FFB: EARLY AUTUMN (1980) by Robert B. Parker

This is a readjustment of a post from November, 2010. I thought it was time to talk about my favorite Robert Parker book once again. 

EARLY AUTUMN is an early Spenser book by Parker (the seventh in the series), published in 1980. It is also my favorite. Though I've enjoyed most of the Spenser books, this one remains at the top of the heap for me. I'm also extremely fond of its sequel PAST TIME, written several years and many other Spenser adventures later. But that's a talk for another day. Today I'm, once again, sharing my enthusiasm for EARLY AUTUMN and hoping to get you to read it if you haven't.

The urban renewers had struck again. They'd evicted me, a fortune teller, and a bookie from the corner of Mass. Ave. and Boylston, moved in with sandblasters and bleached oak and plant hangers, and last I looked appeared to be turning the place into a Marin County whorehouse. I moved down Boylston Street to the corner of Berkeley, second floor. I was half a block from Brooks Brothers and right over a bank. I felt at home. In the bank they did the same kind of stuff the fortune-teller and the bookie had done. But they dressed better.

From this beginning, you know what you're in for. The kind of hip, wise-ass detective story where a client sashays into Spenser's office, they trade a few quips and within a few pages you're off and running on another tale of Boston murder and tough guy aphorisms - and you'd be right.

Except it turns out that, as the paperback blurb for Early Autumn says, "Spenser's most personal case begins here..." Oh, the case starts out with a dishy blonde hiring Spenser to do a job - no problem, but then the job turns into something Spenser and possibly, the reader, could never have anticipated.

I like this summary from my Dell paperback: A bitter divorce is only the beginning. First the father hires thugs to kidnap his son. Then the mother hires Spenser to get the boy back. But as soon as Spenser senses the lay of the land, he decides to do some kidnapping of his own. With a contract out on his life, he heads for the Maine woods, determined to give a puny fifteen-year-old a crash course in survival and to beat his dangerous opponents at their own brutal game.

The lay of the land is this: Neither the mother nor the father have any time or affection for this unhappy kid. He is merely a pawn in their divorce battles. The boy, Paul Giacomin, is withdrawn and uncommunicative, a geek in the worse sense of the word - a boy who, at fifteen, seems destined to be cast aside by life.

Against his self-centered girlfriend (and you know how we don't like her even one little bit) Susan Silverman's wishes, Spenser decides to do something about Paul before it's too late. (And by the way, this is one of the Spenser books which shows us why very few people like the character of Susan Silverman and only put up with her because Spenser, for whatever reason, loves her.) Her behavior is kind of odd really because Susan is a psychologist, you'd think someone in that profession would be eager to help a kid in obvious trouble. But I digress...

The point is: Spenser steps in and saves the day. But it's how he actually goes about it that makes this book so damned entertaining, enlightening and even moving. In a way that's hard to define, EARLY AUTUMN is more than a mere detective story, it's a primer on how to turn a troubled teenager into a good and reasonable young man.

Of course, there's violence and brutality and a murder or two, but this is to be expected in a Spenser tale. It's the other story going on, the saving of Paul Giacomin that makes this book so special. This is a book to be read in one evening if you like since it's the sort of thing that's hard to put down until the finale which is both satisfying and brilliantly realized.

In certain ways, (I'm sure you'll recognize what I mean) it wouldn't hurt for any adult with a teenage boy in his or her life, to read Early Autumn and perhaps learn a thing or two from, yes, an action-filled private eye book in a genre not known for its child-rearing wisdom.

It's hard not to love this book (and Spenser) and I recommend it even if you are still not a serious fan of the mystery/thriller persuasion.

Robert B. Parker's Fantastic Fiction page has all the titles of all the books in all the series.

And since it's Friday, don't forget to check in at Patti Abbott's blog, Pattinase, to see what other Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books other bloggers are talking about today.

Review: Robert B. Parker's LULLABY - A Spenser novel by ACE ATKINS

Now normally (as I like to say) I'm not really happy with the idea of keeping a main series character alive (especially one as well known and liked as Spenser the Boston touch guy, private eye) once the original author has passed away as happened with Robert B. Parker in 2010.

