Ace Atkins Books In Order

Nick Travers Books In Publication Order

  1. Crossroad Blues (1998)
  2. Leavin’ Trunk Blues (2000)
  3. Dark End of the Street (2002)
  4. Dirty South (2004)
  5. Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2012)

Quinn Colson Books In Publication Order

  1. The Ranger (2011)
  2. The Lost Ones (2012)
  3. The Broken Places (2013)
  4. The Forsaken (2014)
  5. The Redeemers (2015)
  6. The Innocents (2016)
  7. The Fallen (2017)
  8. The Sinners (2018)
  9. The Shameless (2019)
  10. The Revelators (2020)
  11. The Heathens (2021)

Spenser Books In Publication Order

  1. The Godwulf Manuscript (By:Robert B. Parker) (1973)
  2. God Save the Child (By:Robert B. Parker) (1974)
  3. Mortal Stakes (By:Robert B. Parker) (1975)
  4. Promised Land (By:Robert B. Parker) (1976)
  5. The Judas Goat (By:Robert B. Parker) (1978)
  6. Looking for Rachel Wallace (By:Robert B. Parker) (1980)
  7. Early Autumn (By:Robert B. Parker) (1981)
  8. A Savage Place (By:Robert B. Parker) (1981)
  9. Ceremony (By:Robert B. Parker) (1982)
  10. The Widening Gyre (By:Robert B. Parker) (1983)
  11. Valediction (By:Robert B. Parker) (1984)
  12. A Catskill Eagle (By:Robert B. Parker) (1985)
  13. Taming a Sea-Horse (By:Robert B. Parker) (1986)
  14. Pale Kings and Princes (By:Robert B. Parker) (1987)
  15. Crimson Joy (By:Robert B. Parker) (1988)
  16. Playmates (By:Robert B. Parker) (1989)
  17. Stardust (By:Robert B. Parker) (1990)
  18. Pastime (By:Robert B. Parker) (1991)
  19. Double Deuce (By:Robert B. Parker) (1992)
  20. Paper Doll (By:Robert B. Parker) (1993)
  21. Walking Shadow (By:Robert B. Parker) (1994)
  22. Thin Air (By:Robert B. Parker) (1995)
  23. Chance (By:Robert B. Parker) (1996)
  24. Small Vices (By:Robert B. Parker) (1997)
  25. Sudden Mischief (By:Robert B. Parker) (1998)
  26. Hush Money (By:Robert B. Parker) (1999)
  27. Hugger Mugger (By:Robert B. Parker) (2000)
  28. Potshot (By:Robert B. Parker) (2001)
  29. Widow’s Walk (By:Robert B. Parker) (2002)
  30. Back Story (By:Robert B. Parker) (2003)
  31. Bad Business (By:Robert B. Parker) (2004)
  32. Cold Service (By:Robert B. Parker) (2005)
  33. School Days (By:Robert B. Parker) (2005)
  34. Hundred-Dollar Baby / Dream Girl (By:Robert B. Parker) (2006)
  35. Now and Then (By:Robert B. Parker) (2007)
  36. Rough Weather (By:Robert B. Parker) (2008)
  37. The Professional (By:Robert B. Parker) (2009)
  38. Painted Ladies (By:Robert B. Parker) (2010)
  39. Sixkill (By:Robert B. Parker) (2011)
  40. Silent Night (By:Robert B. Parker,Helen Brann) (2011)
  41. Lullaby (2012)
  42. Wonderland / Spenser Confidential (2013)
  43. Cheap Shot (2014)
  44. Kickback (2015)
  45. Slow Burn (2016)
  46. Little White Lies (2017)
  47. Old Black Magic (2018)
  48. Angel Eyes (2019)
  49. Someone to Watch Over Me (2020)
  50. Bye Bye Baby (2021)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. White Shadow (2006)
  2. Wicked City (2008)
  3. Devil’s Garden (2009)
  4. Infamous (2010)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. Delta Blues (2009)
  2. In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero (2012)
  3. Mississippi Noir (2016)
  4. The Highway Kind (2016)

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Quinn Colson Book Covers

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Standalone Novels Book Covers

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Ace Atkins Books Overview

Crossroad Blues

In Atkins hands, the characters are as substantial as a down home breakfast of biscuits and ham with red eye gravy. Entertainment Weekly Crossroad Blues is a riot of Johnson lore, driven by the sort of stories generations of blues researchers would have sacrificed their children and parents to nail down. Greil Marcus, Interview magazine One of the best crime writers at work today. Michael ConnellyThis is the tenth anniversary edition, featuring bonus material from the author and a never before published Nick Travers story. Sixty years after 1930s bluesman Robert Johnson who, as legend has it, sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads was murdered after a gig at a Greenwood, Mississippi, juke joint, a college professor following rumors of nine unknown Johnson recordings goes missing in the Delta. Ex New Orleans Saint turned Tulane University blues historian Nick Travers is sent to find him. Clues point to everyone from an eccentric albino named Cracker to a seventeen year old hitman who believes he is the second coming of Elvis Presley.A modern, Southern reinvention of The Maltese Falcon, Crossroad Blues impressed noir fans with its nod to the masters Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and intrigued blues lovers with its meticulous attention to detail. But most of all, with richly drawn characters, a tight plot, and snappy dialogue, Crossroad Blues is a timeless story told well.A former Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist, Ace Atkins is the best selling author of seven novels, including Devil’s Garden Putnam, April 2009.

