Tag Archives: Robert B. Parker

Authors, Fiction, Reading, Reviews

My top ten mystery list

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Photo credit, Getty Images via Unsplash license.

Today is my birthday. Don’t ask which one. If anybody out there wants a birthday, you can have one of mine. I have a lot more than I need.

My friend Hunter Baker, of North Greenville University, has given tongue to the voice of multitudes, thus: “When, oh when,” those multitudes ask, “will Lars Walker offer a Top Ten list of his favorite mystery novels?”

To which I reply, “Why would anybody care what my favorite mystery novels are?”

Nevertheless, the challenge has been delivered, and I shall endeavor to give satisfaction.

First, some clarifications.

This list is not, and does not purport to be, an actual list of Best Books. There are whole swathes (I’ve grown uncertain how to pronounce that word: I’ve always rhymed it with “moths,” but other people rhyme it was “lathes.” Most troubling) of the mystery genre which I’ve rarely or never tried. Especially in the Cozy vein. Many passionate (sometimes frightening) people are devoted to Cozies; I haven’t got the nerve to laugh at them. I’ll just note that Cozy is not my cuppa arsenic-laced tea and, having writ, move on.

Agatha Christie remains, I believe, the most popular mystery writer in the world. I’ve read some Christie, but was not won over. Her focus is on the puzzle, not on the characters. Her readers delight in following clues and trying to figure out whodunnit before the Big Reveal at the end.

Me, I gave up solving mysteries long ago. On the rare occasions when I’m able to outthink the sleuth in a story, it’s usually because the author tipped his/her hand through trying to misdirect me in some way, and I caught him/her at it. I’m a better storyteller than a detective.

I read mysteries mostly to live vicariously through the characters and to observe them acting in extreme situations. I am not a man of action; I’ve managed to cram, I’d estimate, ten or twelve years of living into my three-score and several years of life.

With all this understood, here’s my Top Ten list. Purely personal, biased and subjective. Delivered with no authority whatever.

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Fiction, Reviews

‘Trouble In Paradise,’ by Robert B. Parker

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This is the cover of Trouble In Paradise. There are no flamingos in this book. I can only assume the artist worked from the title alone, and figured it took place in Florida.

“You don’t act like a jerk too often anymore,” Jenn said.

Jesse grinned at her without any happiness in the grin.

“I’m not sure I like the ‘anymore’ part,” he said.

“How about, you never act like a jerk when you’re working,” Jenn said.

“Jesse nodded. “It’s why I work,” he said.

I have a problematic relationship with the late author Robert B. Parker.

I thought his early Spenser books were worthy successors to the high tradition of Hammet and Chandler. But as the series went on, it “evolved” more and more. Spenser became increasingly enlightened in his relationship with his girlfriend, and it seemed to me he let her walk all over him. Also, his contempt for the unenlightened grew more and more apparent. So I dropped the series.

But I’ve enjoyed the Jesse Stone movies, starring Tom Selleck, that I’ve seen on TV. So when a deal for one of the Jesse Stone books, Trouble In Paradise, showed up, I figured I’d give it a shot.

It wasn’t bad.

Jesse, our hero, is settling is as police chief in the coastal Massachusetts town of Paradise. He’s an excellent cop, though not everyone likes him (which proves he’s doing something right). When three teenagers set fire to a homosexual couple’s house, he can’t prove their guilt, but finds a way to make sure they suffer consequences.

Meanwhile, a career criminal named James Macklin is in Paradise with his girlfriend, checking out the possibilities. He has a plan to isolate and loot a gated community on a nearby island, and assembles a team of criminal experts to help out. The stakes are high, and he doesn’t mind a few casualties along the way.

According to my reading, author Parker considered the Selleck TV movies the best adaptations of his books that had been done. I myself was struck by the differences. The Jesse of the books is younger than the one in the movies, and drinks more – he seems to be a maintenance alcoholic relying on his will-power to keep it from affecting his work. I haven’t watched all the movies, but his ex-wife Jenn is always just a voice on the phone in the ones I’ve seen. Here she’s moved to Boston from California, and she and Jesse are cautiously trying to re-establish their relationship, though in a non-exclusive way. This Jesse has no dog (at least yet), and lives in a condominium, not a shoreline house.

For my own part, I detected some of what I’d call the Spenser disease here. Jesse’s relationship with Jenn is so modern and enlightened, with the male in such a supplicant role, that it annoyed me. I don’t think I’ll read any more of these.

I was ambivalent with the ending too (probably because it was ambivalent).

Cautions for language and grownup stuff.