"Robert B. Parker has taken his place beside Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald".-The Boston Globe. *** This is the first Spenser book. Spenser is hired by a local university to recover a rare stolen manuscript and along the way gets embroiled with campus politics and murder

Spenser is back again — as tough and resilient as he was in pursuit of the Godwulf Manuscript. This time the stakes are higher; he is searching for more than a manuscript. Fifteen-year-old Kevin Bartlett has disappeared from his home in the pleasant, affluent Boston suburb of Smithfield. His parents are convinced that he has been kidnaped. Spenser is not so sure. Pressed between the frantic parents demanding action and the irate police chief warning him to keep off the grass, Spenser goes his independent way. The note demanding ransom and the telephone message that follows it confirm his conviction that all is not what it seems. By biding his time and tracking down some rather eerie clues, he solves the mystery, but not before there has been death and a fight with Goliath. Through all these complications, Spenser must battle the Smithfield police as well as the criminals and fend off the amorous advances of the alcoholic Mrs. Bartlett. But the case offers certain compensations — notably, Susan, beautiful, intelligent, and as discriminating a gourmet as Spenser himself

This is the fifth of Parker’s novels about private-eye Spenser, whom the New York Times Book Review calls “the next best thing to Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin,” and Parker fans will be glad to know it is definitely not the last. In this fast-paced tale Spenser is hired by a millionaire industrialist to get the terrorists, alive or dead, who bombed a London restaurant, killing his wife and daughters and crippling him. The chase starts in London where Spenser quickly realizes that he will need the help of his old friend Hawk, the engagingly cool black of doubtful reputation who was his adversary but savior in Promised Land. It is Spenser (and Parker)at his stylish best in a pursuit that leads to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and eventually to the Olympic Games at Montreal and a violently satisfying climax. As with Parker’s earlier books, the crackling dialogue and careful characterization add a crucially important dimension to the genre

Hired as security man for Alexander's election campaign, Spenser checks out blackmail concerning the politician's wife. Aided by sidekick Hawk, and surrogate son Paul Giacomin, he is sucked into political ambition, corruption, violence, and the truth about his relationship with Susan Silverman

A reporter who was prying into the cocaine trade in the central Massachusetts town of Wheaton has been murdered, and Spenser is called in to investigate. When he’s rebuffed by the police and threatened by a Colombian produce dealer who may be the cocaine kingpin, it’s apparent that Wheaton isn’t just another small town, but a major center for the cocaine trade in the Northeast. As Spenser digs deeper for evidence, he meets three women on whom the case seems to turn: Emmy Esteva, the wife of the reputed cocaine kingpin; Juanita Olmos, a young woman who’d been involved with the murdered reporter; and Caroline Rogers, the wife of the Wheaton Police Chief. After another murder is committed and an attempt is made on Spenser’s life, he turns for help to Hawk, whose special skills keep them all alive, and to Susan, whose psychological insights are more and more necessary as the chase moves away from cocaine and appears to hinge more on older and more basic problems — jealousy, passion, and hate. Pale Kings and Princes, the fourteenth Spenser novel, takes us into the cutthroat, multibillion-dollar cocaine business, where drugs are valued above all and human life is frighteningly dispensable

Spenser dies — and lives to tell the tale — in Robert B. Parker’s stunning new bestseller. “Spenser proves himself once more a modern-day knight in shining armor,” cheered Publishers Weekly of Robert B. Parker’s most recent New York Times bestseller, Chance. And, said The New York Times Book Review, “Parker’s stouthearted hero proves that he is still as tough and manly as they come, and more principled than ever." With Small Vices, Parker adds another masterpiece to the private-eye canon, a novel that is both galvanizing action-suspense and a complex meditation on morality and mortality, as Spenser’s very future hangs in the balance. Ellis Alves is a bad kid from the ’hood with a long, long record, but did he really murder Melissa Henderson, a white coed from ritzy Pemberton College? Alves’s former lawyers think he was framed, and they hire Spenser to uncover the truth. As he and longtime associate Hawk race front the back streets of Boston to Manhattan’s most elegant avenues, Spenser gets a postgraduate course in the seamy side of life — an ethical no-man’s-land where twisted cops and spoiled rich kids with peculiar private proclivities are just the tip of the iceberg. The stakes abruptly shift from corruption to catastrophe when a master assassin’s bullets take Spenser down. He survives the attack — barely — but must play dead to the world, while recovering his strength hiding in secret. Only then can he see justice done — and let the shooter know that it’s payback time. Wonderfully wry and powerfully affecting, Small Vices is a splendid showcase for Robert B. Parker’s prodigious talents

April Kyle, the damsel in distress that Spenser rescued in two earlier books, Ceremony (1982) and Taming a Sea Horse (1986), again turns to the iconic Boston PI for help in the 34th entry in Parker's popular series. Cynical yet romantic, Spenser easily handles the immediate threat of some men trying to muscle in on the high-class Boston whorehouse April is running. Unfortunately, that isn't the real problem, and Spenser without much surprise finds that April, the thugs and everyone else involved is lying to him. Instead of walking away, Spenser continues to probe, following trails that lead to New York, a con artist, mob connections and other complications. This is vintage Parker, with Spenser exchanging witty dialogue with the faithful Hawk, sexy dialogue with his beloved Susan and smart-alecky dialogue with cops and villains. The old pros can make it look easy, and that goes for both the author and his hero as they deliver the goods smoothly and with inimitable style

