Paper Doll

Rating:
Summary: Parker does Ross MacDonald
Review: Paper Doll is very reminiscent of a Ross MacDonald Lew Archer novel in that the central mystery of the book revolves around someone's true identity. All of the characters in this book are well defined, if not a little familiar. For example, the Southern rich man living in a greenhouse drinking away his life is right out of the Big Sleep. But all of these devices work well to propel the plot, until the very last chapters in which the motivation for a murder is barely believable. But that's not such a bid deal, because the joy of a Spenser novel is the humor and action, not necessarily the plot.

Another welcome relief in Paper Doll is minimal appearances by the hateful Susan Silverman. What I'll never understand is how we are supposed to like a woman who; nibbles at her food, nurses her drinks, wears tasteless clothing, speaks vulgarly, feeds her dog off her fork and lets it sleep under her covers. Sexual comments she makes to Spenser make the reader want to wash out her mouth with soup. Adults who respect each other just don't talk this way to each other, Mr. Parker!

Rating:
Summary: One of his best, in my opinion
Review: Robert B. Parker does a marvelous job in this book of interweaving southern culture into the story. He certainly did his homework, and I respect that. If it is formulaic, it is an excellent formula that works for me.

Rating:
Summary: Punishment is not what Spenser does...
Review: Spenser is hired by Loudon Tripp, a Boston aristocrat who believes the brutal slaying of his wife Olivia Nelson is something more than the random act of a psychopath. Spenser accepts the case with a rather interesting caveat, telling Tripp he will find the killer, "But punishment is not what I do." I picked up on this line right away and knew it somehow foreshadowed the unique twist that Robert B. Parker invariably provides in his Spenser novels. As our hero begins to investigate the life of Olivia Nelson, everything is simply too good to be true. No one has anything bad to say about her, but her house looks more like a photo spread than a home, the children are obviously glossing over their troubled lives, and the husband seems to be clinging to more than his fair share of illusions. On top of all this throw in a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts with a reputation for chasing the ladies (he is bald, so obviously he is meant to be the OTHER Senator from Massachusetts, right?) who's idea of helping Spenser is to have him beaten up by the cops.

Since Spenser's favorite writer is Faulkner, there are several fun scenes when our hero in the Deep South (think "In the Heat of the Night"), dealing with the colorful local populace. Spenser heads South to talk to Olivia's father and has an interesting talk with the old man's servant by the name of Jefferson (which seems appropriately symbolic once the mystery is totally unraveled). We are also introduced to another possible continuing member of the supporting cast, Detective Lee Farrell, who is young and gay and rather surprised that Spenser does not care about either of those things as long as the guy can help him solve the case. The solid portrait of Farrell somewhat balances out the buffoonery of the Senator. Ultimately "Paper Doll" is another one of those Spenser novels where he is hired to do a job and the client tries to fire him but it is way to late to do any good. But then this is also one of those cases where trying to figure out the best thing to do is rather tricky, especially since Parker does not like our hero to ever use the same solution twice.

Rating:
Summary: Punishment is not what Spenser does...
Review: Spenser is hired by Loudon Tripp, a Boston aristocrat who believes the brutal slaying of his wife Olivia Nelson is something more than the random act of a psychopath. Spenser accepts the case with a rather interesting caveat, telling Tripp he will find the killer, "But punishment is not what I do." I picked up on this line right away and knew it somehow foreshadowed the unique twist that Robert B. Parker invariably provides in his Spenser novels. As our hero begins to investigate the life of Olivia Nelson, everything is simply too good to be true. No one has anything bad to say about her, but her house looks more like a photo spread than a home, the children are obviously glossing over their troubled lives, and the husband seems to be clinging to more than his fair share of illusions. On top of all this throw in a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts with a reputation for chasing the ladies (he is bald, so obviously he is meant to be the OTHER Senator from Massachusetts, right?) who's idea of helping Spenser is to have him beaten up by the cops.

