A Spenser Novel — by Robert B. Parker

• Jan-1974

Spenser had earned his degree in the school of hard knocks, so he was ready when a Boston university hired him to recover a rare, stolen manuscript, and hardly surprised that his only clue was a radical student with four bullets in his chest. The ...

• Oct-1974

A boy was gone, the victim of a kidnapping or his parents' indifference, Spenser couldn't tell. Either way, Spenser had been hired to find him, and now that meant going up against a sexual predator masquerading as a hero. But into this ugly case c...

• Oct-1975

The Rabbs were a major league success. Marty was the Boston Red Sox star pitcher. Linda loved her husband, her baby, her beautiful home, and the adulation of the fans. She loved everything about her life except the blackmailer who was trying to wreck...

• Sep-1976

Spenser was good at finding things. But this time he had a client out on Cape Cod who was in way over his head. Harvey Shepard had lost his pretty wife -- and a very pretty quarter million bucks in real estate. Now a loan shark was putting on the bit...

• 1978

Spenser had gone to London-and not to look at the Queen. He'd gone to track down a bunch of bombers who'd blown his client's wife and kids away. His job was to catch them. Or kill them. His client wasn't choosy. But there were nine killers to one Sp...

• Feb-1980

Rachel Wallace was a woman who wrote and spoke her mind. She made a lot of enemies -- enemies who threatened her life. Spenser was a tough guy with a macho code of honor, hired to protect a woman who thought that code was obsolete. Privately, ...

• Dec-1980

A bitter divorce is just the beginning. First the father hires thugs to kidnap his son. Then the mother hires Spenser to get the boy back. Then Spenser decides to do some kidnapping of his own. Heading for the Mane woods, he's determined to give a...

• 1981

DANGEROUS DEAL IN TINSEL TOWN TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood ra...

• Mar-1982

Pretty teenager April Kyle is in grown-up trouble, involved with people who'd beat her up for a dollar and kill her for five. Now she's disappeared, last seen in The Combat Zone, the side of Boston where nothing's proper, especially the sex for sale....

• Mar-1983

The adoring wife of Senate candidate Meade Alexander had a smile as sweet as candy and dotted her i's with little hearts. A blond beauty, she was the perfect mate for an ambitious politician, but she had a little problem with sex and drugs--a problem...

• Apr-1984

The most dangerous man to cross is one who isn't afraid to die. But the most deadly is one who doesn't want to live. And Spenser has just lost the woman who made life his number-one priority. So when a religious sect kidnaps a pretty young dancer, n...

• Jun-1985

In the detective business, Spenser sometimes had to bend the law. Other times, he broke it. But he lived by his own inviolate rules. He didn't kill unless he had to. He helped a friend in trouble. And he loved just one woman -- even though she was th...

• May-1986

A high-class New York madam hires Spenser to find a missing hooker. But when Spenser tracks down April Kyle, he uncovers the murder of yet another prostitute. Now Spenser is searching through a world of se; for sale. Because somewhere between Bost...

• Jun-1987

A hotshot reporter is dead. He'd gone to take a look-see at "Miami North"--little Wheaton, Massachusetts --the biggest cocaine distribution center above the Mason-Dixon line. Did the kid die for getting too close to the truth...or to a sweet lady ...

• Jun-1988

Spenser is back on his home turf: a Boston of sleaze and surprises, dangerous days and deadly nights. A serial killer is on the loose in Beantown and the cops can't catch him. Called the "Red Rose Killer" because he leaves a long-stemmed red rose on ...

• Jul-1989

Spenser scores again! In Robert B. Parker's newest, most electrifying bestseller, America's favorite iron-pumping, gourmet-cooking private eye smells corruption in college town. Taft University's hottest basketball star is shaving points for quick ca...

• Jul-1990

Spenser's never had a client like Jill Joyce, the star of TV's Fifty Minutes. She's beautiful, bitchy, sexy -- and someone is stalking her. Spenser can hardly blame the would-be assassin ... until he learns the true meaning of "stage fright."...

• Jul-1991

The most personal and revealing Spenser thriller of all, PASTIME is Robert B. Parker's electrifying masterpiece of crime fiction--a startling game of memory, desire and danger that forces Spenser to face his own past. Ten years ago, he saved a teenag...

• Jun-1992

Hawk wants Spenser to wage war on a street gang. Susan wants Spenser to move in with her. Either way, Spenser's out of his element. So why not risk both?...

