Spenser

Created by Robert B. Parker
(1932-2010)

“I try to be honorable. I know that’s embarrassing to hear. It’s embarrassing to say. But I believe most of the nonsense that Thoreau was preaching. And I have spent a long time working on getting myself to where I could do it. Where I could live life largely on my own terms.”
— The Promised Land

Love him or hate him, everybody who gives a tinker’s cuss about detective fiction seems to have an opinion about Robert B. Parker‘s immensely popular (and highly influential) series about Boston P.I. SPENSER (no first name).

Including more than a few less than affectionate nods from some of his fellow detective fiction writers. Sour grapes?

The first four books (The Godwulf Manuscript, God Save the Child, Mortal Stakes and Promised Land) were a slap in the face of a genre that had had largely lost its way, if not artistically at least, then, commercially. They made a strong impression on those hungry for a successor to the Hammett-Chandler-Macdonald trinity. The books are certainly strong, if somewhat derivative, particularly of Chandler. Not surprising, though — Parker wrote his doctoral dissertation at Boston U. on the three of them. But they’re damn good reads, and introduced an intriguing new gumshoe, one whose success and popularity is still — at this point forty years on — reverberating through the genre.

Spenser’s a real piece of work. A gourmet cook who pumps iron, an ex-boxer who quotes poetry, a sensitive guy who enjoys getting physical. A guy who goes enjoys a fine gourmet meal and a cold mug of beer, preferably in the same place.And he certainly isn’t shy about violence. A true romantic who considers himself a thug for hire and whose closest friend, Hawk, is a former leg breaker for the mob.

Born in Laramie, Wyoming (where Chandler was supposedly conceived), Spenser was delivered by C-section; his mother dying in childbirth. He was raised by his dad and his mother’s two brothers, all three of them carpenters. He eventually left, and ended up in Boston as a private detective. Along the way, he was a boxer, a serviceman in Korea, and a Massachusetts State Trooper, assigned to the DA’s office in Suffolk County. But he had (as he puts it) a bit of problem with authority. Or, as his pal Captain Healy of the State police puts it in Bad Business: “they canned your ass for being an insubordinate fucking hot dog.”

And then, in God Save the Child, he met Susan Silverman, and man, that was he he wrote. Detective fiction was never the same.

Eventually, Parker’s success (books on the bestsellers list and a hit TV show) and his own literary pretensions got in the way. After the overblown, over-long, and overly violent A Catskill Eagle (1985) wherein Spenser chucks his precious  moral and cold-bloodedly killed a couple of people in the process of rescuing Susan. Parker probably lost some readers, about then, and it didn’t help that several of the books in the late eighties and early nineties were little more than padded novellas with phoned in plots, while Spenser, always a bit smug, became an almost unbearable, infuriatingly self-satisfied wiseass, while his pithy back-and-forth with Susan — and the appearance of Pearl the Wonder Dog — had even devoted fans wondering if Parker had lost it.

And yet, and yet…

Even in the weakest novels, there were moments of greatness, and flashes of the old grit and wit. When Parker and Spenser were hitting their stride, there weren’t — and still aren’t –many that could touch them. Even a mediocre Spenser novel is a joy to read. As one friend put it, “the cat had flow.”

Whether his detractors (and they’re numerous) admit it or not, Parker was one of good ones; certainly one of the most popular and influential private eye writers of all time, and has come closer than most of being spoken of in the same breath as Hammett, Chandler, Macdonald and Spillane. Certainly few authors have managed to match the opening salvo of his first four books.

And then, perhaps in defiance of his critics, in the late nineties, Parker came roaring back to life. He started to write standalones (including a well-received YA novel featuring a teenage Spenser) and created three (three!) new series characters (small town police chief Jesse Stone, female private eye Sunny Randall and a very popular Western series featuring town-taming guns-for-hire  Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch). He went from writing a new Spenser every year to cranking out three or four books a year. The writing became leaner, arguably meaner and certainly tighter, and the Spensers became must-reads once again, as though being freed from the yoke of television production allowed Parker to refocus on his writing. Certainly, there was a sense of revitalization going on, and if Parker didn’t always reach the heights of the early novels, Spenser was nonetheless active and vital once again, ticking off bad guys and fighting the good fight, entertaining his multitudes of fans.

Parker made it look effortless and easy, but trust me — writing that well isn’t easy.

As Frederick Nolan said, in 100 Great Detectives, “Spenser is. Take it or leave it.”

