The last 10 days have seen the loss of three great figures in American letters – J.D. Salinger, Howard Zinn, and Robert B. Parker. (Correction: news of Louis Auchincloss’ death came through as I was writing this.) Each added, in his own way, to a portrait of the American sensibility.
Robert B. Parker is perhaps best known for his Spenser series. Across nearly forty titles, Parker developed the character of the wisecracking private eye with his love of good food and good drink and of everything Boston. His ongoing relationship with Harvard psychologist Susan Silverman provided an element of stability in a world marked by shades of gray and frequent violence, but it was always plain that he wouldn’t be domesticated.
Spenser lives by a personal code that allows him to cross legal boundaries in search of justice – but not too deeply into the alien territory of the criminal mind. He has a link to that world through the character Hawk, who serves as a kind of guide and protector to Spenser. His contacts in law enforcement also come in handy, and are often used to introduce the reader to a legal view of his cases. But Spenser isn’t strictly a private eye. He also reads and quotes poetry, and uses the lyrics to songs to give his thoughts focus.
Spenser wasn’t Parker’s sole creation – small town police chief Jesse Stone, Western lawmen Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, and female PI Sunny Randall offered Parker opportunities to explore other settings and other issues that challenged his main characters. Stone, Randall, and Spenser all make guest appearances in each others’ books (though, like Hitchcock in his films, you may only find them in the background). All share that same sense of honor, the same reluctance to initiate violence, and the capacity to unleash mayhem on those who cross the line.
Robert B. Parker may not be part of the literary canon, like J.D. Salinger; he may not have been a gloves-off provocateur like Howard Zinn. But his stories did capture the American ideal of the loner seeking justice, and he wrote with flair and skill. Those qualities alone should keep his books alive for many years.