Leavin’ Trunk Blues

It’s been a year since Nick Traver’s search for the lost recording of blues phantom Robert Johnson in Crossroad Blues. He has grown comfortable playing his harp at JoJo’s in the French Quarter and teaching blues history at Tulane. A difficult case was the last thing on the blues tracker’s mind. When new details on the mysterious death of a blues record producer surface from a legendary guitarist over a bottle of Crown Royal, Nick becomes intrigued. In 1959, Billy Lyons’ body was found stabbed with an ice pick and floating in Lake Michigan. His lover, a blues singer named Ruby Walker, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder. But even after Ruby was sentenced, rumors emerged of a gambling debt to the black mafia or a possible hit called by Lyons’ partner, Moses Jordan, who moved on to immortality with another label. After arriving at Chicago’s Union Station, Travers learns there are still those who’d like Billy Lyons’ murder to remain unsolved. He soon has fresh blood splattered on his boots and he’s running in the blackened snow from a rogues gallery of killers that include a 6 foot 5, 300 pound breathing ball of hate named Stagger Lee Jordan and a beautiful pair of sociopaths Butcher Knife Totin’ Annie and Fast Lovin’ Fannie two women with respective talents for love and death. His quest for Lyons’ killer retraces the route of the Delta greats during the Great Migration of blacks after World War II. From the historic Maxwell Street Market to the South Side’s Checkerboard Lounge, take a hint from Robert Johnson when he sang, ‘C’mon. Baby don’t you want to go. Back to that same old place My Sweet Home Chicago.’

Dark End of the Street

‘When all is said and done, Dark End sheds light on the underbelly of politics, racism and the junking of American culture. Atkins is an astute observer of life as well as a singular voice in fiction.’ USA Today’Ace Atkins writes like a crime beat reporter jacked on passion and ambition.’ George Pelecanos’One of best crime writers at work today.’ Michael ConnellyThe plan is simple. All Nick Travers, a former professional football player turned professor, has to do is drive up Highway 61 from New Orleans to Memphis and track down the lost brother of one of his best friends. But, as Travers knows, these simple jobs seldom turn out smoothly. This new edition features:New foreword by Robert Gordon Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters New afterword by Ace AtkinsAce Atkins, a former journalist, has written eight novels. His writing career began at age twenty eight when the first of four Nick Travers novels was published in 1998. In 2001 he earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his investigation into a 1950s murder that inspired his 2006 novel White Shadow. He followed with three more true crime novels, including Infamous Putnam, 2010. His original short story ‘Last Fair Deal Gone Down’ in Busted Flush Press’ 2009 reprint of Crossroad Blues was nominated for the Edgar Award. Atkins lives on a historic farm outside Oxford, Mississippi, with his family.

Dirty South

What would you do if you only had twenty four hours to save the life of a friend? Searching for lost souls and solving problems was never Nick Travers’s intention when he started doing favors for his buddies. A former football player who sometimes teaches blues history at Tulane, Nick would rather just watch the Louisiana rain and listen to old Muddy Waters records. But when music mogul Teddy Paris, a former teammate from the New Orleans Saints, visits Nick and asks him to help find $700,000 taken from a rap prodigy, Nick can’t turn down his friend. The missing money will pay a bounty on Paris’s head that was set by a crosstown rival, a street hard thug named Cash. Nick soon finds himself lost in the world of Gucci lined Bentleys and endless bottles of Cristal champagne. He sets out with fifteen year old rap star, ALIAS, seeking a team of grifters that conned the kid. But uncertainty, the constant threat of violence, and a phantom grave robber haunt their search. When a killer hits too close, Nick takes ALIAS with him to the Mississippi Delta, where he comes under the protection and guidance of Nick’s mentor, blues legend JoJo Jackson, and his wife, Loretta. Soon Nick, JoJo, and another old school Delta tough guy do battle in the Dirty South rap world where money, sex, and murder threaten to take down Paris’s empire and destroy ALIAS. As cultures clash, the story winds its way through the infamous Calliope housing projects, the newly built mansions of New Orleans’s lake front, and ultimately to the brackish muck of the Bayou Savage. Dirty South is a thrilling tale of friendship, betrayal, revenge, and trust from a fresh and hip new voice. Take a ride to the other side of New Orleans, away from the neon gloss of Bourbon Street, to see what the Dirty South is all about.

The Godwulf Manuscript (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spenser earned his degree in the school of hard knocks, so he is ready when a Boston university hires him to recover a rare, stolen manuscript. He is hardly surpised that his only clue is a radical student with four bullets in his chest. The cops are ready to throw the book at the pretty blond coed whose prints are all over the murder weapon but Spenser knows there are no easy answers. He tackles some very heavy homework and knows that if he doesn’t finish his assignment soon, he could end up marked ‘D’ for dead. ‘Spenser is Boston’s answer to James Bond irreverent, witty, worldy. His first person recital of his detective work makes for fast, amusing reading.’ The Pittsburgh Press

God Save the Child (By:Robert B. Parker)

Appie Knoll is the kind of suburb where kids grow up right. But something is wrong. Fourteen year old Kevin Bartlett disappears. Everyone thinks he’s run away until the comic strip ransom note arrives.

