Spenser (character)
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Spenser (he never reveals his first name) is a fictional character in a series of detective novels by the American mystery writer Robert B. Parker.
Spenser was born in Laramie, Wyoming and is a private eye in the mold of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, a smart-mouthed tough guy with a heart of gold. Unlike Marlowe, Spenser maintains a committed relationship with a woman (Susan Silverman). Although he is an ex-boxer (who likes to remind readers that he once fought the former heavyweight champ Jersey Joe Walcott) and lifts weights to stay in shape, he also is quite erudite, cooks, and lives by a code of honor he and Susan sometimes discuss—though as infrequently as he can manage. Scotch is Spenser's drink of celebration. This is mostly having to do with an encounter with a bear while bird hunting in his teens, Spenser seems to agree with William Faulkner's assessment of scotch - "that brown liquor which not women, not boys and children, but only hunters drank."
Spenser bears more than a passing resemblance to his creator, Robert B. Parker. Both are Bostonians, and both spent time in Korea with the U.S. Army. Unlike Parker, however, Spenser hardly grows older. He was 37 when introduced in The Godwulf Manuscript and is now (mid-October 2006) some 49-1/2 years old, according to the Bullets-and-Beer formula, aging 12-1/2 years for about 36 years of real time. This requires some retconning—Spenser stopped making reference to his military service in the Korean War as an eighteen-year old, as he did in the first novels - although in 2006's Hundred Dollar Baby Spenser mentions being on R and R in Japan before going back to the war, although exactly which war is not made clear.
The other major character in the Spenser novels is his close friend Hawk (which is unlikely to be either of his real names), an equally tough but somewhat shady echo of Spenser himself. Hawk may be modeled on the sidekick in Book Five of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene; Artegal, the knight of justice, has a helper named Talus who is an invincible man of iron.
Spenser, a former state trooper assigned to the Suffolk County DA's Office, regularly seeks help from or sometimes butts heads with Martin Quirk (originally a lieutenant, currently a captain) of the Boston Police Department. Among his other police allies are Sgt. Frank Belson and Detective Lee Farrell, both homicide investigators under Quirk's command; Healy, a captain of the Massachusetts State Police; and Samuelson, a Los Angeles police lieutenant.
After his mother's death (which occurred prior to Spenser's birth - he was an emergency C -section), Spenser was raised by his father and two uncles (his mother's brothers), who do not appear in the series. When Spenser was about "ten or twelve", his father, his uncles and Spenser moved to Boston which Spenser's father considered "the Athens of America." His family unit beyond his near-fraternal relationship with Hawk is essentially Susan Silverman, a foster son named Paul Giacomin, and a series of dogs named Pearl. Silverman, originally a high school guidance counselor, continues to assist Spenser in his cases after becoming a Harvard-trained Ph.D. psychologist. Giacomin, initially an awkward, unsocialized teenager, becomes a professional dancer. Author Parker has been photographed on the Spenser series dustjackets with a dog identical to the Pearls.
Contents |
[edit] Novels
- The Godwulf Manuscript (1973)
- God Save the Child (1974)
- Mortal Stakes (1975)
- Promised Land (1976) (Edgar Award, 1977, Best Novel)
- The Judas Goat (1978)
- Looking for Rachel Wallace (1980)
- Early Autumn (1981)
- A Savage Place (1981)
- Ceremony (1982)
- The Widening Gyre (1983)
- Valediction (1984)
- Catskill Eagle (1985)
- Taming a Sea Horse (1986)
- Pale Kings and Princes (1987)
- Crimson Joy (1988)
- Playmates (1989)
- Stardust (1990)
- Pastime (1991)
- Double Deuce (1992)
- Paper Doll (1993)
- Walking Shadow (1994)
- Thin Air (1995)
- Chance (1996)
- Small Vices (1997)
- Sudden Mischief (1998)
- Hush Money (1999)
- Hugger Mugger (2000)
- Potshot (2001)
- Widow's Walk (2002)
- Back Story (2003)
- Bad Business (2004)
- Cold Service (2005)
- School Days (2005)
- Hundred-Dollar Baby (2006)
[edit] Adaptations
The Spenser books were the inspiration for the late-1980s TV series Spenser: For Hire starring Robert Urich, Barbara Stock and Avery Brooks. Though the series has not been available in broadcast syndication for many years, it has recently been made part of the lineup at AOL's new in2TV online broadcasting site.
Several made-for-TV movies based upon the series followed in the early 1990s featuring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks. Beginning in 1999, Joe Mantegna played Spenser in three TV movies on the A&E cable network.
As usual, the universe depicted in the TV episodes and movies diverges from that in the novels, even though many of the filmed presentations are based on, and named after, novels in the series.
[edit] Shared Universe
Spenser and Hawk live in the same Boston as Parker's other, newer series characters, Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone. Each has made cameo appearances in the other's novels, and they share cops and robbers
[edit] External links
- Bullets and Beer — The definitive online resource for Spenser and Parker fans. It exhaustively explores Parker's novels, the connections between them, and the literary worlds they inhabit.
- The Spensarium — The original online resource for Spenser and Parker fans. It documents the cultural and literary references in the novels while providing news and tour schedules for the author.
- Spensarium group at Yahoo — for discussion of the works of Robert B Parker
- Spenser's Sneakers yahoo group
- Thrilling Detectives page on Spenser — includes a complete list of the books, movies, and TV episodes