But of course there are always exceptions to any rule. For instance, Sherlock Holmes. I'm currently reading GARMENT OF SHADOWS by Laurie R. King in which Holmes is still going strong these many books along in an excellent series which occasionally borders on genius.

I'd read all of the Spenser books over the years and decided to see what Ace Atkins - another favorite author of mine - would do with the rugged and very individualistic Boston P.I.

I was surprised when Ace was chosen by the Parker estate to continue writing the Spenser books simply because Ace is from the South (currently lives in Mississippi) and the Spenser books are So Boston centered.

But I needn't have worried. Ace has managed to do the practically impossible: he has kept Spenser alive, not to mention Hawk and the rest of Spenser's retinue. It helps enormously that Ace is as good a writer as Robert B. Parker was and while he doesn't copy Parker, Ace still manages the flavor of the first person narrative. (I'd thought he'd have to go to the third person.) Ace 'gets' the flavor of Boston, the tone of Spenser's quips, his byplay with us, with Rita Fiori, with Hawk, with Susan and with the world in general. It's not an easy thing, but Ace Atkins has managed to do the almost impossible. I admit I was taken aback by how good LULLABY is. And no I don't think Ace has sold his soul to the devil.

Ace still continues to write his own wonderful books in his own wonderful voice: thrillers and dark, broody crime fiction. And there might even be a future television series in the works based on Ace's current series of books set in Mississippi and featuring ex-Army Ranger, Quinn Colson.

LULLABY - The Plot:

When a young, street-wise girl asks Spenser to look into her mother's murder - a crime for which a  low-life pal has already been tried and convicted - the private eye isn't sure there's much he can do.  But Mattie Sullivan, fourteen, street-wise, growing up in a 'Southie' project, left in charge of two siblings and an alcoholic grandmother isn't taking 'no' for an answer. She is determined that Spenser find the real killer. Spenser is won over by the wise-cracking Mattie (there's something about her that reminds him of him) and brings Hawk along for the bumpy, murderous ride.

I'll be reading the next Spenser written by Ace Atkins - for sure. WONDERLAND, due out in May of 2013.

This is proof positive why you should never say 'Never' - you're bound to have to eat your words.

Friday's Forgotten Books: SMALL VICES (1997) by Robert B. Parker

Today is Forgotten Book Friday (as usual) - my choice this week is SMALL VICES by Robert B. Parker. (Don't forget to head on over to PATINASE, Patti Abbott's blog to see what other forgotten books other bloggers are buzzing about.)

Boston private eye and general all-purpose tough-guy, Spenser (That's Spenser with an S - like the English poet) is drawn into an investigation at the request of old friend, Rita Fiore - once a lowly public defender now a hotshot at a prestigious private firm. Rita has qualms about a four year old case in which she did her inexperienced best but her client, a low-life named Ellis Alves, was convicted of the murder of Melissa Henderson, a college coed found strangled on campus.

Even though the thoroughly reprehensible Ellis Alves is/was the sort who deserves to be in prison for other crimes committed, Rita suspects he was not guilty of murder. She wants Spenser to relieve her guilt and possibly help right a miscarriage of justice.

When Spenser begins poking around asking questions, it becomes apparent to him that the two main witnesses to the crime are hiding something (or at the very least are behaving strangely), not only that but the cop involved in the original investigation is acting as if he, too, has something to hide - though maybe that's just incompetence, prejudice and shoddy detective work.

The thing is, Ellis Alves is a black man with a record and Melissa Henderson was a white girl with well-to-do parents, so everyone assumes Alves was guilty as hell and why doesn't Spenser just go away and let them all get on with their lives.

It also turns out that Melissa Henderson had a yuppy boyfriend who was never interviewed in the original case - a young man with an attitude and very, very rich parents. (That the boyfriend is a light-skinned African American adopted by white parents adds a unique twist to the mix.)

Spenser is the sort who, once he gets his teeth into something, just doesn't let go - kind of like a pit bull. It is what makes him such a relentless investigator. Eventually, he comes to believe that Ellis Alves was framed though there isn't any proof, just a working theory.

Within days the word is out that someone has hired an out-of-town hit man to take Spenser out. Obviously, Spenser has stepped on some sensitive toes.