It doesn’t take Spenser long to get the picture an affluent family seething with rage, a desperate boy making strange friends…
friends like Vic Harroway, body builder. Mr. Muscle is Spenser’s only lead and he isn’t talking…
except with his fists. But when push comes to shove, when a boy’s life is on the line, Spenser can speak that language too.

‘Spenser is everyman’s fantasy: social critic, gourmet cook, physically fit, sculptor, and of course, unabashed participant in a non destructive sexual relationship. Parker has taken his place beside Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald.’ The Boston Globe

Mortal Stakes (By:Robert B. Parker)

Everybody loves a winner, and the Rabbs are major league. Marty is the Red Sox star pitcher, Linda the loving wife. She loves everyone except the blackmailer out to wreck her life. Is Marty throwing fast balls or throwing games? It doesn’t take long for Spenser to link Marty’s performance with Linda’s past…
or to find himself trapped between a crazed racketeer and an enforcer toting an M 16. America’s favorite pastime has suddenly become a very dangerous sport, and one wrong move means strike three, with Spenser out for good!

Promised Land (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spenser is good at finding things. But this time he has a client out on Cape Cod who is in over his head. Harvey Shepard has lost his pretty wife and a very pretty quarter million bucks in real estate. Now a loan shark is putting on the bite. Spenser finds himself doing a slow burn in the Cape Cod sun. The wife has turned up as a hot suspect in a case of murder one…
the in hock hubby has 24 hours before the mob makes him dead…
and suddenly Spenser is in so deep that the only way out is so risky it makes dying look like a sure thing. ‘Spenser is the sassiest, funniest, most enjoyable to read private eye around today.’ The Cincinnati Post

The Judas Goat (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spenser has gone to London and not to see the Queen. He’s gone to track down a bunch of bombers who’ve blown away his client’s wife and kids. His job is to catch them. Or kill them. His client isn’t choosy. But there are nine killers to one Spenser long odds. Hawk helps balance the equation. The rest depends on a wild plan. Spenser will get one of the terrorists to play Judas Goat to lead him to others. Trouble is, he hasn’t counted on her being very blond, very beautiful and very dangerous. ‘Spenser is Boston’s answer to James Bond…
with a little Sam Spade and Nero Wolfe thrown in…
Irreverent, witty, worldly…
makes for fast, amusing reading.’ Pittsburgh Press

Looking for Rachel Wallace (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spenser is…
‘The sassiest, funniest, most enjoyable to read about private eye around today…
the legitimate heir to the Hammett Chandler Macdonald tradition.’ The Cincinnati Post Spenser is…
‘Tougher, stronger, better educated, and far more amusing than Sam Spade, Phil Marlowe, or Lewis Archer…
Spenser gives the connoisseur of that rare combination of good detective fiction and good literature a chance to indulge himself.’ The Boston Globe

Early Autumn (By:Robert B. Parker)

A bitter divorce is only the beginning. First the father hires thugs to kidnap his son. Then the mother hires Spenser to get the boy back. But as soon as Spenser senses the lay of the land, he decides to do some kidnapping of his own. With a contract out on his life, he heads for the Maine woods, determined to give a puny 15 year old a crash course in survival and to beat his dangerous opponents at their own brutal game.

A Savage Place (By:Robert B. Parker)

TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood racketeering. Spenser’s job is to keep Candy healthy until she breaks the biggest story of her career. But her star witness has just bowed out with three bullets in his chest, two tough guys have doubled up to test Spenser’s skill with his fists, and Candy is about to use her own sweet body as live bait in a deadly romantic game a game that may cost Spenser his life. ‘Crackling dialogue, plenty of action, and expert writing.’ The New York Times

Ceremony (By:Robert B. Parker)

From the bestselling author of Crimson Joy. Spenser’s out to make war, not love, as he goes after Boston’s entire X rated industry. Pretty teenager April Kyle has disappeared into the city’s darkest underworld, and to rescue her, Spencer pits muscle and wit against bullets and bullies. Part of Dell’s ongoing Robert B. Parker reissue program.

