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Robert B. Parker Has Died at 77January 19th, 2010 |
As many of you know, I read plenty of detective novels. Today the news comes to me that Robert B. Parker has died.
He of course, wrote all the Spenser novels (which became the TV show with Robert Urich), the Jesse Stone novels (which became the TV movies starring Tom Selleck), the Sunny Randall novels, a bunch of excellent standalone books, and recently a few Westerns — Appaloosa was filmed with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen in a remarkably faithful adaptation now on DVD, and he sequeled it a bit ago with Resolution.
Parker was a spare writer. His later work is almost exclusively dialogue. When I would read a Spenser novel, I would usually end up forcing a passage on my wife as an example of “here’s how to do it.” His economy managed to get across enormous emotional content, and his last books were way beyond being pulp.
Luckily for me, I have a huge backlog of Parker books I have never read. I may go on a shopping spree, because I’m going to miss him.
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I want to thank my grade school art teacher for suggesting I read Spenser novels. Many years after graduating, she saw me in the town library with my kids, and suggested “Looking for Rachel Wallace” and “Early Autumn”; I was hooked. After reading Spenser novels, I realized why I married the man I did. He is my Spenser!! To Joan, David and Daniel, peace be with you during this sad time.
Susan and Mark
PS: thank you Mrs Methe.
Whoa! I hadn’t heard.
So has Kate McGarrigle. She may be before your time but a genunine loss.
As with many series authors, Parker appeared to lose his touch after an early golden period — during his “Looking for Rachel Wallace” and “Ceremony”, though YMMV — but then, after pale imitations along the lines of “Pale Kings and Horses”, he re-captured his writing mojo in later career. What makes this accomplishment particularly impressive is that he continued to pump out books with near-metronomic efficiency — more than one per year — and diversified his writing to a couple of distinct non-Spenser protagonists and into another genre.
I was as startled by the information that Parker was 77 as I was by the news of his death: his author photo apparently had great powers of persuasion.
Along with Elmore Leonard and perhaps Gregory MacDonald (the “Fletch” series), Parker was a modern master of dialogue in crime fiction. His passing is a loss for those of who followed him through his career, and for the many people who will have the good fortune to discover his novels in years to come.
Very sad news. Even sadder, I’ve read most of them. Still a few Spenser’s left and not touched the westerns.
The good part is they are about the most re-readable books ever.