Robert Parker in the 21st Century

9/17/1932-1/18/2010

 

Robert Brown Parker died on January 18, 2010. Several subsequent books bearing his name were penned by others, but these three were by Parker. I enjoyed his 21^st century output, but I detected a falling off. Part of what made Spenser tick was his inner battle between insouciance, libido, and his boxing days swagger versus his erudition, better angels, loyalty, and devotion to Susan Silverman. If you reckon that he and Susan were in their twenties when they meet in the 1974 novel God Save the Child, they’d be in the 60s when Parker died. Granted it’s fiction, but when you follow characters across decades, certain illusions grow harder to sustain. Try these three and see if you agree.

 

 

 

As in many Spenser novels, Bad Business (2004) begins with a woman. This time it’s Marlene Crowley whose husband Trent is the CFO for Kinergy, a high-powered company trading in energy and systems. Marlene thinks Trent is cheating on her and she wants Spenser to spy, catch, and let her decide on whether to release. This is sleazy business for PIs, but it gets weirder when he has to bluff his way past lawyers to get started and finds that he is being shadowed by two other PIs. Spenser suspects Trent might be too much of a workaholic to be burning the candle at both ends, but there’s nothing like an office murder, stonewalling, and a seductive company spokeswoman to draw him in. Into what? You might recall that the 1990s and early 2000s saw stock watering, banking and telecom scandals, and two scams in the energy business: Enron and Pacific Gas and Electric. Alas, Bad Business pretty much sums what has become standard these days. Parker no doubt mined the news for this one. Like his character Spenser, Parker also liked to lampoon insipid trends. In Bad Business radio talk shows and love-the-one-you’re-with sex therapy are pricked with the lampoon lance. 

 

 

Parker returned to current events in School Days (2005). What could be more common than blowing away school children with big guns? How else are we going to keep the balloon and Teddy bear industry in business? Sorry, that was me channeling Spenserian snark. In this case two teens slaughter seven in a tony private school located in “Dowling,” a wealthy community west of Boston (Wellesley? Weston?). They were apprehended and have confessed. Lily Ellsworth insists her grandson Wendell Grant is innocent and was bullied by codefendant Jared Clarke. Even Wendell’s parents are sure he’s guilty, but the wealthy Ellsworth is willing to spend whatever it takes to clear Wendell’s name. Only someone as stubborn as Spenser would take such a case. The thing that bothers him isn’t the “what” (the shootings); it’s the “how.” How did two 17-year-old suburban kids get their hands on the arsenal they had at their disposal? How did Wendell even know how to use such weapons? The act of asking such questions makes Spenser as popular as Ted Bundy in a suburban town drowning in shock and yearning to heal. Spenser’s not getting a whole lot of cooperation–from anyone. Wendell is practically silent and the creepy Jared is proof that nature sometimes trounces nurture. Spenser plays a game of follow the guns and drags out his own arsenal–of literary allusions.

 

 

The Professional (2009) came out the year before Parker died. I’d have to call this one an amusing but silly mystery. The namesake “pro” is Gary Eisenhower, who specializes  in having sex with women he meets at an upscale health club then blackmailing them. Yet his “victims” both adore and desire Gary, despite his demands for major hush money. He’s funny, great in the sack, offers diversion for wealthy women, and never physically coerces them. Some of Spenser’s buddies tell him that it’s unlikely Gary can be charged given that those doing with whom he’s doing the nasty won’t testify against him. After all, they don’t want their husbands to know they’ve been unfaithful, nor do they want to stop sleeping with him. Four rich women employ a law firm to hire Spenser to get Gary to stop blackmailing them. Even Spenser kind of likes the happy-go-lucky lug. How to stop him? Only one woman ever testified against Gary, the president of a woman’s college in Western Massachusetts. (Let the speculation begin!) She gives Spenser insight and Susan shows off her psych Ph.D. to provide more. Several of the complainants  are murdered, but Spenser knows Gary wasn’t the one who did it. So who did and why? Aside from the murders, this one could be called “Giggling with Gigolos.” Fun, but decidedly lightweight.

 

Rob Weir