Best Selling Books by Robert B. Parker

“[Robert B.] Parker''s brilliance is in his simple dialogue, and in Spenser.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer 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.

In Robert B. Parker''s most popular series, an unsolved thirty-year-old-murder draws the victim''s daughter out of the shadows for overdue justice-and lures Spenser into his own past, old crimes, and dangerous lives.

Boston PI Spenser investigates the perfect murder in this New York Times bestselling mystery in Robert B. Parker’s acclaimed series. She was a model wife and mother, bludgeoned with a hammer on the streets of Beacon Hill. Spenser''s searching for a motive and a murderer—and finding more secrets than meet the eye... “Among the best Spensers...Parker''s at the top of his game!”—Boston Globe

After a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall realize just how much they really have in common with their victims, their suspects--and each other. Available in a tall Premium Edition.

“[Parker''s found] the pitch-perfect voice for a guy who is straining every muscle to cut down on the booze, hang on to his new job as police chief, and not get rattled by the body of a teenage girl”(The New York Times) in this bestselling mystery in the Jesse Stone series. Robert B. Parker takes readers back in Paradise, where Detective Jesse Stone is looking for two things: the killer of a teenage girl—and someone, anyone, who is willing to claim the body... The local cops haven''t seen anything like this, but Jesse''s L.A. past has made him all too familiar with floaters. This girl hadn''t committed suicide; she hadn''t been drowned: she''d been shot and dumped, discarded like trash. Before long it becomes clear that she had a taste for the wild life; and her own parents can''t be bothered to report her missing, or even admit that she once was a child of theirs. All Jesse has to go on is a young man''s school ring on a gold chain, and a hunch or two. Filled with magnetic characters and the muscular writing that are Parker''s trademarks, Death in Paradise is a storytelling masterpiece.

An experienced detective finds himself entangled in a dangerous web of deceit and danger. Hired by a jilted bride to track her cheating husband, Spenser’s investigation takes an unexpected turn when he crosses paths with another detective assigned to follow the unfaithful wife. They aren''t the most trusting couple in town, but as it turns out, they are the most dangerous. As they dig deeper into the case, they uncover shocking secrets that threaten to unravel everything.

Jesse Stone returns in this New York Times bestselling novel of death and deception from Robert B. Parker. Stiles Island is a wealthy and exclusive enclave separated by a bridge from the Massachusetts coast town of Paradise. James Macklin sees the Island as the ultimate investment opportunity: all he needs to do is invade it, blow the bridge, and loot the island. To realize his scheme, Macklin, along with his devoted girlfriend, Faye, assembles a crew of fellow ex-cons—all experts in their fields—including Wilson Cromartie, a fearsome Apache. James Macklin is a bad man, a very bad man. And Wilson Cromartie, known as Crow, is even worse. As Macklin plans his crime, Paradise police chief Jesse Stone has his hands full. He faces romantic entanglements in triplicate: his ex-wife, Jenn, is in the Paradise jail for assault, he’s begun a new relationship with a Stiles Island realtor named Marcy Campbell, and he’s still sorting out his feelings for attorney Abby Taylor. When Macklin’s attack on Stiles Island is set in motion, both Marcy and Abby are put in jeopardy. As the casualties mount, it’s up to Jesse to keep both women from harm.

Robert B. Parker introduces readers to police chief Jesse Stone in the first novel in the beloved mystery series—a New York Times bestseller. After a busted marriage kicks his drinking problem into overdrive and the LAPD unceremoniously dumps him, thirty-five-year-old Jesse Stone’s future looks bleak. So he’s shocked when a small Massachusetts town called Paradise recruits him as police chief. He can’t help wondering if this job is a genuine chance to start over, the kind of offer he can’t refuse. Once on board, Jesse doesn’t have to look for trouble in Paradise: it comes to him. For what is on the surface a quiet New England community quickly proves to be a crucible of political and moral corruption—replete with triple homicide, tight Boston mob ties, flamboyantly errant spouses, maddened militiamen and a psychopath-about-town who has fixed his violent sights on the new lawman. Against all this, Jesse stands utterly alone, with no one to trust—even he and the woman he’s seeing are like ships passing in the night. He finds he must test his mettle and powers of command to emerge a local hero—or the deadest of dupes.

