Spenser (fictional detective)
Encyclopedia
Spenser is a fictional character in a series of detective novel
s initially by the American mystery writer Robert B. Parker
and later by Ace Atkins
. He is also featured in a television series (Spenser: For Hire
) and a series of TV movies (Spenser (TV films)
) based on the novels.
and is a Boston
private eye in the mold of Raymond Chandler
's Philip Marlowe
, a smart-mouthed tough guy with a heart of gold. Unlike Marlowe, Spenser maintains a committed relationship with one woman (Susan Silverman). Although he is an ex-boxer (who likes to remind readers that he once fought the former heavyweight champ Jersey Joe Walcott
) and lifts weights to stay in shape, he also is quite well educated, cooks, and lives by a code of honor he and Susan discuss occasionally—though as infrequently as he can manage.
Spenser bears more than a passing resemblance to his creator, Robert B. Parker. Both are Bostonians, and both spent time in Korea with the U.S. Army. Unlike Parker, however, Spenser hardly grows older. He was 37 when introduced in The Godwulf Manuscript and is now (mid-October 2006) some 49½ years old, according to the "Bullets-and-Beer formula", aging 12½ years for about 36 years of real time. This requires some retconning—Spenser stopped making reference to his military service in the Korean War
as an eighteen-year-old, as he did in the first novels — although in 2006's Hundred Dollar Baby Spenser mentions being on "R and R" in Japan
before going back to the war, although exactly which war is not made clear.
The other major character in the Spenser novels is his close friend Hawk
. An African American, Hawk is an equally tough but somewhat shady echo of Spenser himself. Spenser and Hawk met as boxing opponents in a preliminary bout in the Boston Arena (now known as Matthews Arena
). Each man believes he was the victor." Hawk may be modeled on the sidekick in Book Five of Edmund Spenser
's The Faerie Queene
; Artegal, the knight of justice, has a helper named Talus who is an invincible man of iron.
Spenser was a former State trooper
assigned to the Suffolk County
DA's Office (although some novels state that he also worked out of the Middlesex County
DA's Office, for example in Walking Shadow
and the pilot episode of Spenser: For Hire
said he was a Boston Police
detective), and regularly seeks help from (or sometimes butts heads with) Martin Quirk (originally a lieutenant, later a captain) of the Boston Police Department
. Among his other police contacts are Sgt. Frank Belson and Detective Lee Farrell, both homicide investigators under Quirk's command; Healy, a captain of the Massachusetts State Police
; and Samuelson, an LAPD
lieutenant (later promoted to captain, as mentioned in Back Story).
Scotch
is Spenser's drink of celebration. This is mostly having to do with an encounter with a bear while bird hunting in his teens. Spenser seems to agree with William Faulkner's assessment of scotch — "that brown liquor which not women, not boys and children, but only hunters drank."
After his mother's death (which occurred prior to Spenser's birth — he was an emergency C-section
), Spenser was raised by his father and two uncles (his mother's brothers), all of them carpenter
s, who do not appear in the series. When Spenser was about "ten or twelve", his father, his uncles and Spenser moved to Boston which Spenser's father considered "the Athens of America." Spenser received a football scholarship to Holy Cross, where he played strong safety. Spenser dropped out because he didn't like being ordered around by the coach. His family unit beyond his near-fraternal relationship with Hawk is essentially Susan Silverman, an unofficial foster son named Paul Giacomin, and a series of dogs
named Pearl (who is named after Spenser's childhood dog of the same breed). Silverman, originally a high school guidance counselor, continues to assist Spenser in his cases after becoming a Harvard
-trained Ph.D. psychologist. Giacomin, initially an awkward, unsocialized teenager, becomes a professional actor/dancer. Author Parker has been photographed on the Spenser series dustjackets with a dog identical to the Pearls.
, discusses some of Spenser's childhood, and further complicates the continuity issue with his family. At the end of the novel, Spenser leaves his father and uncles behind in Wyoming to attend college in Boston. No information was released as to whether this would commence a fourth regular series for Parker before his death in January 2010.
TV series Spenser: For Hire
starring Robert Urich
as Spenser, Barbara Stock
as Susan, and Avery Brooks
as Hawk. Though the series has not been available in broadcast syndication for many years, it has recently been made part of the lineup at AOL
's new in2TV online broadcasting site. The series has also never been released on DVD
, though several internet vendors sell bootleg sets of questionable quality.