The Widening Gyre (By:Robert B. Parker)

The adoring wife of a senatorial candidate has a smile as sweet as candy and dots her ‘i’s’ with little hearts. A blond beauty, she is the perfect mate for an ambitious politician, but she has a little problem with sex and drugs a problem someone has managed to put on videotape. The big boys figure a little blackmail will put her husband out of the race. Until Spenser hops on the candidate’s bandwagon. But getting back the tape of the lady’s X rated indiscretion is a nonstop express ride to trouble trouble that is deep, wide and deadly. ‘A thriller all the way.’ Seattle Times

Valediction (By:Robert B. Parker)

The most dangerous man to cross is one who isn’t afraid to die. But the most deadly is one who doesn’t want to live. And Spenser has just lost the woman who made life his 1 priority. So when a religious sect kidnaps a pretty young dancer, no death threat can make Spenser cut and run. Now a hit man’s bullet is wearing Spenser’s name. But Boston’s big boys don’t know Spenser’s ready and willing to meet death more than halfway. ‘Tough, wisecracking, unafraid and unexpectedly literate in many respects the very exemplar of the species.’ The New York Times

A Catskill Eagle (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spenser’s girlfriend Susan runs away with another man, Jerry Costigan, the son of a very rich and dangerous criminal. Spenser and his friend Hawk go in search of Susan, but are soon caught up in the world of the CIA, guns and murder. ‘Penguin Readers’ is a series of simplified novels, film novelizations and original titles that introduce students at all levels to the pleasures of reading in English. Originally designed for teaching English as a foreign language, the series’ combination of high interest level and low reading age makes it suitable for both English speaking teenagers with limited reading skills and students of English as a second language. Many titles in the series also provide access to the pre 20th century literature strands of the National Curriculum English Orders. ‘Penguin Readers’ are graded at seven levels of difficulty, from ‘Easystarts’ with a 200 word vocabulary, to Level 6 Advanced with a 3000 word vocabulary. In addition, titles fall into one of three sub categories: ‘Contemporary’, ‘Classics’ or ‘Originals’. At the end of each book there is a section of enjoyable exercises focusing on vocabulary building, comprehension, discussion and writing. Some titles in the series are available with an accompanying audio cassette, or in a book and cassette pack. Additionally, selected titles have free accompanying ‘Penguin Readers Factsheets’ which provide stimulating exercise material for students, as well as suggestions for teachers on how to exploit the Readers in class.

Taming a Sea-Horse (By:Robert B. Parker)

In his latest highly acclaimed Spenser novel, Robert B. Parker takes readers into the murky big city underground where Spenser undertakes an intense search for a beautiful, missing prostitute, and finds himself traveling amidst the sleaze of Times Square where sex is a commodity, and young girls are the currency. This phenomenal bestseller, with a million copy paperback first printing is supported by national TV advertising and a 6 month backlist reissue program. HC:Delacorte.

Pale Kings and Princes (By:Robert B. Parker)

Wheaton is a typical New England small college town, not the sort of place for drugs and murder. But when a reporter gets too inquisitive, he finds both the latter on his own. Spenser’s call comes when the local cops work a cover. He needs help to solve this one Hawk for back up and Susan for insight on the basics of jealousy, passion and hate! What the trio finds is a cutthroat cocaine ring, where drugs have value supreme and human life has none at all.

Crimson Joy (By:Robert B. Parker)

They call him the ‘Red Rose Killer’ because he leaves one on the body of each woman he kills. But then the madman’s eyes turn to Susan Silverman, and Spenser is on the case. For when Susan’s life is in danger, Spenser becomes a hard fisted, unstoppable locomotive determined to bring the criminal to justice no matter what the odds!Dell Fiction

Playmates (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spenser, America’s favorite iron pumping, gourmet cooking private eye, smells corruption in college town. Taft University’s hottest basketball star is shaving points for quick cash, and if Spenser doesn’t watch his own footwork, the guilty parties will shave a few years off his life. HC: Putnam.

Stardust (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spencer is assigned to protect a TV star in a mission that takes him to murder and beyond. 2 cassettes.

Pastime (By:Robert B. Parker)

Certain that his mother’s shady boyfriend is behind her disappearance, Paul Giacomin calls upon the skills of Spencer to help him find his missing mother. AB. PW.

Double Deuce (By:Robert B. Parker)

When a teenage girl and her baby are gunned down by feuding street gangs, tenants of a Boston housing project hire Hawk and Spenser to protect them and bring the killers to justice.Mystery Guild Main. Doubleday & Lit Guild Alt.

Paper Doll (By:Robert B. Parker)

Boston aristocrat Loudon Tripp hires Spenser to investigate his wife’s murder, and Spenser soon uncovers high class scandals and a corpse who might not be dead after all.Mystery Guild Main. Lit Guild & Doubleday Alt.

Walking Shadow (By:Robert B. Parker)

When a theatrical company director hires Spenser and his sidekick Hawk to investigate strange doings at the theater, the Boston sleuth suddenly finds himself deep in a case of murder, corruption, and shifting identities. BOMC Main.

Thin Air (By:Robert B. Parker)

When Lisa St. Claire, the beautiful young bride of a Boston police detective vanishes mysteriously, Spenser joins the search for the missing woman, following a dangerous trail that leads him to a sociopathic Latino ex lover and into a deadly confrontation with Lisa’s dark past.

Chance (By:Robert B. Parker)

The search for a Mafia princess’s errant spouse lands Spenser on the firing line in a gangland turf war in this latest novel by the bestselling author of Paper Doll and Double Deuce. Set against the bright lights and seamy side streets of Las Vegas, Chance takes listeners on an odyssey into the netherworld of disorganized crime. 4 cassettes.