The most personal and revealing Spenser thriller of all, Pastime is Robert B. Parker''s electrifying masterpeice of crime fiction--a startling game of memory, desire, and danger that forces Spenser to face his own past. Ten years ago, he saved a teenage boy from a father''s rage. Now, on the brink of manhood, the boy seeks answers to his mother''s sudden disapearance. Spenser is the only man he can turn to. This time, it''s more than a routine search for a missing person--Spenser must search his own soul...

Cole and Hitch are back in a new Western classic... The guns-for-hire introduced in Robert B. Parker''s Appaloosa are back... When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch track down the woman who stole Virgil''s heart, they find a dispirited prostitute rather than the innocent beauty she once was. Now they must save her, even if murder is the price of redemption.

Reluctantly escorting the gold-digging and recently separated Heidi Bradshaw to her daughter''s wedding, Boston private investigator Spenser hopes to reconnect with his beloved Susan but becomes enmeshed in a kidnapping plot involving his nemesis Rugar, in a case that is further complicated by a hurricane. 250,000 first printing.

Susan Silverman''s ex doesn''t call himself "Silverman" anymore--he''s changed his name to "Sterling." And that''s not the only thing that''s phony about him. A do-gooding charity fundraiser, he''s been accused of sexual harassment by no less than four different women. And not long after Spenser starts investigating, Sterling is wanted for a bigger charge: murder...

A blazingly original novel from the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, featuring a sharp, tough, sexy new P.I., Sunny Randall. Sunny Randall is a Boston P.I. and former cop, a college graduate, an aspiring painter, a divorcée, and the owner of a miniature bull terrier named Rosie. Hired by a wealthy family to locate their teenage daughter, Sunny is tested by the parents’ preconceived notion of what a detective should be. With the help of underworld contacts she tracks down the runaway Millicent, who has turned to prostitution, rescues her from a vicious pimp, and finds herself, at thirty-four, the unlikely custodian of a difficult teenager when the girl refuses to return to her family. But Millicent’s problems are rooted in much larger crimes than running away, and Sunny, now playing the role of bodyguard, is caught in a shooting war with some very serious mobsters. She turns for help to her ex-husband, Richie, himself the son of a mob family, and to her dearest friend, Spike, a flamboyant and dangerous gay man. Heading this unlikely alliance, Sunny must solve at least one murder, resolve a criminal conspiracy that reaches to the top of state government, and bring Millicent back into functional young womanhood.

Massachusetts police chief Jesse Stone''s investigation of a violent series of car thefts is complicated by political pressures, the summer tourist season, and the questionable goals of an ambitious PR executive.

New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser series of crime thrillers—Book 1 in the series “The toughest, funniest, wisest, private eye in the field these days.”—Houston Chronicle 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, a Boston PI, is once again hired by April Kyle who was a teenage runaway that turned to prostitution. Now she is a madam of an up-scale, all-female operation that some men are trying to take away from her. April claims she doesn''t know who is aft

Spenser is forced by loyalty into an alien world where violence is a way of lie and outsiders enter at a lethal risk. When Spenser''s cohort, Hawk, is hired by the tenants of a gang-plagued Boston housing project known as "Double Deuce", he enlists his friend''s aid. A friend''s girl and her infant daughter have been gunned down. Though the act at first appears to be an accidental drive-by shooting, it soon becomes clear that it was premeditated murder. Before they can solve the crime, Spenser and Hawk must take on an adolescent band of hardened urban warriors. As bullets fly and the brutality escalates, Spenser learns more than he ever dreamed about a generation imprisoned in a hell of poverty and hopelessness where muscle is the ticket to survival, and the surest way out is in a body bag. Pulsing with moral complexity, Double Deuce is the kind of no-holds-barred action thriller only Robert B. Parker can create.

The house looked right. And the neighborhood was perfect. And everything else was wrong. So Spenser took the parents'' money and went after a runaway girl. Unfortunately, April Kyle had already traveled two lifetimes from her suburban home. Now she was caught up in a web of pinps, criminals, and exploiters—the kinf of people who won''t listen to anything but money, or a gun. . . . Praise for Ceremony “Sizzling.”—The Pittsburgh Press “Pick of the crop, this one. Genuinely involving.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"It''s easy to see why Parker''s snappy banter and cynical eye have kept fans turning pages for 25 years . . . his wisecracks, combined with Parker''s shorthand flair for scathing characterization, make for a satisfying read," said Entertainment Weekly of last year''s Hush Money. Now Parker presents Spenser with 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 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 a 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 whole Three Fillies organization--and watch his own back as well. With razor-sharp dialogue, eloquently spare prose, and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, Hugger Mugger is grand entertainment.