TELEVISION

The inevitable television show, Spenser for Hire, was, however, disappointing. Robert Urich, though likable enough as Dan Tanna in VEGA$, was woefully miscast. In the shows, Spenser was just another TV dick with a cool car, more smug than thug; only slightlymore full of himself than most, and his deep fondness for literature was reduced to a few quips nabbed from quotation books. Susan was a cardboard character, easily swapped out for another actress for one season, as though even the producers thought nobody would notice. And every now and then, an attempt was made to incorporate the novel’s sensibilities into the series, usually with dreadful results.

One of the more ambitious episodes, from the third (and final) season, “Child’s Play,” scripted by executive producer Yates, had Spenser in pursuit of a hit man. In the course of the inevitable gun battle, Spenser shoots and kills an innocent boy. The issues of gun control and escalating urban violence are touched upon. They’re just not touched upon enough to matter. And of course, Spenser walks. And the next week, he was blasting away as usual.

“I had killed a child and it would be a long time before the pain and hurt would go away. Not now, but later, in some quiet place I would lay down my gun and grieve for the child who’d never grow old.”

Really?

Still, there were some nice touches. Spenser’s “neat, TV dick car” was a dark, ivy green 1966 Mustang, and the on-location shooting in Boston was a nice change of pace. The writing, when it wasn’t trying so hard to be IMPORTANT, had a nice, Mannix-like vibe to it. And then there was Hawk.

The one thing the shows got right was Hawk. Big, black and menacing, he had more edge in one episode than Urich had in a season. After the series ended in 1988, Avery Brooks reprised his role of Hawk in A Man Called Hawk in 1989, a disappointing use of a good actor and a great role.

As well, the “Play It Again, Sammy” (January 30, 1988) and “McAllister” (April 3, 1988) episodes served as pilots for proposed spin-off series, but neither was picked up. Sammy, played by Sal Viscuso, was a con-man turned sleazy private eye (written by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin) and McAllister, was a federal prosecutor (Steve Hattman and William Robert Yates wrote that one).

A few years later, Spenser For Hire was brought back in four full-length TV movies for Lifetime, reuniting the original cast, but they only served to tarnish Spenser’s television image further. This go ’round, they didn’t even bother to film in Boston, settling for Toronto instead.

In the late nineties, Parker signed a project deal with A&E to do several more Spenser movies, as well as several films based on his Jesse Stone novels, about a reformed alcoholic LAPD officer who becomes the chief of police for a small island off the coast of Massachusets. The Jesse Stone films, starring Tom Selleck, fared far better than the three Spenser TV movies starring Joe Mantegna. Mantegna was potentially a good choice — he certainly had more acting chops than the affable, but miscast future Love Boat captain Robert Urich. According to Steven Bucci on rec.arts.mystery “[Parker] said that while originally he couldn’t see Spenser being played by Joe Mantegna, he was truly pleased with the final results. He said Joe Mantegna did a very good job in the role, that he felt the movie proved to be the best version of Spenser to date.”

I’m less convinced, mostly because despite Mantegna’s skills, the scripts were so lame that they made barely any difference at all. Mantegna may have been marginally better than Urich, but by that point, who cared? And while Mantegna looked like he might have taken a punch or two in his life, didn’t anyone notice he wasn’t, uh, built like a boxer?

But apparently Spenser’s coming back to the tube. In 2018, it was announced that Netflix was planning to release a string of Spenser made-for-TV movies, with Donnie Wahlberg to star as Spenser, who is now recast as an ex-felon. Is this so Donnie won’t have to shave?

SPENSER, POST-PARKER

Many were caught short, when less than two years after Parker’s death in 2010, his publishers announced that journalist and novelist Ace Atkins would be continuing the Spenser series. The responses ranged from “Great! More Spenser!” to “What? Does the widow want new curtains?”

As something of a geek when it camer to Spendser, I confess I was taken aback myself. Atkins had previously written four enjoyable novels about a former footballer turned blues proferssor/amateur sleuth Nick Travers, as well as several acclaimed historical crime novels, but I’d never thought of his writing as being particularly Parkeresque. I just didn’t think he could ever fill Parker’s shoes. I didn’t think he had the chops.

I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong. Atkins’ first spenser novel, Lullaby (2012) was some kind of wonderful; a solid foray into Spenser’s world that a seriously deep knowledge of all things Spenserian. Atkins nailed it — the banter with Hawk, the glib flirtations with Susan, the moral and ethical dilemmas that highlighted Parker’s best work. Not Parker, perhaps, but a few better and reasonable facsimile than I had ever expected.

