This past Monday Robert B. Parker, one of the greatest American writers of crime fiction, passed away at his home. Mr. Parker was found sitting upright at his desk, working on his next novel. His wife, Joan, found him and said he appeared to be sleeping. Robert B. Parker was 77 years old.
I started reading Mr. Parker's "Spenser" novels during in my senior year of high school after I had enlisted in the U.S. Army's Delayed Entry Program, it was a time of uncertainty for me and an awful lot of change. Spenser were the one constant, and it's been that way ever since - Robert B. Parker's stories have been with me nearly non-stop over the last twenty-five years.
I read my first Spenser novel back in 1986 while working at Meijer's Thrifty Acres, a unique, Michigan-based grocery store/department store in the days before Wal-Mart ate our economy. There was a local mom-and-pop bookstore nearby (there were no Barnes and Noble or Borders back then either) where I found "The Godwulf Manuscript", Parker's seminal Spenser novel. I worked the evening shift at Meijer's and each night I'd bring along a paperback to read during my lunch break, which I'd take at a nearby Burger King; I remember getting a cheeseburger and fries combo, which I'd take to a corner booth where I'd read quietly for about forty-five minutes before I had to head back; it was one of the most strangely peaceful and independent times in my life, I think about it often.
I wrote short stories while in high school and tried in vain to get them published (they were pretty awful). Later, I wrote my own crime fiction novel while serving in the Army overseas, which remains unpublished as well. Robert B. Parker was a huge influence even then. As I endeavor to become a writer now, some twenty-five years later he still is.
Over the years I've read a tremendous number of works in the crime fiction genre by great writers including Elmore Leonard, George Pelecanos, Loren D. Estleman and the all-time master Dashiell Hammett. But I always came back to Mr. Parker and Spenser. Over the years Mr. Parker added several new, interesting characters, such as Sunny Randall, Jesse Stone and Virgil Cole - each living within Mr. Parker's spare, dialog-driven prose.
Mr. Parker's style is simple, clear and direct; he presents just enough information to explain the setting and define the characters while driving the story forward through their actions and their words. Mr. Parker's dialog is often the best part of his novels, its sharp, terse and quite often funny.
Of late, however, I found Mr. Parker's work to be a little repetitive and at least one of his recent Spenser novels was kind of hard to finish; I'm ashamed to say that I actually found it somewhat tedious. Yet just last week I discovered that another Virgil Cole western novel, "Brimstone", had been published and even despite my displeasure with Parker's last Spenser novel I found myself compelled to read it. I also discovered a new Robert B. Parker series, a "Young Spenser" novel, that I was also very excited to read. I placed an order on Amazon.com that night; the package arrived on Monday and sat on my desk for a couple days; I learned of Mr. Parker's passing a couple days afterward, so it was with a mix of joy and sadness that I opened my Amazon box and discovered some of the last works of a true American original.
I'm reading Brimstone now and I'm thrilled to say that it's an excellent return to form. It's a quick read, as are all of Parker's works, but I'm trying to take my time and enjoy the journey for as long as I can. Robert B. Parker continues to inspire my writing, I hope I'm able to live up to his legacy. You'll be missed, Mr. Parker but your work lives on.
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