Spenser goes back to school--to investigate 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...

Ellis Alves is a bad kid from the ''hood with a long record, but did he really murder Melissa Henderson, a white student from ritzy Pemberton College? Alves''s former lawyers think he was framed, and they hire Spenser to uncover the truth. From Boston''s back streets to Manhattan''s elite, Spenser and Hawk search for suspects, including Melissa''s rich kid tennis-star boyfriend. But when a man with a .22 puts Spenser in a coma, the hope for justice might just die along with the detective...

“Ebullient entertainment.”—Time A hotshot reporter is dead. He''d gone to take a look-see at “Miami North”—little Wheaton, Massachusetts—the biggest cocaine distribution center above the Mason-Dixon line. Did the kid die for getting too close to the truth . . . or to a sweet lady with a jealous husband? Spenser will stop at nothing to find out. Praise for Robert B. Parker''s Spenser novels “Like Philip Marlowe, Spenser is a man of honor in a dishonorable world. When he says he will do something, it is done. The dialogues zings, and there is plenty of action . . . but it is the moral element that sets them above most detective fiction.”—Newsweek “Crackling dialogue, plenty of action and expert writing . . . Unexpectedly literate—[Spenser is] in many respects the very exemplar of the species.”—The New York Times “They just don’t make private eyes tougher or funnier.”—People “Parker has a recorder’s ear for dialogue, an agile wit . . . and, strangely enough, a soupçon of compassion hidden under that sardonic, flip exterior.”—Los Angeles Times “A deft storyteller, a master of pace.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Spenser probably had more to do with changing the private eye from a coffin-chaser to a full-bodied human being than any other detective hero.”—The Chicago Sun-Times “[Spenser is] tough, intelligent, wisecracking, principled, and brave.”—The New Yorker

They were the Sheridan men, ruled by passion, betrayed by love, heirs to a legacy of violence and forbidden desire. Gus, Boston''s top homicide cop: he knew equally well the backroom politics of City Hall and the private passions of the very rich, a man haunted by the wanton courage and perilous obsessions he inherited from his father... Conn, the patriarch, a lawless cop who spawned a circle of vengeance and betrayal that would span half a century... and Chris, Gus''s beloved son, a Harvard lawyer and criminologist, fated to risk everything to break the chain of obsession and rage... Three generations linked by crime and punishment--cops and heroes, fathers, sons, and lovers united at last by revelations that could bring a family to its knees...

A serial killer is on the loose in Beantown and the cops can''t catch him. But when the killer leaves his red rose calling card for Spenser''s own Susan Silverman, he gets all the attention that Spenser and Hawk can give. Spenser plays against time while he tracks the Red Rose killer from Boston''s Combat Zone to the suburbs. His trap is both daring and brave, and gives the story a satisfying climax.

The Boston PI gets tangled in Cape Cod’s criminal underworld in this Edgar Award–winning mystery from the New York Times–bestselling author. Cape Cod businessman Harvey Shepard is in over his head. He lost a quarter million on a shady real estate deal, the loan shark is circling, and now he needs a private investigator to find out where his wife, Pam, disappeared to. Spencer takes the case, but finding Pam isn’t the hard part—the hard part is finding out she’s suspected of a bank robbery that led to murder. Robert B. Parker’s Spencer novels featuring the former boxer turned Boston PI are “one of the great series in the history of the American detective story.” Promised Land, the Edgar Award–winning fourth Spencer novel, was also adapted into the pilot episode of the classic tv series Spencer: For Hire (The New York Times).

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.

A murder draws Boston PI Spenser into the dramatic world of theater in this New York Times bestseller in Robert B. Parker’s long-running series. In a shabby waterfront town, an actor is shot dead onstage. Granted, the script left much to be desired. But there''s more behind the scenes than an overzealous critic—and Spenser and Hawk are combing Port City’s underworld to find it... “Great fun...[Spenser] is still the cockiest and wittiest P.I. on the block.”—The New York Times

Struggling with a high-profile case involving the murders of a controversial talk-show host and a young woman, Paradise police chief Jesse Stone becomes increasingly frustrated by the lack of interest on the part of the victims'' families.