It turned out that Atkins himself, as revealed in an essay in the Otto Penzler edited In Pursuit of Spenser (2012), was something of a geek himself when it came to Parker, citing him as a personal hero and inspiration, both as a writer and as a man. Not all the books that have followed were as good, but something pretty momentous happened in Kickback (2015), the fourth Spenser novel by Atkins. It opens with Spenser getting a call in the night. Someone is in trouble, a young girl. Spenser grabs his coat and hat, and we’re off. And I realized that all my lingering reservations about the providence of the book, or the justness of another author taking over another man’s characters were gone. I wasn’t thinking Parker. I wasn’t thinking Atkins. All I was thinking was “Spenser’s back! And this is gonna be good.”

And props should be given for Atkins returning Spenser back to his seventies roots, making him a beer guy once more. Even better, though, is that Spenser’s still a smart ass, and still capable of dropping absolute gems of wry observation, like when he describes Lynn, Massachusetts as having all the “charm of both a hipster paradise and London during the war” in Little White Eyes (2017).

Then again, the less said about Silent Night, the 2013 holiday-themed novel allegedly started by Parker and completed by his long-time literary agent Helen Brann, the better.

THE EVIDENCE

• “If it’s not worth fighting about, then it’s not worth a lot of mouth.”
  — a high school age Spenser tries to figure it out in Chasing the Bear (2009)
• “It was like talking to a pancake.”
  — Widow’s Walk
• “The office of the university president looked like the front parlor of a successful Victorian whorehouse”
  — the first line of The Godwulf Manuscript
• “I took my .38 out and looked to see that there were bullets in all the proper places. I knew there would be, but it did no harm to be careful. And I’d seen Clint Eastwood do it once in the movies.”
  ― Small Vices
• “You do the best you can and you deal with the consequences. It’s all there is.”
  ― A Catskill Eagle
• “What is this… Some sort of secret society?”
  “Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Full of unsaid rules and regulations which none of them will ever admit to knowing,” Susan replies, and when asked who else is a member, starts to list them:
  “Okay,” Susan said, “Well, there’s some cops. Quirk, Belson, a detective named Lee Farrell; the state police person, Healy… and a man named Chollo from Los Angeles, and a man named Tedi Sapp from Georgia. Bobby Horse, the Native American gentleman.” Hawk adds “Bernard J. Fortunato, the ‘little dude’ from Vegas.”
  — a client Spenser, Hawk and Vinnie are protecting, gets frustrated by the guys’ smug confidence in each other turns to Susan in exasperation in Bad Business
• “The thing I like about Irish whiskey is that the more you drink the smoother it goes down. Of course that’s probably true of antifreeze as well, but illusion is nearly all we have.”
  ― Valediction
• “You love her… more than I ever seen anybody love anything.”
  — Hawk summarizes Spenser’s relationship with Susan in Now and Then.
• “There’s legal and illegal. I make part of my living from that fact.”
  — Silent Night (was that Brann… or Parker?)
• Spenser describes a high-rise office with “a panoramic view of Boston Harbor and, on a particularly cleart day, probably a good chunk of Newfoundland.”
  — Silent Night (again, was that Brann… or Parker?)
• “I eat French crap a lot.”
  — Spenser goes to a swanky restaurant, but refuses to be intimidated or impressed, in The Widening Gyre
• “Coffee before justice.”
  –– a sleepy Spenser’s reply when someone points out that the Pinkerton motto was “We never sleep,” in Old Black Magic.

