There are people who say that they’ve been reading the late Robert B. Parker’s Spencer novels for thirty years or more. Wow, he had some loyal fans. I can’t say that I’ve ever read the same author like that for that many years. Usually after the first three or four books in a series, I bail.

Spencer is a former cop turned private detective who was first introduced in 1973 in The Godwulf Manuscript. My first introduction to his work was actually with Mortal Stakes (1975), a baseball book. I knew after finishing that I wanted to read more in this series.

As of today, there are 40 novels featuring the wise-cracking private detective from Boston. Sixkill was released posthumously this year to decent reviews. The one thing I notice fans remark on repeatedly is how ageless the characters seem to be in the novels. It’s as if time never passes in the Spencer universe. Characters never seem to grow old (do we want them to?) and everything seems to stay the same and formulaic. But anyway I picked up book #5, The Judas Goat (1978) and enjoyed reading it for the most part. Continue reading →