This is the book in which we first meet the so-called 'gray man', a professional killer with no emotion, no remorse and no redeeming social qualities. He will turn up again in one of Parker's last books, ROUGH WEATHER, one of his best.

I can't say much more without giving away a couple of major plot points which help make SMALL VICES a stand-out in the long-running Spenser series. This is my second (or maybe third) time reading it and it still holds up as well as the first.

Though I'm not a fan of Susan Silverman, Spenser's girl-friend (boy is she hard to take), she isn't as obnoxious as usual in this book. Hawk (Spenser's close and very dangerous friend) is on the spot as back-up as well as Vinnie (a bad guy who works for the local crime boss - both men who happen to respect Spenser) and a couple of Spenser's cop friends who rally round when he and Susan are threatened. Last but certainly not least are the many quips and Spenser-isms we've all come to love and expect.

This is top-notch Spenser, the late Mr. Parker writing at his very best.

My Favorite Reads: EARLY AUTUMN by Robert B. Parker

Early Autumn is an early Spenser book by Parker, written in 1981. It is also my favorite. Though I've loved many of the Spenser books, this one remains at the top of the heap for me. I'm also extremely fond of its sequel Past Time, written several years and many other adventures later. But that's a talk for another day. Let's concentrate today on the task at hand: sharing my enthusiasm for Early Autumn and getting you to read it if you haven't.

The urban renewers had struck again. They'd evicted me, a fortune teller, and a bookie from the corner of Mass. Ave. and Boylston, moved in with sandblasters and bleached oak and plant hangers, and last I looked appeared to be turning the place into a Marin County whorehouse. I moved down Boylston Street to the corner of Berkeley, second floor. I was half a block from Brooks Brothers and right over a bank. I felt at home. In the bank they did the same kind of stuff the fortune-teller and the bookie had done. But they dressed better.

From this beginning, you know what you're in for. A kind of hip, wise-ass detective story where a client sashays into Spenser's office, they trade a few quips and within a few pages you're off and running on another tale of Boston murder and tough guy aphorisms - and you'd be right.

Except it turns out that, as the paperback blurb for Early Autumn says, "Spenser's most personal case begins here..." You'd be right and wrong. Oh, the case starts out with a dishy blonde hiring Spenser to do a job - no problem, but then the job turns into something Spenser and possibly, the reader, could never have anticipated.

It's been a while since I read Early Autumn (I've read it several times over the years.) so I think I'll use the summary from the Dell paperback - it's a good one: A bitter divorce is only the beginning. First the father hires thugs to kidnap his son. Then the mother hires Spenser to get the boy back. But as soon as Spenser senses the lay of the land, he decides to do some kidnapping of his own. With a contract out on his life, he heads for the Maine woods, determined to give a puny fifteen-year-old a crash course in survival and to beat his dangerous opponents at their own brutal game.

The lay of the land is this: Neither the mother nor the father have any time or affection for this kid. He is merely a pawn in their divorce wars. The boy, Paul Giacomin, is withdrawn and uncommunicative, a geek in the worse sense of the word - a boy who, at fifteen, seems destined to be cast aside by life.

Spenser, against his self-centered girlfriend Susan Silverman's wishes, decides to do something about Paul before it's too late. (And by the way, this is one of the books that shows us why very few people like the character of Susan Silverman and only put up with her because Spenser, for whatever reason, loves her.) It's kind of odd really because Susan is a psychologist, you'd think someone in that profession would be eager to help a kid in obvious trouble. But I digress...

The point is: Spenser steps in and saves the day. But it's how he actually goes about it that makes this book so damned entertaining and enlightening. In a way that's hard to define, this is more than a mere detective story, it's a primer on how to turn a troubled teenager into a good and reasonable young man.

Of course, there's violence and brutality and a murder or two, but this is to be expected in a Spenser tale. It's the other story going on, the saving of Paul Giacomin that really holds your interest until it winds its way to a finale that is both satisfying and brilliantly realized.

In certain ways, (I'm sure you'll recognize what I mean) it wouldn't hurt for any adult with a teenage boy in his or her life, to read Early Autumn and perhaps learn a thing or two from, yes, an action-filled private eye book in a genre not known for its child-rearing capabilities.

It's hard not to love this book (and Spenser) and I recommend it even if you are not a serious fan of the mystery/thriller persuasion.