UNDER OATH

• “Last week I had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time listening to some of the best contemporary crime writers discuss their work at a conference in the Bahamas. Parker’s Spenser novels were mentioned repeatedly as a major influence on many of these writers (it was also frequently stated, to be fair, that the early books were far superior to the more recent ones.) My opinion is that the countless imitations of the Spenser books–and there are many–have tarnished our perception of the originals. We’re tired of Spenser’s sons so we’re tired of Spenser. Put it in another context: a young person looking at Bullitt or The French Connection today might yawn at “just another car chase,” but those car chases were groundbreaking and mind-blowing at the time of their release.”
  — George Pelecanos, from a post to Rara-Avis, dated12/14/2000
• “It’s hard to believe such sharp and smart books like God Save the Child, Mortal Stakes and Early Autumn could inspire such a dumb, pedestrian, cliche-ridden show. I mean, a black classic Mustang, and he lives in a firehouse? Ah, well, at least it wasn’t a red Ferrari and a Hawaiian beachhouse…Mind you, some of the later Spenser books ain’t no great thang, either…kill the stupid dog, and let Hawk and Susan elope!”
  — Duke Seabrook
• “Several years ago I asked Robert B. Parker, creator of the novels from which (Spenser for Hire) sprang, who he would ideally have cast in the series. He said, “Robert Mitchum, but it would have had to have been done 30 years ago.” He further went on to assert that Avery Brooks’ portrayal of Hawk was dead on, and that star Robert Urich’s only real flaw was that he wasn’t about 30 pounds heavier. (It might have been that Parker wasn’t 30 pounds lighter, but let’s not go there.)”
  — Thane Tierney, from the liner notes to Crimestoppers: TV’s Greatest P.I. Themes
• “I wonder if there’s anybody out there as tired as I am of reading gripes about Parker’s novels. If you don’t like him, don’t read him. I don’t mind wearing out my declining eyesight skimming through effusive praise of Carroll John Daly or any number of, ah, writers of dubious stylistic value. They’ve made their contributions to the genre and deserve a little overpraise every now and then. Nobody ever seems to cut Parker any slack, even though he kept the private eye novel going through the roughest period of its history, never mind that he has influenced several of today’s heroes of the hardboiled and created what has become a genre staple — the sociopathic sidekick. Okay, so he insists on sticking in all that crap about Susan Silverman and the dog and he allows his hero a smugness that can set one’s teeth on edge. With all of that, his books — and this year he’s published at least three — are never less than entertaining and, every now and then, deliver a scene or set piece (usually a confrontation with a powerful adversary) that reminds you of what drew you to crime fiction in the first place.”
  — Dick Lochte (November 2001, Rara-Avis)
• “I stopped reading Parker over a decade ago. However, last year I read Perish Twice in preparation for writing a “things to do this week” blurb for a local booksigning of his… but I was reminded of just how readable Parker is. The man’s got flow. (And) I respect the man’s major contribution to the genre. As Dick noted, the man kept it going during a pretty bleak time for PI fiction, and he did it with style. Plus I recognize he set the standards for much of the PI fiction I like and do still read. He wrote the rules for the contemporary PI genre. And, as Dick also noted, his splitting the PI into two persons, one honorable, one psycho, was absolutely brilliant.”
  — Mark Sullivan (November 2001, Rara-Avis)
• “Robert B. Parker, through his Spenser novels, is responsible for my writing career. Back in high school, I wanted to be a comic book artist, and I spent a lot of time writing and drawing my own comics. The “writing” part was only because I had no one else to write them. If I wanted to draw comics, I had to write them, too. Then one night in 1987, in my sophomore year of high school, I happened to catch an episode Spenser: For Hire, and I noticed the “Based on characters created by Robert B. Parker” line in the opening credits. I think around that time, there was also an article in TV Guide written by Parker, in which he talked about the differences between his Spenser, and the TV Spenser. And I guess right here is as good a place as any to say that Robert Urich is twice the Spenser that Joe Mantegna could ever hope to be. And after Avery Brooks’ performance, no one should ever even attempt to play Hawk….Anyway, this got me into a library, where I checked out Ceremony, my first Spenser novel. This literally changed my life. Up until that point, novels were frequently dull books they made you read in English class. Things you suffered through, wishing you were reading comics. But Parker’s novels opened my ears, and mind. I realized that novels don’t have to be stuffy and boring. These books were fun. And funny! I laughed out loud – and still do.”
  — Jay Faerber, creator of Dodge’s Bullets
• “(Early Autumn)… is Robert B. Parker’s Captains Courageous. It taught me a crime novel could be about more than thugs and ripoffs.”
  — Robert Crais
• “… this is basically a father-substitute-and-son concoction that’s closer to Kramer vs. Kramer than The Maltese Falcon–disappointing for mystery lovers, nice enough (with a fair number of well-earned laughs along the way) for those tolerant of Parker’s particular brand of tough-guy treacle.”
  — Kirkus Reviews
• “Robert B. Parker was one of the writers who coaxed me back into the genre. His work was striking for its laconic grace, its moral code, and its sly, understated humor. I can’t recall which book it was in, but I will never forget Spenser looking out of his window at a rainy Boston street and thinking “petals on a wet black bough.” What class. He will be missed, but never gone from the top ranks of the genre.”
  — Barbara Fister
• “So what’s new? Nothing much, actually. If you’ve read the last ten or twenty Spenser books, you know what to expect: Pearl the Wonder Dog, gratuitous “Arlo and Janis” references, Spenser saying, “We’d be fools not to” at least once, Spenser and Susan discussing the psychological aspects of the case, lots and lots of snappy dialog and donut eating. Etc.
  And you know what? I don’t care. I enjoyed every minute of it. I always do. If you’re as easy as I am, check it out. Otherwise, forget it.”
  — Bill Crider on Hundred Dollar Baby
• “… what always amazed me was (Parker’s) economy. He used words as though parting with them caused him pain. When I look back at the books that were born during the so-called Golden Age of the detective story, one thing that always strikes me is how short they are. Parker managed to fit a contemporary sensibility–one that made room for both sensitivity and relationships–into books that were told in the absolute minimum number of words. It’s only possible to do this when they’re the right words. Take away enough words but retain the meaning and the spirit, and what’s left is poetry.
  Parker might have scoffed at this, but I think he was one of the form’s real poets.”
  — Timothy Hallinan
• “Robert B. Parker, now sadly deceased, started writing his Spenser novels in the early seventies. Brilliant stuff. In fact, he made it seem so easy, I decided to have a bash myself in the mid-eighties and it worked.”
  — Mark Timlin, creator of Nick Sharman
• “One of the great series in the history of the American detective story.”
  — The New York Times

