Robert Brown Parker (September 17, 1932 – January 18, 2010) was an American crime writer. Parker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1956 Parker married Joan H. Parker, whom he claimed to have met as a toddler at a birthday party. They spent their childhoods in the same neighborhood. After earning a BA degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, Parker served as a soldier in the US Army Infantry in Korea. In 1957, he earned his Master's degree in English literature from Boston University and then worked in advertising and technical writing until 1962. Parker received a PhD in English literature from Boston University in 1971. His dissertation, titled "The Violent Hero, Wilderness Heritage and Urban Reality," discussed the exploits of fictional private-eye heroes created by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald. Parker wrote his first novel in 1971 while at Northeastern University. He became a full professor in 1976, and turned to full-time writing in 1979 with five Spenser novels to his credit.
Parker's popular Spenser novels are known for his characters of varied races and religions. According to critic Christina Nunez, Parker's "inclusion of [characters of] other races and sexual persuasions" lends his writings a "more modern feel". For example, the Spenser series characters include Hawk and Chollo, African-American and Mexican-American, respectively, as well as Spenser's Jewish girlfriend, Susan, various Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, a gay cop, Lee Farrell, and even a gay mob boss, Gino Fish. The homosexuality of both his sons gives his writing "a sensibility, which strengthens Parker's sensibility [toward gays. In 1985 Spenser was made into a successful television series, Spenser for Hire which starred Robert Urich, Avery Brooks and Barbara Stock.
Parker created female detective Sunny Randall at the request of actress Helen Hunt, who wanted him to write a part for her to play. He wrote the first book, and the film version was planned for 2000, but never materialized. However, his publisher liked the character and asked him to continue with the series. Another figure created by Parker is Jesse Stone, a troubled former LAPD detective, who starts a new career as a police chief in a small New England town. Between 1997 and 2010, he wrote nine novels featuring Jesse Stone, four of which have been adapted as a series of TV movies by CBS starring Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone, beginning from the fifth movie with original stories.
My Opinion: Perhaps my all time favorite author and very prolific until his death in 2010. His best known characters, Spenser and Hawk grew over the years from semi criminals to Knights in Shining armor, taking on all kinds of malefactors and winning by following end justifies the means tactics. By the time he introduced 2 new series for Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall, he was "a man in full" and these characters began just as clever and moral as Spenser had become. In the case of the Spenser books, I strongly recommend you begin with the first in the series, "The Godwul Manuscript" published in 1973. If you work your way forward in chronological order you can see the development of Spenser and Hawk. His works are being continued with new stories from other writers selected by his estate including one of my favorites, Ace Atkins.
I cannot recommend this author's works any higher.
Books continued by Robert Knott, Reed FarrelColeman, Helen Brann, Michael Brandman. Also see bibliography in Debt to Pay.
Novels[edit]
To learn mo0re about this author, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_B._Parker