Small Vices (By:Robert B. Parker)

The bad kid from the ‘hood has a long record, but did he really murder the white coed? Spenser and Hawk plumb the depths of the seamy side of life. In an ethical no man’s land of twisted cops and spoiled rich kids with peculiar private proclivities, an assassin’s bullets take Spenser down. Dead to the world, he plots to pursue justice in this suspenseful story that is also a meditation on morality and mortality. Simultaneous hardcover release from Putnam. 4 cassettes.

Sudden Mischief (By:Robert B. Parker)

‘Parker’s finest in years…
one can’t put it down story. Again…
‘ proclaimed San Francisco Chronicle of Robert B. Parker’s most recent New York Times bestseller, Small Vices . And The Washington Post Book World agreed, ‘Small Vices deserves instant inclusion in the Spenser canon.’ In Sudden Mischief, Parker’s stouthearted hero unwillingly takes a case that tests his sleuthing skills and his commitment to the woman he loves. Brad Sterling former Harvard football player, ne’er do well, and Susan Silverman’s long out of touch ex husband is, by all appearances, a successful businessman. But when, in the course of running a vast fundraiser called Galapalooza, he is charged with sexual harassment, he turns to Susan for help. Though Brad denies the charge, he’s desperate, behind in alimony and child support payments to other exes, and on the verge of dissolution. When Spenser reluctantly agrees to take the case, however, Sterling claims everything is fine he’s free of debt and free of problems. While the harassment charge begins to look more and more specious, Spenser senses there is something wrong with Galapalooza, as leads to charities turn into dead ends. Susan, meanwhile, becomes steadily more problematic as she wrestles with demons reinvigorated by the resurrection of her ex husband. As the questions mount, Brad disappears, a body is found, and clues to a shadowy mob connection begin to coalesce. Spenser finds himself fighting a two front war: against some very bad men, on the one hand, and against an increasingly difficult Susan, on the other. Dark, contemplative, and morally complex, Sudden Mischief is a brilliant meditation on the meaning of justice, love, and passion.

Hush Money (By:Robert B. Parker)

Spenser has his hands full when he takes on two cases at once. In the first, a high minded university might be hiding a killer within a swamp of political correctness. And in the other, Spenser comes to the aid of a stalking victim, only to find himself the unwilling object of the woman’s dangerous affection. ‘One of the great series in the history of the American detective story!’ The New York Times’Spenser can still punch, sleuth, and wisecrack with the best of them.’ Publishers Weekly

Hugger Mugger (By:Robert B. Parker)

6 Cassettes, 10 hoursPerformace by Joe MantegnaSpenser is back and embroiled in a deceptively dangerous and multi layered case: someone has been killing racehorses at stables across the south, and the Boston P.I. travels to Georgia to protect the two year old destined to become the next Secretariat. When Spenser is approached by Walter Clive, president of the Three Fillies Stables, to find out who is threatening his horse Hugger Mugger, he can hardly say no: he’s been doing pro bono work for so long his cupboards are just about bare. Disregarding the resentment of the local Georgia law enforcement, Spenser takes the case. Though Clive has hired a separate security firm, he wants someone with Spenser’s experience to supervise the operation. Despite the veneer of civility, Spenser encounters tensions beneath the surface southern gentility. The case takes an even more deadly turn when the attacker claims a human victim, and Spenser must revise his impressions of the Three Fillies organization and watch his own back as well.

Potshot (By:Robert B. Parker)

Boston P.I. Spenser returns heading west to the rich man’s haven of Potshot, Arizona, a former mining town reborn as a paradise for Los Angeles millionaires looking for a place to escape the pressures of their high flying lifestyles. Potshot overcame its rough reputation as a rendezvous for old time mountain men who lived off the land, thanks to a healthy infusion of new blood and even newer money. But when this western idyll is threatened by a local gang a twenty first century posse of desert rats, misfits, drunks, and scavengers the local police seem powerless. Led by a charismatic individual known only as The Preacher, this motley band of thieves selectively exploits the town, nurturing it as a source of wealth while systematically robbing the residents blind. Enter Spenser, called in to put the group out of business and establish a police force who can protect the town. Calling on his own cadre of cohorts, including Vinnie Morris, Bobby Horse, Chollo Bernard J. Fortunato, as well as the redoubtable Hawk, Spenser must find a way to beat the gang at their own dangerous game.

Widow’s Walk (By:Robert B. Parker)

‘Sometimes you have to wonder how Robert B. Parker keeps his mojo working…
. There is a trick to keeping the faith with an old hero. In an age of shifty heroes with shaky values, he has created a hero who can still stand up for himself and us.’ The New York Times Book Review When fifty one year old Nathan Smith, a once confirmed bachelor, is found in his bed with a hole in his head made by a . 38 caliber slug, it’s hard not to imagine Nathan’s young bride as the one with her finger on the trigger. Even her lawyer thinks she’s guilty. But given that Mary Smith is entitled to the best defense she can afford and thanks to Nathan’s millions, she can afford plenty Spenser hires on to investigate Mary’s bona fides. Mary’s alibi is a bit on the flimsy side: She claims she was watching television in the other room when the murder occurred. But the couple was seen fighting at a high profile cocktail party earlier that evening, and the prosecution has a witness who says Mary once tried to hire him to kill Nathan. What’s more, she’s too pretty, too made up, too blonde, and sleeps around just the kind of person a jury loves to hate. Spenser’s up against a wall; leads go nowhere, no one knows a thing. Then a young woman, recently fired from her position at Smith’s bank, turns up dead. Mary’s vacant past suddenly starts looking meaner and darker and Spenser’s suddenly got to watch his back. With lean, crackling dialogue, crisp action, and razor sharp characters, Widow’s Walk is another triumph.