NOVELS

   

• The Godwulf Manuscript (1973) | Buy this book  | Kindle it!
• God Save the Child (1974) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Mortal Stakes (1975) | Buy this book | Buy the audiobook | Kindle it!
• Promised Land (1976) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Judas Goat (1978) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Looking for Rachel Wallace (1980) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• A Savage Place (1981) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Early Autumn (1981) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Ceremony (1982) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Widening Gyre (1983) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Valediction (1984) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• A Catskill Eagle (1985) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Taming a Seahorse (1986) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Pale Kings and Princes (1987) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Crimson Joy (1988) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Playmates (1989) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Stardust (1990) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Pastime (1991) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Double Deuce (1992) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Paper Doll (1993) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Walking Shadow (1994) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Thin Air (1995) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Chance (1996) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Small Vices (1997) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Sudden Mischief (1998) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Hush Money (1999) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Hugger Mugger (2000) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Potshot (2001) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Widow’s Walk (2002) | Buy this book |Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Back Story (2003) | Buy this book |Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Bad Business (2004) | Buy this book |Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Cold Service (2005) | Buy this book |Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• School Days (2005) | Buy this book |Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• The Hundred Dollar Baby (2006) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Now and Then (2007) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Rough Weather (2008) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel (2009,YA) | Buy this book  | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• The Professional (2009) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Painted Ladies (2010) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Sixkill (2011) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!

SPENSER NOVELS BY OTHER WRITERS

• Lullaby (2012; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Wonderland (2013; by Ace Atkins; aka “Spenser Confidential”) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Silent Night (2013; by Robert B. Parker & Helen Brann) | Buy this book  | Buy the audiobook  | Kindle it!
• Cheap Shot (2014; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book  | Buy the audio  | Kindle it!
• Kickback (2015; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Slow Burn (2016; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Little White Lies (2017; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book  | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Old Black Magic (2018; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Angel Eyes (2019; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Someone to Watch Over Me (2020; by Ace Atkins) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Bye Bye Baby (2021; by Ace Atkins)  | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
• Broken Trust (2023; by Mike Lupica) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!

SHORT STORIES & OTHER BITS’N’PIECES

• “Surrogate” (1982, also New Crimes #3)
  The only “real” short story in the bunch.
• “Spenser’s a Fan, Too” (1988, Lord John Ten) | Buy this book
• “There’s No Business ” (February 10, 2003, Audiobooks Today)
  A real rarity, a short story done in audio only, used as a promotional piece by AudiobooksToday. Susan’s friend “Bob” wants Spenser, a “real detective,” to narrate the audio version of his story.

