Godwulf Manuscript

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Linda Shelnutt, April 15, 2006 (view all comments by Linda Shelnutt)
Boston-baked-beans. No Torn Halves of Claim Checks. Searing the Social Brine

Different from the style Parker has perfected in his later Spenser novels, this pilot is richer and meatier in setting and action, with the dialogue taking a back seat to the narrative drama. I like the mood of the pilot, as well as the evolution of it as Parker geometrically-progressed Spenser into a phenomenon.

The opening scene of an interview with the university principal captured instantly. I cheered Spenser as he identified and put down a classic, pompous azz. Couldn?t resist the soul honesty of a P.I. who wasn?t vulnerable to or taken in by sheer snootiness. Spenser continued reinforcing my be-glued-ability by being brutishly unimpressed by any type of status, prestige, power, or pomp. He breezed aloofly and artfully through the first half of the book, sloughing off every character?s attempt to control or intimidate him, including clients (who gave him retainers) with oodles of prestige and/or money and class-stature, including a heady collection of various levels and types of police presence (who gave him grief, which he returned in Sam Spade finesse).

I gleefully began to get a picture of what Spenser didn?t respect (me neither), a clear idea of what he observed with crisply designed disgust. As I applauded with high entertainment, I was egged on to know the type of person he would respect. The first simple, ?I liked her? didn?t show up until I could measure well over a third the total page thickness.

Note the ending passage of a murder scene in which Parker exposed his rich history of having wallowed in the marrow of detective fiction:

?There were no telltale cigar butts, no torn halves of claim checks, no traces of lint from an imported cashmere cloth sold only by J. Press. No footprints, no thumb prints, no clues. Just a drowned kid swelling with death in a shabby bathroom in a crummy apartment in a lousy building run by a grumpy janitor. And me.?

It?s not the way a detective novelist describes Death which tells the tale of his seasoning. It?s the way he sets the murder scene, describes dead bodies, and picks at clues around them. To see this, read chapter 15 from its opening, through the murder scene, through the above quoted passage, to the point of the building super saying, ?Yes sir.? I slipped effortlessly from tearing to cheering.

Loved the way Quirk and Spenser did their first male bonding scene in which Spencer answers each of Quirk?s litany of nagging concerns with ?me either.? Also enjoyed the earlier hostile scenes between these two justice juggling guys as they took their time taking measure of each other, yet seemed to sense kindred-ness ?at first sight.?

This is a pure and polished gem upon which a pulchritude of a collection has grown, written by an author who had already primed his seasoning as a novelist. That he continued writing from that level and plateau-ed higher has earned him every sparkle of limelight. I?m thankful when what I get for my dime allows me to wine and dine in my mind, as the author sears the social brine.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780440129615

Author:

Parker, Robert B.

Publisher:

Dell Publishing Company

Author:

Parker, Robert B.

Location:

New York: Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1987

Subject:

Fiction

Subject:

Massachusetts

Subject:

Mystery & Detective - General

Subject:

Private investigators

Subject:

Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled

Subject:

Spenser (fictitious character)

Subject:

Mystery fiction

Subject:

Boston (Mass.)

Subject:

Mystery-A to Z

Copyright:

1992

Edition Description:

Mass market paperback

Series Volume:

CE 638

Publication Date:

19921231

Binding:

MASS MARKET

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Yes

Pages:

208

Dimensions:

6.92x4.16x.56 in. .23 lbs.