and won’t let up until he figures everything out. The murder occurred during the hippy revolution. And California does play a part, naturally.
This book was OK. Wasn’t exceptional.
This is the 30th book of the series and sometimes I feel like I’ve read this book before. The mob going after Spenser and Hawk is a common theme. One I’m getting a little tired of.
Maybe there are just too many Spenser books and I’m getting bored.
The only light hearted aspect of this book was the new Pearl. I love dogs. I miss my dog and love to read about them.
So like all other cases, Spenser goes all in and won’t let up until he figures everything out. The murder occurred during the hippy revolution. And California does play a part, naturally.
This book was OK. Wasn’t exceptional.
This is the 30th book of the series and sometimes I feel like I’ve read this book before. The mob going after Spenser and Hawk is a common theme. One I’m getting a little tired of.
Maybe there are just too many Spenser books and I’m getting bored.
The only light hearted aspect of this book was the new Pearl. I love dogs. I miss my dog and love to read about them.
February 13, 2017
A friend of a friend offers Spenser 6 Krispy Kreme donuts in payment for investigating a cold case. He takes on the case, as the female client is a friend of Paul, a young man whom Spenser considers the closest he's had to a son, and he doesn't really need the money. The young woman wants to know who shot her mother to death in a bank heist in 1974. She ran with a bad crowd, and was a loose hippie-type. She wasn't even close to being a good mother, so why the daughter even cared where the shot came from, one wonders. But if you know Spenser, he's bound to find out, even after the daughter doesn't want to know anymore about her convoluted family and tells him to stop the investigation.
Spenser doesn't, as now HE wants to know, and sidekick Hawk goes along like he always does, using his street smarts and contacts of "brothers" most of them gang bangers, to get information from people of the era who may know something.
I rate this one lower than most, 2.5 stars maybe. I just didn't care for any of the characters of the plot he was investigating, even the ones trying to help Spenser. The ebonics drove me crazy. These street gang bangers are black, and spelling of all their slang is phonetically presented in the novel. I just found it distracting, and the hip-hop slang and foul language got on my nerves after awhile.
By the end of the novel, like Spenser's client, I really didn't care who had shot her mother back in the day.
Spenser doesn't, as now HE wants to know, and sidekick Hawk goes along like he always does, using his street smarts and contacts of "brothers" most of them gang bangers, to get information from people of the era who may know something.
I rate this one lower than most, 2.5 stars maybe. I just didn't care for any of the characters of the plot he was investigating, even the ones trying to help Spenser. The ebonics drove me crazy. These street gang bangers are black, and spelling of all their slang is phonetically presented in the novel. I just found it distracting, and the hip-hop slang and foul language got on my nerves after awhile.
By the end of the novel, like Spenser's client, I really didn't care who had shot her mother back in the day.
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