RADIO

• SATURDAY-NIGHT THEATRE
  (1943-1996, BBC4)
  • “The Godwulf Manuscript” (July 21, 1984)
    Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
    Directed by Peter King
    Starring Gary Waldhorn as SPENSER
    Also starring Nicky Croydon, Stacey Hughes, Bob Sherman, Gay Baynes, Harry Towb, Bruce Boa, Margaret Robertson, Don Fellows, Alex Marshall, Alan Tilvern

TELEVISION

• PROMISED LAND (1985, ABC)
  2-hour pilot for series
  Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
• SPENSER FOR HIRE (1985-88, ABC) | Buy the complete series on DVD
  64 one hour episodes
  Based on characters created by Robert B. Parker
  Writers: Daniel Freudenberger, Robert Hamilton, Stephen Hattman, Robert B. and Joan H. Parker, John Wilder, William Robert Yates, Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin, Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa, David Carren, Steve Hattman, Michael Fisher, Bob Bielak, Juanita Bartlett
  Directors: Richard Colla, Harvey Hart, Winrich Kolbe, Virgil Vogel, David M. Whorf, William Wiard, John Wilder
  Developed for television by John Wilder
  Consultant: Robert B. Parker
  Executive Producers: John Wilder, Juanita Bartlett, Stephen Hattman, William Robert Yates
  Theme by Steve Dorff & Friends
  Starring Robert Urich as SPENSER
  and Avery Brooks as HAWK
  Also starring Barbara Stock, Ron McLarty, Richard Jaekel, Carolyn McCormick
  Guest Stars: Chuck Connors, Spaulding Gray, Lauren Holly, Jimmy Smits, D.B. Sweeney, Jay Thomas, Sal Viscuso
  • SEASON ONE | Buy on DVD.
  • “Spenser: For Hire” (September 20, 1985)
  • “No Room at the Inn” (September 27, 1985)
  • “The Choice” (October 4, 1985)
  • “Discord in A Minor” (October 11, 1985)
  • “Original Sin” (October 15, 1985)
  • “Children of a Tempest Storm” (October 22, 1985)
  • “The Killer Within” (October 29, 1985)
  • “Autumn Thieves” (November 12, 1985)
  • “Blood Money” (November 19, 1985)
  • “Resurrection” (December 6, 1986)
  • “Internal Affairs” (December 31, 1985)
  • “Death by Design” (January 7, 1986)
  • “A Day’s Wages” (January 14, 1986)
  • “A Madness Most” Discreet (January 21, 1986)
  • “Brother to Dragons” (February 4, 1986)
  • “When Silence Speaks” (February 11, 1986)
  • “In a Safe Place” (February 18, 1986)
  • “Angel of Desolation” (March 4, 1986)
  • “She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not” (March 11, 1986)
  • “At the River’s Edge” (March 25, 1986)
  • “Rage” (April 1, 1986)
  • “Hell Hath No Fury” (April 8, 1986)
  • SEASON TWO | Buy on DVD.
  • “Widow’s Walk” (September 27, 1986)*
  • “An Eye for an Eye” (October 4, 1986)
  • “Rockabye Baby” (October 18, 1986)
  • “White Knight” (October 25, 1986)
  • “And Give Up Show Biz” (November 1, 1986)
  • “The Long Hunt” (November 8, 1986)
  • “Home is the Hero” (November 22, 1986)
  • “One if by Land, Two if by Sea” (November 29, 1986)
  • “Shadowsight” (December 13, 1986)
  • “The Hopes and Fears” (December 20, 1986)
  • “Among Friends” (January 7, 1987)
  • “I Confess” (January 17, 1987)
  • “Murder and Acquisitions” (January 24, 1987)
  • “Personal Demons” (February 7, 1987)
  • “Mary Hamilton” (February 14, 1987)
  • “Trial and Error” (February 21, 1987)
  • “One for My Daughter” (March 7, 1987)
  • “My Brother’s Keeper” (March 14, 1987)
  • “The Road Back” (March 21, 1987)
  • “If You Knew Sammy…” (April 15, 1987)
  • “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (May 2, 1987)
  • “The Song of Orpheus” (May 9, 1987)
  • SEASON THREE | Buy on DVD.
  • “The Homecoming” (September 27, 1987)*
  • “My Enemy, My Friend” (October 4, 1987)
  • “Heart of the Matter” (October 11, 1987)
  • “On the Night He Was Betrayed” (November 1, 1987)
  • “Sleepless Dreams” (November 8, 1987)
  • “Consilum Abditum” (November 15, 1987)
  • “Thanksgiving” (November 29, 1987)
  • “Gone Fishin'” (December 6, 1987)
  • “Child’s Play” (December 20, 1987)
  • “Skeletons in the Closet” (January 3, 1988)
  • “The Siege” (January 10, 1988)
  • “Arthur’s Wake” (January 16, 1988)
  • “To the End of the Line” (January 23, 1988)
  • “Play It Again, Sammy” (January 30, 1988)
  • “The Big Fight” (February 6, 1988)
  • “Substantial Justice” (March 5, 1988)
  • “Company Man” (March 12, 1988)
  • “Water Colors” (March 19, 1988)
  • “Hawk’s Eyes” (March 26, 1988)
  • “McAllister” (April 3, 1988)
  • “Haunting” (May 7, 1988)

TELEVISION MOVIES: THE LIFETIME YEARS

After the “hit” series was cancelled, ABC/Lifetime produced four full-length movies starring the late Robert Urich and Avery Brooks reprising their roles as the wisecracking Boston detective and his bad-ass sidekick, taking their plots — for once — directly from Parker’s novels.

