Robert B. Parker

Mystery writer Robert B. Parker has died at age 77. Parker wrote over 60 books, including 37 novels about a Boston P.I. named Spenser. I started reading Spenser books in high school and I've read almost all of them; Parker's writing gets more mannered as the years go by but there's a wonderful humor and a sense of knowing what to expect from the characters. The Ed Harris Western Appaloosa was also based on a Parker novel. My favorite entries in the Spenser series are here, here, and here.

It was Spenser, though — spelled “like the poet,” as the character was wont to point out (his first name was never revealed) — who was Mr. Parker’s signature creation. He appeared for the first time in 1973 in “The Godwulf Manuscript,” in which he is hired by a university to retrieve a stolen medieval document, an investigation that triggers a murder. The first pages of the book revealed much of what readers came to love about Spenser — his impatience with pomposity, his smart-alecky wit, his self-awareness and supreme self-confidence.

“Look, Dr. Forbes,” Spenser says to the long-winded college president who is hiring him. “I went to college once. I don’t wear my hat indoors. And if a clue comes along and bites me on the ankle, I grab it. I am not, however, an Oxford don. I am a private detective. Is there something you’d like me to detect, or are you just polishing up your elocution for next year’s commencement?”