Back Story (By:Robert B. Parker)

In 1974, a revolutionary group calling itself The Dread Scott Brigade held up the Old Shawmut Bank in Boston’s Audubon Circle. Money was stolen. And a woman named Emily Gordon, a visitor in town cashing traveler’s checks, was shot and killed. No one saw who shot her. Despite security camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, the perpetrators have remained at large for nearly three decades. Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to a son Spenser has. Twice before, Spenser’s come to the young man’s assistance; and now Paul is thirty seven, his troubled past behind him. When Paul’s friend Daryl Gordon daughter of the long gone Emily decides she needs closure regarding her mother’s death, it’s Spenser she turns to. The lack of clues and a missing FBI intelligence report force Spenser to reach out in every direction to Daryl’s estranged, hippie father, to Vinnie Morris and the mob, to the mysterious Ives testing his resourcefulness and his courage. Taut, tense, and expertly crafted, this is Robert B. Parker at his storytelling best.

Bad Business (By:Robert B. Parker)

A cheating husband and a wayward wife provide Spenser with an unconventional and dangerous surveillance job.

When Marlene Cowley hires Spenser to see if her husband, Trent, is cheating on her, he encounters more than he bargained for: Not only does he find a two timing husband, but a second investigator as well, hired by the husband to look after his wife. As a result of their joint efforts, Spenser soon finds himself investigating both individual depravity and corporate corruption.

It seems the folks in the Cowley’s circle have become enamored of radio talk show host Darrin O’Mara, whose views on Courtly Love are clouding some already fuzzy minds with the notion of cross connubial relationships. O’Mara’s brand of sex therapy is unconventional at best, unlawful and deadly at worst. Then a murder at Kinergy, where Trent Cowley is CFO, sends Spenser in yet another direction. Apparently, the unfettered pursuit of profit has a price.

With razor sharp characterizations and finely honed prose, this is Parker writing at the height of his powers.

Cold Service (By:Robert B. Parker)

A New York Times Bestseller

When Spenser’s closest ally, Hawk, is brutally injured and left for dead while protecting bookie Luther Gillespie, Spenser embarks on an epic journey to rehabilitate his friend in body and soul. Hawk, always proud, has never been dependent on anyone. Now he is forced to make connections: to accept the medical technology that will ensure his physical recovery, and to reinforce the tenuous emotional ties he has to those around him. Spenser quickly learns that the Ukrainian mob is responsible for the hit, but finding a way into their tightly knit circle is not nearly so simple. Their total control of the town of Marshport isn’t just a sign of rampant corruption it’s a form of arrogance that only serves to ignite Hawk’s desire to get even. As the body count rises, Spenser is forced to employ some questionable techniques and even more questionable hired guns while redefining his friendship with Hawk in the name of vengeance.

Robert B. Parker, the author of more than forty novels, has long been acknowledged as the dean of American crime fiction and has recently been named Grand Master of the 2002 Edgar awards by the Mystery Writers of America, an honor shared with earlier masters such as Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen. Parker’s fictional Spenser inspired the ABC TV series ‘Spenser: For Hire.’ More recently, the Spenser novels Small Vices and Thin Air have been made into television films for the A&E network. Robert B. Parker lives in Boston.

School Days (By:Robert B. Parker)

The celebrated series continues as a troubled teenager accused of a horrific crime draws Spenser into one of the most desperate cases of his career. Lily Ellsworth erect, firm, white haired, and stylish is the grand dame of Dowling, Massachusetts, and possesses an iron will and a bottomless purse. When she hires Spenser to investigate her grandson Jared Clark’s alleged involvement in a school shooting, Spenser is led into an inquiry that grows more harrowing at every turn. Though seven people were killed in cold blood, and despite Jared’s being named as a co conspirator by the other shooter, Mrs. Ellsworth is convinced of her grandson’s innocence. Jared’s parents are resigned to his fate, and the boy himself doesn’t seem to care whether he goes to prison for a crime he might not have committed. Robert B. Parker, the author of more than forty novels, has long been acknowledged as the dean of American crime fiction and has been named Grand Master of the 2002 Edgar awards by the Mystery Writers of America, an honor shared with earlier masters such as Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen. Parker’s fictional Spenser inspired the ABC TV series ‘Spenser: For Hire.’ More recently, the Spenser novels Small Vices and Thin Air have been made into television films for the A&E network. Robert B. Parker lives in Boston.

Hundred-Dollar Baby / Dream Girl (By:Robert B. Parker)

A client from a decades old case reaches out to Boston PI Spenser but can he rescue troubled April Kyle once more?

