Synopses & Reviews
A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw and Cartwright, and over the years she's developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. However, these rich wives have a mutual secret: they've all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower- and now he's blackmailing them for money. Shaw hires Spenser to make Eisenhower "cease and desist," so to speak, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment goes from blackmail to murder.
As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering some input by analyzing Eisenhower's behavior patterns in hopes of opening up a new avenue of investigation. It seems that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin.
With its eloquently spare prose and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, The Professional is further proof that "[t]here's hardly an author in the crime novel business like Parker" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
Review
"Great plotting, clever dialogue, and Spenser's mouthwatering cooking all make for a fantastic time." Booklist
Review
"Though Parker's flagship sleuth doesn't distinguish himself as either a detective or a problem-solver, his bewildered uncertainty is more touching and revealing than his customary machismo." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A] swift, sure read penned by as seasoned a hand as there is in the business today." Providence Journal
Review
"The Professional is the perfect book with which to spend a cool fall weekend....We could not ask for more." BookReporter.com
Synopsis
A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw & Cartwright, and over the years she's developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. However, these rich wives have a mutual secret: they've all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower- and now he's blackmailing them for money. Shaw hires Spenser to make Eisenhower cease and desist, so to speak, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment goes from blackmail to murder.
As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering some input by analyzing Eisenhower's behavior patterns in hopes of opening up a new avenue of investigation. It seems that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin.
With its eloquently spare prose and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, The Professional is further proof that "[t]here's hardly an author in the crime novel business like Parker" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
Synopsis
A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer who claims her friends are being blackmailed. Spenser agrees to take the seemingly straightforward case, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment takes a sinister turn.
Synopsis
A local lawyer claims her friends are being blackmailed. Spenser agrees to take the seemingly straightforward case, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment takes a sinister turn. Available in a tall Premium Edition.
Synopsis
The wives of Boston's wealthiest men have a mutual secret: they all had an affair with the same cad who's blackmailing them, and Spenser's been hired to stop him. But when the wives start dying one by one, Spenser's new case becomes murder.
About the Author
Robert B. Parker is the internationally best-selling author of the Spenser mysteries. Until his death on January 18, 2010, he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.