• May-1993

She was a model wife and mother, bludgeoned with a hammer on the streets of Beacon Hill. Spenser's searching for a motive and a murderer--and finding more secrets than meet the eye......

• May-1994

In a shabby waterfront town, an actor is shot dead onstage. Granted, the script left much to be desired. But there’s more behind the scenes than an overzealous critic -- and Spenser Hawk are combing Port City’s underworld to find it…...

• May-1995

Her name is Lisa St. Claire. Her husband's a cop. Her whereabouts are unknown. Spenser thought he could help a friend find his missing wife. Until he learned the nasty truth about -- Lisa St. Claire. For starters, it's not her real name......

• Apr-1996

Mafia princess Shirley Meeker wants her husband back. So does her father the kingpin and a few other shady characters. Spenser and Hawk head to Vegas to find Anthony Meeker--and confirm their suspicion that all these people aren't just missing Anthon...

• Mar-1997

Ellis Alves is no angel. But his lawyer says he was framed for the murder of college student Melissa Henderson -- and asks Spenser for help. From Boston's back streets, to Manhattan's elite, Spenser and Hawk search for suspects...including Melissa's ...

• Mar-1998

Susan Silverman's ex doesn't call himself "Silverman" anymore ... he's changed his name to "Sterling." And that might not be the only thing that's phony about him. A do-gooding charity fundraiser, he's been accused of sexual harassment by no less tha...

• Mar-1999

Spenser has his hands full when he takes two cases at once. In the first, a high-minded university might be hiding a killer within a swamp of political correctness. And in the other. Spenser comes to the aid of a stalking victim, only to find himself...

• Apr-2000

Someone's making death threats in Dixie--against a Thoroughbred horse destined to be the next Secretariat. At the owner's request, Boston P.L. Spenser hoofs it down south--where the lies re buzzing...and the dying Is easy....

• Mar-2001

The town of Potshot, Arizona, is under siege from a band of murderous marauders, and the law is helpless to stop them. But now there's a new gun in town -- Boston P.I. Spenser -- and he;s gathered a posse of the best and the baddest to back him u...

• Mar-2002

One of Boston's elite has been murdered. The accused is his new wife. She's blonde, beautiful, and young. The jury's going to hate her. With next-to-no alibi, and multi-million reasons to kill her husband, she needs the best defense money can buy. Hi...

• Mar-2003

In 1974, a revolutionary group calling itself The Dread Scott Brigade held up the Old Shawmut Bank in Boston's Audubon Circle. Money was stolen. And a woman named Emily Gordon, a visitor in town cashing traveler's checks, was shot and killed. No one ...

• Mar-2004

When Marlene Rowley hires Spenser to follow her cheating husband, Spenser finds not only a two-timing spouse, but another detective hired to shadow the wayward Marlene. Not the most trusting couple in town--but, as Spenser's about to learn, certainly...

• Mar-2005

When his closest ally, Hawk, is beaten and left for dead while protecting a bookie, Spenser embarks on an epic journey to rehabilitate his best pal, body and soul. But that means infiltrating a ruthless mob--and redefining his friendship with Hawk in...

• Sep-2005

When a Massachusetts boy is accused of mass murder, his socially prominent grandmother, who hires Spenser to investigate, is convinced of his innocence. But Spenser isn't convinced of anything--except that there's trouble ahead......

• Nov-2006

A client from a decades-old case reaches out to Boston PI Spenser-but can he rescue troubled April Kyle once more? Longtime Spenser fans will remember that once upon a time, though not so long ago, there was a girl named April Kyle-a beautiful te...

• Nov-2007

When a simple case turns into a treacherous and politically charged investigation, Spenser faces his most difficult challenge yet-keeping his cool while his beloved Susan Silverman is in danger. Spenser knows something's amiss the moment Dennis D...

• Nov-2008

A hurricane hinders a kidnapping and Spenser goes on a search for the man responsible? the infamous Gray Man, who has both helped and hunted Spenser in the past. Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected ?and she needs Spenser?s hel...

• Oct-2009

A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw & Cartwright, and over the years sh...

• Oct-2010

Called upon by The Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange -- money for a stolen painting. The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect h...

• May-2011

On location in Boston, bad-boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. The situation doesn't look good for Jumbo, whose appetites fo...

• Oct-2013

A special treat for the holiday season -- a rumination on Christmas, family, and the meaning of home as conceived by Robert B. Parker. It’s December in Boston, and Spenser is busy planning the menu for Christmas dinner when he’s confronted i...