Longtime Spenser fans will remember that once upon a time, though not so long ago, there was a girl named April Kyle a beautiful teenage runaway who turned to prostitution to escape her terrible family life. The book was 1982’s Ceremony, and, thanks to Spenser, April escaped Boston’s ‘Combat Zone’ for the relative safety of a high class New York City bordello. April resurfaced in Taming a Sea Horse, again in dire need of Spenser’s rescue this time from the clutches of a controlling lover. But April Kyle’s return in Hundred Dollar Baby is nothing short of shocking.

When a mature, beautiful, and composed April strides into Spenser’s office, the Boston PI barely hesitates before recognizing his once and future client. Now a well established madam herself, April oversees an upscale call girl operation in Boston’s Back Bay. Still looking for Spenser’s approval, it takes her a moment before she can ask him, again, for his assistance. Her business is a success; what’s more, it’s an all female enterprise. Now that some men are trying to take it away from her, she needs Spenser.

April claims to be in the dark about who it is that’s trying to shake her down, but with a bit of legwork and a bit more muscle, Spenser and Hawk find ties to organized crime and local kingpin Tony Marcus, as well as a scheme to franchise the operation across the country. As Spenser again plays the gallant knight, it becomes clear that April’s not as innocent as she seems. In fact, she may be her own worst enemy.

Now and Then (By:Robert B. Parker)

When a simple case turns into a treacherous and politically charged investigation, Spenser faces his most difficult challenge yet keeping his cool while his beloved Susan Silverman is in danger. Spenser knows something’s amiss the moment Dennis Doherty walks into his office. The guy’s aggressive yet wary, in the way men frightened for their marriages always are. So when Doherty asks Spenser to investigate his wife Jordan’s abnormal behavior, Spenser agrees. A job’s a job, after all. Not surprisingly, Spenser catches Jordan with another man, tells Dennis what he’s found out, and considers the case closed. But a couple of days later, all hell breaks loose, and three people are dead. This isn’t just a marital affair gone bad. Spenser is in the middle of hornet’s nest of trouble, and he’s got to get out of it without getting stung. With Hawk watching his back, and gun for hire Vinnie Morris providing extra cover, Spenser delves into a complicated and far reaching operation: Jordan’s former lover, Perry Alderson, is the leader of a group that helps sponsor terrorists. But Perry doesn’t like Spenser poking around his business, so he decides to get to Spenser through Susan. The Boston P.I. will use all his connections both above and below the law to uncover the truth behind Perry’s antigovernment organization. But what Alderson doesn’t realize is that Spenser will stop at absolutely nothing to keep Susan out of harm’s way; nothing will keep him from the woman he loves.

Rough Weather (By:Robert B. Parker)

A hurricane hinders a kidnapping and Spenser goes on a search for the man responsible the infamous Gray Man, who has both helped and hunted Spenser in the past. Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected and she needs Spenser’s help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego. The reason? To attend her daughter s wedding as a sort of stand in husband and protector. Spenser consents, but only after it is established that his beloved Susan Silverman will also be in attendance. It should be a straightforward job for Spenser: show up for appearances, have some drinks, and spend some quality time with Susan. But when Spenser s old nemesis Rugar the Gray Man arrives, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. A storm, a kidnapping, and murder tear apart what should be a joyous occasion, and Rugar is seemingly at the center of it all. The only thing is that the sloppy kidnapping is not Rugar s style as Spenser knows from past encounters. With six dead bodies and more questions than he can process, Spenser begins a search for answers and the Gray Man. With its razor sharp dialogue, crisply etched characters, and high wire narrative tension, Rough Weather once again proves that Robert B. Parker is a force of nature The Boston Globe.

The Professional (By:Robert B. Parker)

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.

Painted Ladies (By:Robert B. Parker)

The brilliant new Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times-bestselling author Robert B. Parker.

Called upon by The Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange-money for a stolen painting.

The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and the valuable painting remains stolen. Convinced that Ashton Prince played a bigger role than just ransom delivery boy, Spenser enters into a daring game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. But this is a game he might not come out of alive…

Completed the year before he passed away, Painted Ladies is Spenser and Robert B. Parker at their electrifying best.

Sixkill (By:Robert B. Parker)

An extraordinary new Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times bestselling author. On location in Boston, bad boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. The situation doesn’t look good for Jumbo, whose appetites for food, booze, and sex are as outsized as his name. He was the studio’s biggest star, but he’s become their biggest liability. In the course of the investigation, Spenser encounters Jumbo’s bodyguard: a young, former football playing Native American named Zebulon Sixkill. Sixkill acts tough, but Spenser sees something more within the young man. Despite the odd circumstances, the two forge an unlikely alliance, with Spenser serving as mentor for Sixkill. As the case grows darker and secrets about both Jumbo and the dead girl come to light, it’s Spenser with Sixkill at his side who must put things right.

White Shadow

‘Mesmerizing…
a tour de force from one of the best crime writers at work today.’ Michael Connelly

White Shadow is a ‘stunning’ Lee Child noir thriller based on real life events.