• SPENSER: CEREMONY | Buy this video | Buy this on DVD
  (1993, Lifetime)
  Teleplay: Joan Parker and Robert B. Parker, based on his novel “Ceremony”
  Director: Andrew Wild
  Producer: Ray Sager
  Creative Consultant: Joan Parker
  Executive Producers: Peter R. Simpson, Fred B. Tarter, AlanWagner
  A Norstar Entertainment Production
  Filmed in Toronto
  Starring Robert Urich as SPENSER
  with Avery Brooks as HAWK
  and Barbara Williams as Susan Silverman
  Also starring J. Winston Carroll, Dave Nichols, Tanya Allen,Jefferson Mappen, Lynne Cormack, Lili Francks, Alexa Gilmour, Janet Bailey
• SPENSER: PALE KING AND PRINCES | Buy this video | Buy this on DVD
  (1993, Lifetime)
  Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
  Screenplay by Robert P. Parker & Joan H. Parker
  Starring Robert Urich as SPENSER
  with Avery Brooks as HAWK
  and Barbara Williams as Susan Silverman
  Also starring Alex Carter, Matthew Ferguson
• SPENSER: THE JUDAS GOAT | Buy this on DVD
  (1994, Lifetime)
  Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
  Starring Robert Urich as SPENSER
  with Avery Brooks as HAWK
  and Wendy Crewson as Susan Silverman
  It’s bad enough trying to pretend Toronto is Boston, but to replace Montreal with Ottawa? Ughhhh!!!!
• SPENSER: A SAVAGE PLACE | Buy this on DVD
  (1995, Lifetime)
  Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
  Written by Carol Daley, Donald Martin, Monte Stettin and Nahum Tate
  Directed by Joseph L. Scanlan
  Starring Robert Urich as SPENSER
  with Avery Brooks as HAWK
  Wendy Crewson as Susan Silverman
  and Cynthia Dale as Candy Sloane
  Also starring Tyrone Berskin, Neil Crone, Richard Fitzpatrick, Jerry Levitan, Douglas Miller, Daniel Parker, Ross Pelty, Natalie Radford, Michael Ricupero, David Spooner and Hayley Tyson

TELEVISION MOVIES: THE A&E YEARS

In 1999, A&E took a whack at the franchise, as well, casting Joe Mantegna for three further movies, also all based on Parker novels. They stopped after two, for which we should all give thanks.

• SMALL VICES | Buy this video
  (July 18, 1999, A&E)
  2 hour made-for-television movie
  Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
  Teleplay by Robert B. Parker
  Directed by Robert Markowitz
  Starring Joe Mantegna as SPENSER
  with Shiek Mahmud-Bey as HAWK
  and Marcia Gay Harden as Susan
  Also starring Eugene Lipinski
  Cameo by Robert B. Parker as CIA Agent Ives, and his son, Dan Parker as Lee Farrell.
• THIN AIR | Buy this video | Buy this DVD
  (September 2000, A&E)
  2 hour made-for-television movie
  Premiere: September 12, 2000
  Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
  Directed by Robert Mandel
  Starring Joe Mantegna as SPENSER
  and Marcia Gay Harden as Susan
  Also starring Eugene Lipinski, Jon Seda, Yancy Butler
  Cameos by Robert B. Parker as a sleeping cop; his son Dan as a priest; and Joan as a doctor.
• WALKING SHADOW
  (2001, A&E)
  2 hour made-for-television movie
  Premiere: August 26, 2001
  Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker
  Teleplay by Robert B. Parker and Joan Parker
  Directed by Po-Chih Leong
  Executive Producer: Michael Brandman
  Co-executive Producer: Joe Mantegna
  Producer: Steven Brandman
  Associate Producers: Joan Parker, John Albanis
  Starring Joe Mantegna as SPENSER
  and Marcia Gay Harden as Susan
  and Ernie Hudson as HAWK
  Also starring Eric Roberts, Christopher Lawford, Christina Moore, Tamlyn Tomita, Mackenzie Gray, Au, Ronin Wong, Marcus Sim, Chang Tseng, Henry Mah
  Mantegna and Harden are back as Spenser and Susan, and Ernie “Ghostbusters” Hudson takes over as Hawk. Shot in Vancouver. Director Po-Chih Leong is a British-born Hong Kong horror specialist. Lots of gimmicky (and pointless) special effects in this one. Painful — possibly the worst Spenser TV movie yet. And the last.