Avery Brooks starred in a spin-off series entitled A Man Called Hawk
.
Several made-for-TV movies based upon the series followed in the early 1990s featuring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks, with Barbara Williams and later Wendy Crewson
as Susan.
played Spenser in three TV movies on the A&E
cable network: Small Vices (1999), Thin Air
(2000), Walking Shadow
(2001), with Marcia Gay Harden
as Susan and Shiek Mahmud-Bey and later Ernie Hudson
as Hawk.
, the former of whom was possibly mentioned in passing as a blonde jogging with an English bull terrier (named Rosie in the Randall novels) while the latter had a much larger role in Back Story.
The fictional Taft University, where Susan teaches was also a primary setting for the Spenser novel Playmates, and the non-Spenser novel Love and Glory
.
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
s initially by the American mystery writer Robert B. Parker
Robert B. Parker
Robert Brown Parker was an American crime writer. His most famous works were the novels about the private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the late 1980s; a series of TV movies based on the character were also...
and later by Ace Atkins
Ace Atkins
Ace Atkins is an American journalist and author. Atkins worked as a crime reporter in the newsroom of The Tampa Tribune before he published his first novel, Crossroad Blues, in 1998...
. He is also featured in a television series (Spenser: For Hire
Spenser: For Hire
Spenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....
) and a series of TV movies (Spenser (TV films)
Spenser (TV films)
Joe Mantegna portrayed Robert B. Parker's detective "Spenser" in three TV movies on the A&E cable network between 1999 and 2001.-Production:Robert B...
) based on the novels.
Fictional biography
Spenser was born in Laramie, WyomingLaramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
and is a Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
private eye in the mold of Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
's Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...
, a smart-mouthed tough guy with a heart of gold. Unlike Marlowe, Spenser maintains a committed relationship with one woman (Susan Silverman). Although he is an ex-boxer (who likes to remind readers that he once fought the former heavyweight champ Jersey Joe Walcott
Jersey Joe Walcott
Arnold Raymond Cream , better known as Jersey Joe Walcott, was a world heavyweight boxing champion. He broke the world's record for the oldest man to win the world's Heavyweight title when he earned it at the age of , a record that would be broken on November 5, 1994, by George Foreman, who...
) and lifts weights to stay in shape, he also is quite well educated, cooks, and lives by a code of honor he and Susan discuss occasionally—though as infrequently as he can manage.
Spenser bears more than a passing resemblance to his creator, Robert B. Parker. Both are Bostonians, and both spent time in Korea with the U.S. Army. Unlike Parker, however, Spenser hardly grows older. He was 37 when introduced in The Godwulf Manuscript and is now (mid-October 2006) some 49½ years old, according to the "Bullets-and-Beer formula", aging 12½ years for about 36 years of real time. This requires some retconning—Spenser stopped making reference to his military service in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
as an eighteen-year-old, as he did in the first novels — although in 2006's Hundred Dollar Baby Spenser mentions being on "R and R" in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
before going back to the war, although exactly which war is not made clear.
The other major character in the Spenser novels is his close friend Hawk
A Man Called Hawk
A Man Called Hawk is a prime time television series that ran on the ABC television network between January 1989 and May 1989. The series was a spin-off of the crime drama series Spenser: For Hire, and features the character Hawk, who first appeared in the 1976 novel Promised Land, the fourth in...
. An African American, Hawk is an equally tough but somewhat shady echo of Spenser himself. Spenser and Hawk met as boxing opponents in a preliminary bout in the Boston Arena (now known as Matthews Arena
Matthews Arena
Matthews Arena, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a basketball and ice hockey arena. Renovated several times, it is the oldest indoor ice hockey arena still being used for hockey and is the oldest multi-purpose athletic building still in use, in the world. It opened in 1910 on what is now the...
). Each man believes he was the victor." Hawk may be modeled on the sidekick in Book Five of Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
's The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English...
; Artegal, the knight of justice, has a helper named Talus who is an invincible man of iron.
Spenser was a former State trooper
Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state...
assigned to the Suffolk County
Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Suffolk County has no land border with Plymouth County to its southeast, but the two counties share a water boundary in the middle of Massachusetts Bay.-National protected areas:*Boston African American National Historic Site...