1955: Tampa, Florida is a city pulsing with Sicilian and Cuban gangsters, cigar factories, sweet rum, and violence. The death of retired kingpin Charlie Wall the White Shadow has shocked the city, sending cops, reporters, and associates scrambling to find those responsible. As the trail winds through neighborhoods rich and poor, enmeshing the innocent and corrupt alike all the way down to the streets and casinos of Havana, an extraordinary story of revenge, honor, and greed emerges. For Charlie Wall had his secrets secrets that if discovered could destroy a criminal empire and ignite a revolution.

Wicked City

From the critically acclaimed, award nominated author comes a new noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history. Critics called Ace Atkins’s Wicked City gripping, superb Library Journal, stunning The Tampa Tribune, terrific Associated Press, riveting Kirkus Reviews, wicked good Fort Worth Star Telegram, and Atkins best novel The Washington Post. But Devil s Garden is something else again. San Francisco, September 1921: Silent screen comedy star Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle is throwing a wild party in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel: girls, jazz, bootleg hooch…
and a dead actress named Virginia Rappe. The D.A. says it was Arbuckle who killed her crushing her under his weight and brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearst s newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict. But what really happened? Why do so many people at the party seem to have stories that conflict? Why is the prosecution hiding witnesses? Why are there body parts missing from the autopsied corpse? Why is Hearst so determined to see Fatty Arbuckle convicted? In desperation, Arbuckle s defense team hires a Pinkerton agent to do an investigation of his own and, they hope, discover the truth. The agent s name is Dashiell Hammett, and he s the book s narrator. What he discovers will change American legal history and his own life forever. The historical accuracy isn t what elevates Atkins prose to greatness, said The Tampa Tribune. It s his ability to let these characters breathe in a way that few authors could ever imagine. He doesn t so much write them as unleash them upon the page. You will not soon forget the extraordinary characters and events in Devil s Garden.

Devil’s Garden

From the critically acclaimed, award nominated author comes a new noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history. Critics called Ace Atkins’s Wicked City gripping, superb Library Journal, stunning The Tampa Tribune, terrific Associated Press, riveting Kirkus Reviews, wicked good Fort Worth Star Telegram, and Atkins best novel The Washington Post. But Devil s Garden is something else again. San Francisco, September 1921: Silent screen comedy star Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle is throwing a wild party in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel: girls, jazz, bootleg hooch…
and a dead actress named Virginia Rappe. The D.A. says it was Arbuckle who killed her crushing her under his weight and brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearst s newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict. But what really happened? Why do so many people at the party seem to have stories that conflict? Why is the prosecution hiding witnesses? Why are there body parts missing from the autopsied corpse? Why is Hearst so determined to see Fatty Arbuckle convicted? In desperation, Arbuckle s defense team hires a Pinkerton agent to do an investigation of his own and, they hope, discover the truth. The agent s name is Dashiell Hammett, and he s the book s narrator. What he discovers will change American legal history and his own life forever. The historical accuracy isn t what elevates Atkins prose to greatness, said The Tampa Tribune. It s his ability to let these characters breathe in a way that few authors could ever imagine. He doesn t so much write them as unleash them upon the page. You will not soon forget the extraordinary characters and events in Devil s Garden.

Infamous

From ‘one of the best crime writers at work today’ Michael Connelly comes a fast,f unny, violent new noir crime classic a Coen Brothers movie come to life. He has been compared to Lehane, Ellroy, and Pelecanos, but Ace Atkins’s rich, raucous, passionate blend of historical novel and crime story is all his own and never more so than in Infamous. In July 1933, the gangster known as George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly staged the kidnapping for ransom of an Oklahoma oil man. He would live to regret it. Kelly was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, and what started clean soon became messy, as two of his partners cut themselves into the action; a determined former Texas Ranger makes tracking Kelly his mission; and Kelly’s wife, ever alert to her own self interest, starts playing both ends against the middle. The result is a mesmerizing tale set in the first days of the modern FBI, featuring one of the best femmes fatales in history the Lady Macbeth of Depression era crime a great unexpected hero, and some of the most colorful supporting characters in recent crime fiction.

Delta Blues

A dollar donation for every book sold will be given to the Rock River Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping the arts and literacy in the Delta. Contributing to the volume are Ace Atkins, Lynne Barrett, James Lee Burke, Suzann Ellingsworth, Beth Ann Fennelly, Bill Fitzhugh, Tom Franklin, John Grisham, Carolyn Haines, Charlaine Harris, Suzanne Hudson, Alice Jackson, Dean James, Toni L.P. Kelner, Michael Lister, Daniel Martine, Mary Saums, David Sheffield, Nathan Singer, and Les Standiford. From the introduction by Morgan Freeman: This collection of short fiction captures both the art of the tale and the power of the blues, and is a nod at the human condition that often inspires musicians to write and sing the blues. These stories tell about bad men and bad women who sometimes do good or sometimes follow their true nature. Some of these characters know all about the dangers of making a bargain with the devil. And some know the power of redemption. These are characters who would not be out of place in a Honeyboy Edwards tune, and would be right at home alongside the desolate wail of Clarksdale, Mississippi, native Son House.

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