Robert B. Parker (born September 17, 1932) is an acclaimed American writer of detective fiction. His most famous works are the Spenser series, which achieved a far wider audience due to being dramatized as a television series, Spenser: For Hire, on the ABC network during the late 1980s. His works explore uncomfortable aspects of human nature and incorporate considerable knowledge about the Boston metropolitan area.

Biography

Robert Brown Parker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He met the future Joan H. Parker when both were three, but they began dating at Colby College and married in 1956; they have two sons, David and Daniel. Robert Parker received a Ph. D. in English literature from Boston University in 1971, with a dissertation on the private-eye heroes of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. He worked in technical writing and advertising and then in academia, eventually becoming a full professor at Northeastern University, and became a full-time writer in 1979. He and his wife separated in 1982 but reconciled in 1984, first living separately and since 1986 living on different floors of a house in Cambridge.

Parallels between Parker's life and his fiction are easy to find. His first literary collaboration with his wife, Three Weeks in Spring, is based on her first bout with breast cancer. Spenser's separation from and reconciliation with his girlfriend mirror the Parkers' marriage. Spenser's surrogate son, Paul Giacomin, is a dancer and choreographer like David Parker. Both David and Daniel Parker are gay, a situation that may be reflected in several sympathetic gay characters in Parker's fiction. In fact Daniel Parker, an actor, has played two of those characters (Spike and Detective Lee Farrell) in television films of his father's novels.

Selected Bibliography

Spenser novels

1. The Godwulf Manuscript (1973)
2. God Save the Child (1974)
3. Mortal Stakes (1975)
4. Promised Land (1976)
5. The Judas Goat (1978)
6. Looking for Rachel Wallace (1980)
7. Early Autumn (1981)
8. A Savage Place (1981)
9. Ceremony (1982)
10. The Widening Gyre (1983)
11. Valediction (1984)
12. Catskill Eagle (1985)
13. Taming a Sea Horse (1986)
14. Pale Kings and Princes (1987)
15. Crimson Joy (1988)
16. Playmates (1989)
17. Stardust (1990)
18. Pastime (1991)
19. Double Deuce (1992)
20. Paper Doll (1993)
21. Walking Shadow (1994)
22. Thin Air (1995)
23. Chance (1996)
24. Small Vices (1997)
25. Sudden Mischief (1998)
26. Hush Money (1999)
27. Hugger Mugger (2000)
28. Potshot (2001)
29. Widow's Walk (2002)
30. Back Story (2003)
31. Bad Business (2004)

Jesse Stone novels

1. Night Passage (1997)
2. Trouble in Paradise (1998)
3. Death In Paradise (2001)
4. Stone Cold (2003) (also includes Sunny Randall)

Sunny Randall novels

1. Family Honor (1999)
2. Perish Twice (2000)
3. Shrink Rap (2002)

Philip Marlowe novels

1. Poodle Springs (1990). A continuation of an unfinished manuscript by Raymond Chandler, authorized by Chandler's estate.
2. Perchance to Dream (1991). An authorized sequel to Chandler's novel The Big Sleep.

Other fiction

1. Wilderness (1980)
2. Love and Glory (1980)
3. Three Weeks in Spring (with Joan H. Parker) (1982)
4. All Our Yesterdays (1994)
5. Gunman's Rhapsody (2001)
6. Double Play (2004)

Non-fiction

1. Sports Illustrated Training with Weights (with John R. Marsh) 1974
2. A Year At The Races (with Joan H. Parker) 1990

External Links

http://bullets-and-beer.com/ A compendious fan site