Since Spenser's favorite writer is Faulkner, there are several fun scenes when our hero in the Deep South (think "In the Heat of the Night"), dealing with the colorful local populace. Spenser heads South to talk to Olivia's father and has an interesting talk with the old man's servant by the name of Jefferson (which seems appropriately symbolic once the mystery is totally unraveled). We are also introduced to another possible continuing member of the supporting cast, Detective Lee Farrell, who is young and gay and rather surprised that Spenser does not care about either of those things as long as the guy can help him solve the case. The solid portrait of Farrell somewhat balances out the buffoonery of the Senator. Ultimately "Paper Doll" is another one of those Spenser novels where he is hired to do a job and the client tries to fire him but it is way to late to do any good. But then this is also one of those cases where trying to figure out the best thing to do is rather tricky, especially since Parker does not like our hero to ever use the same solution twice.

Rating:
Summary: Parker is Back!!
Review: Thankfully Parker has given up creating characters so stereotyped as to be unbelievable. His strongest point is plotting and this one is wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Parker!

Rating:
Summary: Unusual twist on "the butler did it"
Review: The wife of Loudon Tripp is brutally murdered by being pounded in the head with a hammer. Lieutenant Quirk investigates, but reaches a dead-end, due to lack of evidence and actions by the political machine. Quirk then advises Tripp to hire Spenser, which he does. On the surface, Tripp's family life gives the appearance of being ideal. Lovely wife heavily involved in the community, two very successful children and a great deal of inherited wealth. The police have tentatively attributed the murder to a random act of violence and while the case was not closed, it was about as lukewarm as it could be.
However, it does not take long for Spenser to learn that not all is as it seems to be, he visits the Tripp house and it gives him the appearance of a Potemkin village. To him, it is not a place where people live, but something kept in a permanent state of open house. Spenser then decides to visit the place where Tripp's wife grew up in an attempt to learn more about her. Of course, he tangles with the local law enforcement officers, who are being prodded by some private security people from Washington D. C. They are about to seriously rough him up when Quirk arrives and takes control in a very effective way. Parker is a master in describing this scene, Quirk makes no explicit threat and uses no violence, yet it is very clear that he is considering it and will not hesitate to kill a few people if they provide the justification.
The story has many twists and turns, and of course Spenser, Susan, Quirk and Hawk all have their contributions. However, in the end, the real criminal turns out to be a senator, and the murderer is someone who is extremely loyal to a man known as Jumping Jack for his past sexual activity, but who is now an obese, aged drunk. This is one of the better Spenser novels, because it lacks one of Spenser's traits, violence. Aside from the mild beating Spenser receives in jail and the one he and Quirk give as payback, there is no violence. Not a shot is fired, the storyline is based on people trying to hide things from outsiders, and Parker plays it to perfection.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book has very little narrative summary to support the dialogue. As a result, it reads much like a movie script. Character development is weak and inconsistent, and the prose is almost juvenile in spots. It is something I would expect to see from a freshman college student, not a well-respected, seasoned author. I haven't read Parker's other books, so perhaps they are all written in this same over-simplistic style. It apparently works for some people, but not for me.

Rating:
Summary: What's lurking behind the facades
Review: This book is a crackerjack mystery and, like all Spenser mysteries, much more. Olivia Nelson is a perfectly lovely society matron, not your typical murder victim. Her adoring husband is a respected, successful business man, or is he? Her family life was ideal, or was it? As Spenser unravels this case, we learn that few of the characters in this book are as they seem on the surface, including our hero himself. Brawny and wisecracking, he proves once again that he's gotten hidden depths (hidden from just about everyone but Susan, Hawk and us) and goes by his own code. As a pure mystery, I've read better. But as a multilayered, highly entertaining exercise in storytelling, I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Some tragic stories unfolded as a mystery
Review: This is another Spenser story with the flavor of a who-dun-it and a very tragic undertone as you learn the stories of the murdered woman, her husband and children, her mother, her father and his servant, and a new continuing character introduced in this story, a gay police detective named Farrell.

Part of Parker's skill is shown in the way previous characters reappear. There's a brief reference to Vinnie, Joe Broz' long time hit man who left the mobster in a previous story. Susan plays a lesser role this time, as does Hawk. In Hawk's case, this is only fair since he carried the last book in the series.

All in all, this is a very good Spenser, but be prepared for the underlying tragedy of several lives here.

Rating:
Summary: Another hit for Robert Parker
Review: This is just another example of how Robert Parker turns Spencer into an action adventure that you can't put down. This one added some southern atmosphere that was well thought out. Great reading, I am sure you will enjoy!