DA's Office (although some novels state that he also worked out of the Middlesex County
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
-National protected areas:* Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge* Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge* Longfellow National Historic Site* Lowell National Historical Park* Minute Man National Historical Park* Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge...
DA's Office, for example in Walking Shadow
Walking Shadow
Walking Shadow is the twenty-first Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker.-Plot:The story follows Boston-based PI Spenser as he tries to solve the on-stage murder of an actor in the run-down town of Port City...
and the pilot episode of Spenser: For Hire
Spenser: For Hire
Spenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....
said he was a Boston Police
Boston Police Department
The Boston Police Department , created in 1838, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest police departments in the United States...
detective), and regularly seeks help from (or sometimes butts heads with) Martin Quirk (originally a lieutenant, later a captain) of the Boston Police Department
Boston Police Department
The Boston Police Department , created in 1838, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest police departments in the United States...
. Among his other police contacts are Sgt. Frank Belson and Detective Lee Farrell, both homicide investigators under Quirk's command; Healy, a captain of the Massachusetts State Police
Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state...
; and Samuelson, an LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
lieutenant (later promoted to captain, as mentioned in Back Story).
Scotch
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky , Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three...
is Spenser's drink of celebration. This is mostly having to do with an encounter with a bear while bird hunting in his teens. Spenser seems to agree with William Faulkner's assessment of scotch — "that brown liquor which not women, not boys and children, but only hunters drank."
After his mother's death (which occurred prior to Spenser's birth — he was an emergency C-section
Caesarean section
A Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...
), Spenser was raised by his father and two uncles (his mother's brothers), all of them carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
s, who do not appear in the series. When Spenser was about "ten or twelve", his father, his uncles and Spenser moved to Boston which Spenser's father considered "the Athens of America." Spenser received a football scholarship to Holy Cross, where he played strong safety. Spenser dropped out because he didn't like being ordered around by the coach. His family unit beyond his near-fraternal relationship with Hawk is essentially Susan Silverman, an unofficial foster son named Paul Giacomin, and a series of dogs
German Shorthaired Pointer
The German shorthaired pointer is a breed of dog developed in the 19th century in Germany for hunting.The breed is streamlined yet powerful with strong legs that make it able to move rapidly and turn quickly. It has moderately long floppy ears set high on the head. Its muzzle is long, broad, and...
named Pearl (who is named after Spenser's childhood dog of the same breed). Silverman, originally a high school guidance counselor, continues to assist Spenser in his cases after becoming a Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
-trained Ph.D. psychologist. Giacomin, initially an awkward, unsocialized teenager, becomes a professional actor/dancer. Author Parker has been photographed on the Spenser series dustjackets with a dog identical to the Pearls.
Maternal mystery
One of the inconsistencies (or, more likely, cases of retconning) within the Spenser series surrounds his mother. In some of the early books he refers to his mother and, in 1981's A Savage Place, for example, he even quotes advice his mother gave him. However, by the time of the novel Pastime, Spenser states that his mother died during labor and he was delivered via Caesarian section, i.e. "not of woman born" as Parker has Spenser put it; he was raised by his father and his two maternal uncles. Parker never explained the inconsistencies.Young Spenser
Released in 2009, a young adult novel, Chasing the BearChasing the Bear
Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel is a 2009 novel by Robert B. Parker. Though set in present day, it is a prequel to Parker's venerable Spenser series of novels...
, discusses some of Spenser's childhood, and further complicates the continuity issue with his family. At the end of the novel, Spenser leaves his father and uncles behind in Wyoming to attend college in Boston. No information was released as to whether this would commence a fourth regular series for Parker before his death in January 2010.
Novels
- The Godwulf ManuscriptThe Godwulf Manuscript-Plot summary:Set in the early 1970s, this novel serves as the introduction to Spenser, a private investigator in Boston. Spenser is hired by Brandon W. Forbes, the president of an unnamed university to recover a stolen illuminated manuscript, a medieval document of great historical and literary...
(19731973 in literatureThe year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
) - God Save the ChildGod Save the ChildGod Save The Child is the second book in Robert B. Parker's Spenser series, first published in 1974. In this tale, Spenser is hired to find Kevin Bartlett, a missing 15 year old boy, by the child's parents. This novel also introduces the detective's long time love interest, Susan Silverman.At...
