Back Story: A Spenser Novel by Robert B. Parker

Back Story: A Spenser Novel by Robert B. Parker

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Hardcover (Large Print)

Amazon.com
In this 30th entry in one of mystery fiction's longest-running and best-loved series, Spenser--the tough yet sensitive Boston private eye with no first name--takes on an unsolved murder nearly three decades old. The client, an actress, is a friend of Paul Giacomin, Spenser's surrogate son (who first appeared in 1981's Early Autumn). Her mother was slain by leftist radicals at a bank holdup in 1974, and now she wants to know who fired the shot. As Spenser digs into the past, he soon learns that powerful people on both sides of the law want the case left alone--badly enough to kill.

These death threats provide a fine excuse for Hawk, Spenser's extremely scary (yet sensitive) bad-guy pal, to tag along in nearly every scene as bodyguard. The interaction of the two friends is one of this series's familiar pleasures, as is the presence of Susan Silverman, Spenser's longtime love interest. Another pleasure is Parker's stripped-down prose, a marvel of craftsmanship as smooth as 18-year-old Scotch. (Plus we get the first meeting between Spenser and Jesse Stone, hero of another Parker series.) Alas, the whole enterprise feels a little tired. The plot never generates much sustained suspense, and the author's adoration for his central characters renders them at times almost cartoonesque. Still, Back Story is excellently prepared comfort food, even if it isn't five-star cuisine. --Nicholas H. Allison



Reader Reviews
Mistaken Identity, September 6, 2003 Reviewer: Mary E. Sibley from Carneys Point, NJ USA The cold case is a homicide in a bank robbery dating from 1974. Spenser gets to see the police file. He interviews the retired police officer who headed the investigation. There is a missing FBI report in the file but the officer doesn't know anyting about it it is claimed. In the course of running down leads, Spenser encounters a situation where a group of men wants to kill him. Spenser tells Susan who in turn tells Hawk. Hawk says they have to go to the mattresses. It isn't clear where the threat is coming from. Hawk and Spenser wonder how the mob could possibly be connected. It is strange that anyone would need to cover-up a twenty-eight year old murder. The two men decide to leave Boston and go to San Diego. The investigation starts to veer into the daughter of a mobster who was a class mate of the murdered woman. Interestingly, and this is the the 1960's, the daughter of the mobster was into causes of every kind. Eventually the client does not want to know anything additional about the case after things have taken a rather sordid turn. Nevertheless, Spenser and Hawk do manage to sift down and shoot down the truth. The books is of interest mainly as a demonstration of how an investigation might proceed with so few leads. When the two men travel to the West Coast they are, in a manner of speaking, on a fishing expedition.