A hurricane hinders a kidnapping and Spenser goes on a search for the man responsible – the infamous Gray Man, who has both helped and hunted Spenser in the past. Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected – and she needs Spenser's help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego. The reason? To attend her daughter's wedding as a sort of stand-in husband and protector. Spenser consents, but only after it is established that his beloved Susan Silverman will also be in attendance. It should be a straightforward job for Spenser: show up for appearances, have some drinks, and spend some quality time with Susan. But when Spenser's old nemesis Rugar – the Gray Man – arrives, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. A storm, a kidnapping, and murder tear apart what should be a joyous occasion, and Rugar is seemingly at the center of it all. The only thing is that the sloppy kidnapping is not Rugar's style – as Spenser knows from past encounters. With six dead bodies and more questions than he can process, Spenser begins a search for answers – and the Gray Man. With its razor-sharp dialogue, crisply etched characters, and high-wire narrative tension, Rough Weather once again proves that 'Robert B. Parker is a force of nature

A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw Cartwright, and over the years she's developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. However, these rich wives have a mutual secret: they've all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower – and now he's blackmailing them for money. Shaw hires Spenser to make Eisenhower 'cease and desist,' so to speak, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment goes from blackmail to murder. As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering some input by analyzing Eisenhower's behavior patterns in hopes of opening up a new avenue of investigation. It seems that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin. With its eloquently spare prose and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, The Professional is further proof that '[t]here's hardly an author in the crime novel business like Parker' (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Called upon by the Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange — money for a stolen painting. The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and is unable to recover the valuable painting. Convinced that Ashton Prince played a bigger role than just ransom delivery boy, Spenser enters into a daring game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. But this is a game he might not come out of alive... Completed the year before the author passed away, Painted Ladies is Spenser and Robert B. Parker at their electrifying best

THE LAST SPENSER NOVEL COMPLETED BY ROBERT B. PARKER　 With Sixkill, the thirty-ninth novel in the venerable, bestselling Spenser series, the Boston P.I. meets Zebulon Sixkill, a young man whose lack of discipline is more than made up for by his quick way with a gun. Though this is the last Spenser novel Parker completed, readers will rejoice to find the tough-but-tender gumshoe at his roguish, crime-stopping best. On location in Boston, bad-boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. The situation doesn't look good for Jumbo, whose appetites for food, booze, and sex are as outsized as his name. He was the studio's biggest star, but he's become their biggest liability. In the course of the investigation, Spenser encounters Jumbo's bodyguard: a young, former football-playing Native American named Zebulon Sixkill. Sixkill acts tough, but Spenser sees something more within the young man. Despite the odd circumstances, the two forge an unlikely alliance, with Spenser serving as mentor for Sixkill. As the case grows darker and secrets about both Jumbo and the dead girl come to light, it's Spenser — with Sixkill at his side — who must put things right

**P.I. Spenser, knight-errant of the Back Bay, returns in this stellar addition to the iconic *New York Times* –bestselling series from author Ace Atkins.** What started out as a joke landed seventeen-year-old Dillon Yates in a lockdown juvenile facility in Boston Harbor. When he set up a prank Twitter account for his vice principal, he never dreamed he could be brought up on criminal charges, but that’s exactly what happened. This is Blackburn, Massachusetts, where zero tolerance for minors is a way of life. Leading the movement is tough-as-nails Judge Joe Scali, who gives speeches about getting tough on today’s wild youth. But Dillon’s mother, who knows other Blackburn kids who are doing hard time for minor infractions, isn’t buying Scali’s line. She hires Spenser to find the truth behind the draconian sentencing. From the Harbor Islands to a gated Florida community, Spenser and trusted ally Hawk follow a trail through the Boston underworld with links to a shadowy corporation that runs New England’s private prisons. They eventually uncover a culture of corruption and cover-ups in the old mill town, where hundreds of kids are sent off to for-profit juvie jails. ### Review “Atkins does a wonderful job with the characters created by Parker. To loyalists it may be heresy, but a case can be made for the Atkins novels being better than some of the last Spenser mysteries penned by Parker. A top-notch thriller.”— *Booklist* (starred) “It's great to see Spenser tackle a social evil with its roots in real life.”— *Kirkus* “A topical plot line propels bestseller Atkins’s engrossing fourth Spenser novel…Once again, Atkins has done a splendid job of capturing the voice of the late Robert B. Parker.”— *Publishers Weekly* ### About the Author **Ace Atkins** is the Edgar-nominated author of seventeen books, including five books in the Quinn Colson series *.* Selected by the Robert B. Parker estate to continue the Spenser novels, he has also written *Robert. B. Parker’s Lullaby* , *Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland,* and *Robert B. Parker’s Cheap Shot,* all of which were *New York Times* bestsellers. Atkins lives in Oxford, Mississippi