(19741974 in literatureThe year 1974 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.-New books:*Richard Adams - Shardik*Kingsley Amis - Ending Up...
) - Mortal StakesMortal StakesMortal Stakes is the third Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1975. The story centers on the Boston private eye being hired by the Red Sox to find out if their lead pitcher, Marty Rabb, is on the take...
(19751975 in literatureThe year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
) - Promised LandPromised Land (novel)Promised Land is the fourth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1976. It won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1977.-Plot summary:Promised Land, Inc. is a real estate development company with which one of the characters is involved...
(19761976 in literatureThe year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
) (Edgar AwardEdgar AwardThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
, 1977, Best Novel; adapted into pilot episode of Spenser: For HireSpenser: For HireSpenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....
) - The Judas GoatThe Judas GoatThe Judas Goat is the fifth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1978.-Plot summary:A somewhat recluse millionaire, Hugh Dixon, hires Spenser to find the members of a terrorist group that bombed a London restaurant where he and his family were dining, resulting in the deaths of his...
(19781978 in literatureThe year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
; adapted into Lifetime TV movie) - Looking for Rachel WallaceLooking for Rachel WallaceLooking for Rachel Wallace is the sixth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1980.-Plot summary:Spenser is hired to protect a lesbian, feminist activist, the eponymous Rachel Wallace. After his protecting gets in the way of her protesting, she fires him. Shortly afterwards, she...
(19801980 in literatureThe year 1980 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Marguerite Yourcenar becomes the first woman to be elected to the Académie française....
) - Early AutumnEarly Autumn (Robert B. Parker novel)Early Autumn is a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. Spenser is hired to protect a boy, Paul Giacomin, from being kidnapped in a custody quarrel. He ends up taking care of the boy, who is socially immature, having been ignored by his parents, only used as a pawn in their quarrelling...
(19811981 in literatureThe year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...
) - A Savage Place (19811981 in literatureThe year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...
; adapted into Lifetime TV movie) - CeremonyCeremony (Robert B. Parker novel)Ceremony is the ninth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1982.-Plot:Spenser is hired by a successful insurance salesman to find his runaway 16 year-old daughter. He and his wife fear she has turned to prostitution....
(19821982 in literatureThe year 1982 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*La Bicyclette Bleue by Régine Deforges becomes France's best selling novel ever.-New books:...
; adapted into Lifetime TV movie) - The Widening GyreThe Widening Gyre (novel)The Widening Gyre is a 1983 novel by Robert B. Parker, featuring his character of Spenser. The title comes from the first line of W.B. Yeats poem "The Second Coming".- Story :...
(19831983 in literatureThe year 1983 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ironweed by William Kennedy is published.*Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published. This is the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris...
) - Valediction (19841984 in literatureThe year 1984 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is widely read....
) - A Catskill EagleA Catskill EagleA Catskill Eagle is the twelfth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1985.-Plot:Spenser receives an enigmatic letter from his lover, Susan Silverman, who has relocated to the West Coast...
(19851985 in literatureThe year 1985 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire*Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale*Jean M. Auel - The Mammoth Hunters*Iain Banks - Walking on Glass...
) - Taming a Sea Horse (19861986 in literatureThe year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
) - Pale Kings and PrincesPale Kings and PrincesPale Kings and Princes is a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The title is taken from John Keats's poem La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad. Following the murder of a reporter, Spenser is hired by a newspaper to investigate drug smuggling around the area of Wheaton, Massachusetts. There he...
(19871987 in literatureThe year 1987 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author, at the time.-Fiction:...
; adapted into Lifetime TV movie) - Crimson Joy (19881988 in literatureThe year 1988 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Margaret Atwood - Cat's Eye*J.G. Ballard - Memories of the Space Age*Iain M...
) - Playmates (19891989 in literatureThe year 1989 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US$3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.-Literature:...
) - Stardust (19901990 in literatureThe year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
) - PastimePastime (novel)Pastime is the eighteenth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The story follows Boston-based PI Spenser as he attempts to find a man's missing mother.-Plot:...
(19911991 in literatureThe year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Coupland publishes the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation....