TELEVISION MOVIES: NETFLIX 

• SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL
  (2020, Netflix)
  Premiere: March 6, 2020
  Based (allegedly) on the novel by Ace Atkins
  and characters created by Robert B. Parker
  Teleplay by Sean O’Keefe and Brian Helgeland
  Directed by Peter Berg
  Starring Mark Wahlberg as SPENSER
  Winston Duke as HAWK
  With Alan Arkin as Henry Cimoli
  Also starring Colleen Camp, Bokeem Woodbine, Marc Maron,  Post Malone
  Okay, Wahlberg “might” make a decent Spenser, but judging from the official Netflix trailer, this is Spenser with a C-. Other than a few names, almost everything else in Ace Atkin’s book (and Robert B. Parker’s characters) seems to have been ash-canned. Ages, plot, characters, relationships… it’s a wonder even part of it was filmed in Boston. Spenser is now an ex-con, and not a P.I., Hawk is no longer the silent but menacing enigma, and just to seal the deal, they apparently don’t know each other. As one disgruntled reader put it, “I never thought I’d say this, but where’s Susan?” 

ALSO OF INTEREST

• The Violent Hero, Wilderness Heritage, and Urban Reality: A Study of the Private Eye in the Novels of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald (1971; by Robert B. Parker)
  Parker’s doctoral thesis.
• Spenser’s Boston (1988; Spenser’s Boston)
  Japanese Spenser fan Kasho Kumagai’s loving homage to Spenser’s hometown includes this short piece by Parker, which features Spenser and Susan showing Rachel Wallace some local sites of interest.
• The Robert B. Parker Companion (2005) | Buy this book
  Edited by Dean James and Elizabeth Foxwell
  Everything you always wanted to know about Robert B. Parker’s novels — from Spenser to Jesse Stone to Sunny Randall — but were afraid to ask. Includes plot summaries, cast of characters, Boston locations, a omprehensive biography of Parker, his stand-alone fiction, memorable quotes, an inclusive bibliographyand a new interview with Parker himself.
• “Spenser” (2009, The Line-Up)
  Not really a short story — more a vignette of Susan and Spenser being interviewed by a Harvard professor friend of Susan’s for a book called Men Who Dare.

FURTHER INVESIGATION

• Robert B. Parker
  Parker’s official web site.
• Spenser and Hawk: A Study of Good and Evil in the Fiction of Robert B. Parker
  An essay by our own Gerald So.
• Bullets and Beer: The Spenser Home Page
  Gone but not forgotten, I keep hoping someone will bring back this site. This was a great, fun site, created in 1996 by Mike Loux, kept alive for a few more years by Bob Ames, and most recently, maybe being revived as the The Spenser Wiki, and still devoted to all things Spenserian.
• The Beers of Spenser
  This site’s valiant effort to trace the Spenser series through his brews of choice.
• Arlo, Janis & Spenser
  A little mutual backscratching gets graphic.
• His Spenser Novels Saved Detective Fiction
  Tom Nolan’s tribute. (January 20, 2010, The Wall Street Journal)
• Looking for Robert B. Parker: A Fond Farewell to the Man Who Saved P.I. Fiction
  Cameron Hughes’ must-read introduction to The Rap Sheet tribute.
• Looking for Robert B. Parker: A Fond Farewell to the Man Who Saved P.I. Fiction, Part II
  Other authors pay their respects.
• Spenser’s Boston Tourist Map
  A quickie tourist guide for Spenser fans from Google that offers a few highlights, but could be so much better.
• Urich for Hire
  The Private Eye Shows of Robert Urich.
• Now I know why they called it “Spenser Confidential”…
  My review of the Netflix film. It’s not pretty.
• The World of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser and The Birth of the 1970’s Private Detective
  Susanna Lee, from her book Detectives in the Shadows (2020).

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Gerald So and Bob Ames for kicking up a bit of enlightenment on this one, and keeping me posted on all manner of things Spenserian. Also, much thanks to our automotive expert, Jason, for helping us spot the Mustang.