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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 8, No. 4 |
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NEW SPENSER MYSTERY... HUNDRED DOLLAR BABY |
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April Kyle returns from
her cathouse--in peril
of TheColumnists.com
Robert B. Parker never quite finishes with a character just because a book is completed. He loves to keep dozens of them out there, slowly rotating just out of sight of the reader, waiting to be summoned back for another mystery case.
For instance, there's April Kyle, who was a teenage runawayr when we first met her in Parker's 1982 novel "Ceremony." Spenser took her off the streets, where she was in constant danger trying to ply her trade as a hooker instead of going to school. He figured she'd just run away again if he brought her back to her wealthy, but rather unpleasant parents.
So, he set her up with a friend of his
who ran a very high class brothel in Manhattan. Now wait a minute,
I can hear you saying. Are you telling us this detective guy
named Spenser "saved" a girl in order to start her
off in a new career as a high-priced whore?
Well, you had to be there.
Anyway, Parker can't resist checking up
on his characters every now and then. So, he found April was
having a whole peck of trouble with a bad ass lover and brought
her back into Spenser's path in a second novel, "Taming
A Sea Horse," in 1986.
Now April suddenly surfaces in his own bailiwick--Boston, MA--and
it seems mobsters are trying to close down the new, ultra-luxury
whorehouse she has established there without ever getting in
touch with her knight bold, Mr. Spenser. Naturally, Spenser doesn't
want April to be burned by gangsters, so he and his faithful
gunsel pal, Hawk, do what they can for her.
But both Spenser and Hawk smell something fishy about the whole scheme. As usual, nothing turns out exactly the way it looks from the start and Spenser puts himself in a great deal of jeopardy while learning about yet another facet of human nature.
The appeal of Parker's Spenser novels is their breezy style, their wit, the crisp and funny dialogue and the new characters Parker dreams up to add to his cast of hundreds. My favorite new guy is Ollie DeMars, who's been sending slow-witted thugs over to rough up April and her girls. Parker wants us to know Ollie is a small-timer or else he wouldn't have named him "Ollie" as "Stan and Ollie" of the Laurel and Hardy comedies. As Spenser observes on first glance, Ollie looks like someone who "might sell real estate," which I didn't take as a compliment to the guy.
Meanwhile, Parker brings in quite a few "regulars" to fill up the background, including black Boston racketeer Tony Marcus and his favorite hired killer, the colorful "Ty-Bop." There's also Patricia Utley, the Manhattan madam April considers her whorehouse mentor, and Tedy Sapp, the gay tough guy Spenser got to know down south in an earlier novel and now one of the guys he summons whenever he and Hawk need reinforcements.
After all these years--nearly 35 so far--that I've been reading Spenser novels, I've finally stopped wondering about several things, such as: 1.Will he ever marry Susan, his psychologist girl-friend? 2. Will he ever collect Social Security? 3. Will he ever again have sex with someone besides Susan? and 4. Will he ever vote Republican? Frankly, I don't think any of these things are likely to happen, although I'll have to admit April throws a pretty hot series of temptations at the old boy this time around.
But enjoying Spenser isn't about such things. His greatest appeal, as far as I'm concerned, is his ability to remain a smart ass while dealing with some of the toughest, rottenest thugs in all of mystery fiction. I'm sure that occupies all his waking hours, so that other stuff jsut becomes irrelevant.
"Hundrerd Dollar Baby" isn't the greatest of the Spensers, but it's far from the worst. I think Parker is still hard to beat if you enjoy mystery fiction in the hardboiled Raymond Chandler tradition. He's the king of that realm, as far as I'm concerned, and shows no signs of relinquishing his crown anytime soon.
©2007 by Ron Miller. The book cover reproduction is courtesy of Putnam Publishing Co. This column first posted Jan. 8, 2007/
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
You can comment on this column online. Please address your message to either "The Editors" or Ron Miller. To send an email, click here and don't forget to mention Ron's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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