) - Double DeuceDouble DeuceDouble Deuce is the nineteenth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The story follows Boston-based PI Spenser as he and his friend Hawk butt heads against a street gang while attempting to unravel the murder of a teenage mother and her young daughter....
(19921992 in literatureThe year 1992 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Ben Aaronovitch - Transit*Julia Álvarez - How the García Girls Lost Their Accents*Paul Auster - Leviathan*Iain Banks - The Crow Road...
) - Paper DollPaper Doll (novel)Paper Doll is the twentieth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The story follows Boston-based PI Spenser as he tries to solve the apparently random killing of the well-regarded wife of a local businessman.-Recurring characters:*Spenser*Hawk...
(19931993 in literatureThe year 1993 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Professor Stephen Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, becomes the longest running book on the bestseller list of The Sunday Times....
) - Walking ShadowWalking ShadowWalking Shadow is the twenty-first Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker.-Plot:The story follows Boston-based PI Spenser as he tries to solve the on-stage murder of an actor in the run-down town of Port City...
(19941994 in literatureThe year 1994 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Kevin J. Anderson - Champions of the Force, Dark Apprentice and Jedi Search*Reed Arvin - The Wind in the Wheat*Greg Bear - Songs of Earth and Power...
; adapted into A&E TV movie) - Thin AirThin Air (novel)Thin Air is the twenty-second Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The story follows Boston-based PISpenser as he searches for the wife of his longtime associate, Sgt. Frank Belson of the Boston Police Department.-Plot:...
(19951995 in literatureThe year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter....
; adapted into A&E TV movie) - Chance (19961996 in literatureThe year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."* In the United Kingdom, the first...
) - Small Vices (19971997 in literatureThe year 1997 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. , giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a...
; adapted into A&E TV movie) - Sudden Mischief (19981998 in literatureThe year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
) - Hush Money (19991999 in literatureThe year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...
) - Hugger Mugger (20002000 in literatureThe year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...
) - Potshot (20012001 in literatureThe year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is released to movie theaters...
) - Widow's WalkWidow's Walk (novel)Widow's Walk is a detective novel by American crime writer Robert B. Parker, the 29th in his Spenser series.-Plot summary:Boston bank manager Nathan Smith has been shot through the head while lying in bed. His new wife Mary, is the chief suspect, although she swears she was watching television at...
(20022002 in literatureThe year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
) - Back StoryBack Story (Parker novel)Back Story is a crime novel by Robert B. Parker, the thirtieth novel in his Spenser series.-Plot summary:The novel begins with Spenser receiving a large payment for a case he worked for Rita Fiore. Due to this, Spenser decides to work a case pro bono for an aspiring young actress named Daryl...
(20032003 in literatureThe year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
) - Bad BusinessBad BusinessBad Business is a detective novel by Robert B. Parker first published in 2004. It features Parker's most famous creation, Boston-based private investigator Spenser, and is the 31st novel in the series. In this novel, Spenser is hired by a wealthy women to gather evidence on her husband's infidelity...
(20042004 in literatureThe year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
) - Cold Service (20052005 in literatureThe year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....
) - School DaysSchool Days (novel)School Days School Days is a work of detective fiction by American author Robert B. Parker, the thirty-third in his acclaimed Spenser series.-Synopsis:...
(20052005 in literatureThe year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....
) - Hundred-Dollar BabyHundred-Dollar BabyHundred-Dollar Baby is the thirty-fourth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The novel was also alternatively titled, Dream Girl ISBN 1-84243-186-2. The story follows Boston-based PI Spenser as he tries to help an old runaway prostitute he helped several years earlier, April Kyle.-Plot:April Kyle...
(20062006 in literatureThe year 2006 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Literature:*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun*Chris Adrian - The Children's Hospital *Martin Amis - House of Meetings...
) - Now and Then (20072006 in literatureThe year 2006 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Literature:*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun*Chris Adrian - The Children's Hospital *Martin Amis - House of Meetings...
) - Rough Weather (20082008 in literatureThe year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 1 - In the 2008 New Year Honours, Hanif Kureishi , Jenny Uglow , Peter Vansittart and Debjani Chatterjee are all rewarded for "services to literature".*June 15 - Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times...
) - Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser NovelChasing the BearChasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel is a 2009 novel by Robert B. Parker. Though set in present day, it is a prequel to Parker's venerable Spenser series of novels...
(20092009 in literatureThe year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*8 October - Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature....
) - The Professional (20092009 in literatureThe year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*8 October - Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature....
) - Painted Ladies (20102010 in literatureThe year 2010 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February - The Wheeler Centre, Australia's "literary hub", officially opened.*April 3 - First release of the Apple iPad, electronic book reading device....
) - Sixkill (20112011 in literatureThe year 2011 will involve some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tomas Tranströmer wins the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.*Jennifer Egan wins the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel A Visit From the Goon Squad.-Literature:*T.C...
)
Adaptations
The universe depicted in the TV episodes and movies diverges from that in the novels, though many of the filmed presentations are based on, and named after, novels in the series.Spenser TV series
The Spenser books were the inspiration for the 1985-1988 ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
TV series Spenser: For Hire
Spenser: For Hire
Spenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....
starring Robert Urich
Robert Urich
Robert Urich was an American actor. He played the starring roles in the television series Vega$ and Spenser: For Hire...
as Spenser, Barbara Stock
Barbara Stock
Barbara Stock is an American actress, who appeared in the prime-time drama Spenser: For Hire for two non-consecutive seasons as "Susan Silverman", the love interest of "Spenser"...
as Susan, and Avery Brooks
Avery Brooks
Avery Franklin Brooks is an American actor, television director, jazz musician, opera singer and college professor. Brooks is perhaps best known for his television roles as Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and as Hawk on Spenser: For Hire and its spinoff A Man Called Hawk, and in the...
as Hawk. Though the series has not been available in broadcast syndication for many years, it has recently been made part of the lineup at AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
's new in2TV online broadcasting site. The series has also never been released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, though several internet vendors sell bootleg sets of questionable quality.
Avery Brooks starred in a spin-off series entitled A Man Called Hawk
A Man Called Hawk
A Man Called Hawk is a prime time television series that ran on the ABC television network between January 1989 and May 1989. The series was a spin-off of the crime drama series Spenser: For Hire, and features the character Hawk, who first appeared in the 1976 novel Promised Land, the fourth in...
.
Several made-for-TV movies based upon the series followed in the early 1990s featuring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks, with Barbara Williams and later Wendy Crewson
Wendy Crewson
-Life and career:Crewson was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the daughter of June Doreen and Robert Binnie Crewson. She attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she won the prestigious Lorne Greene Award for outstanding work in the theater. She then studied at the Webber Douglas Academy...
as Susan.
Spenser TV movies
Beginning in 1999, Joe MantegnaJoe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
played Spenser in three TV movies on the A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
cable network: Small Vices (1999), Thin Air
Thin Air (novel)
Thin Air is the twenty-second Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The story follows Boston-based PISpenser as he searches for the wife of his longtime associate, Sgt. Frank Belson of the Boston Police Department.-Plot:...
(2000), Walking Shadow
Walking Shadow
Walking Shadow is the twenty-first Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker.-Plot:The story follows Boston-based PI Spenser as he tries to solve the on-stage murder of an actor in the run-down town of Port City...
(2001), with Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing and then The First Wives Club which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber and Meet Joe Black...
as Susan and Shiek Mahmud-Bey and later Ernie Hudson
Ernie Hudson
Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...
as Hawk.
Shared universe
Spenser and Hawk live in the same Boston literary universe as Parker's other, newer series characters: private investigator Sunny Randall and small town police chief Jesse StoneJesse Stone novels
Jesse Stone is the lead character in a series of detective novels initially written by Robert B. Parker. They were among his last works, and the first series in which the novelist used the third-person narrative...
, the former of whom was possibly mentioned in passing as a blonde jogging with an English bull terrier (named Rosie in the Randall novels) while the latter had a much larger role in Back Story.
The fictional Taft University, where Susan teaches was also a primary setting for the Spenser novel Playmates, and the non-Spenser novel Love and Glory
Love and Glory
Love and Glory is a 1983 novel by Robert B. Parker. The story is told in the first person by Boone Adams. It is a coming-of-age and love story...
.
External links
Fansites
- Bullets and Beer, An online resource for Spenser and Parker fans
- Spensarium group at Yahoo, for discussion of the works of Robert B. Parker
- Spenser's Sneakers yahoo group
- Thrilling Detectives page on Spenser — with a list of the books, movies, and TV episodes