The New York Times bestselling Western from Robert B. Parker Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole are lawmen and friends who share the brutal hardships of an emerging West. But the courage that has defined them is challenged by a man without conscience or remorse. Now, Hitch and Cole have followed him to the small town of Appaloosa. What follows is a dance of wills where villains are cast in shades of grey, where heroes hide in the blackest shadows, where women can betray with frightening ease, and where Hitch and Cole will discover the price of responsibility, honor, and loyalty in the Old West.

Police chief Jesse Stone faces the case of his career in this thrilling novel in the New York Times bestselling series. When a woman''s partially decomposed body washes ashore in Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone is forced into a case far more difficult than it initially appears. Identifying the woman is just the first step in what proves to be an emotionally charged investigation. Florence Horvath was an attractive, recently divorced heiress from Florida; she also had a penchant for steamy sex and was an enthusiastic participant in a video depicting the same. Somehow the combination of her past and present got her killed, but no one is talking—not the crew of the Lady Jane, the Fort Lauderdale yacht moored in Paradise Harbor; not her very blond, very tan twin sisters, Corliss and Claudia; and not her curiously affectless parents, living out a sterile retirement in a Miami high rise. But someone—Jesse—has to speak for the dead, even if it puts him in harm''s way.

When a mature, beautiful and composed April Kyle strides into Spenser''s office, the Boston PI briefly hesitates before recognising his once and future client. Now a well-established Madam herself, April oversees and upscale calgirl 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 help. 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''s help.

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker returns with his newest heroine, Boston P.I. Sunny Randall, coming to the aid of three very different women in three very dangerous situations. One is for business. One is for a friend. One is for family. And all could be fatal…

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker turns his eye to the Old West with his stirring rendition of the legendary exploits of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the Clanton Gang, and the fateful gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Investigating allegations of lewd conduct on the part of the local junior high principal, police chief Jesse Stone finds efforts to bring the woman to justice thwarted by a high-powered attorney, a case that is further complicated by the activities of a twisted voyeur. 300,000 first printing.

Boone Adams: He was so smart he wrote half the English papers for the freshman class, when he wasn''t getting drunk at night and waking up hung over in the morning. To him life was full of promise . . . just the ones it didn''t intend to keep. Jennifer Grayle: She was the campus golden girl, so rich, so pretty, that every boy wanted to take her out. Except Boone. He wanted to marry her. John Merchent: He was tall and blond with blue eyes and a cleft in his chin like Cary Grant''s. He didn''t have Boone''s lively imagination, but he had something else: Jennifer. Praise for Love and Glory “[Robert] Parker writes with economy and precision and wit and passion. . . . Love and Glory [is] one of the best love stories I''ve ever encountered.”—The Press-Chronicle “A straightforward, unrelenting, shamelessly romantic novel that''s about a two-year obsession. . . . It works . . . [and] love stories that work are almost an extinct breed. Almost.”—Santa Cruz Sentinel “Parker''s writing is like fine architecture or music—it''s both intricate and direct. There are no false notes.”—Chicago Sun-Times

Called back from retirement when a serial killer from a long-unsolved case reemerges, detective Phil Randall teams up with daughter and Boston private eye Sunny Randall throughout a series of murder investigations in which the victims unsettlingly resemble Sunny. 250,000 first printing.

A bad-boy movie star pushes the limits of his reputation when he''s accused of rape and murder. It''s a high-profile case for Spenser, but the Hollywood secrets he uncovers are sordidly lowdown -- and not just those of the accused.

Her name is Lisa St. Claire. Her husband''s a cop. Her whereabouts are unknown. Spenser thought he could help a friend find his missing wife. Until he learned the nasty truth about Lisa St. Claire. For starters, it''s not her real name...

Once, Appaloosa law was Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. Now it''s Amos Callico, a vindictive, power-hungry tin star with bigger aims-and he could use Cole and Hitch on his side. This time the paid guns aren''t for hire, which makes Callico a very vengeful man. But threatening Cole and Hitch ignites something just as dangerous.

A horrifying school shooting draws Boston PI Spenser into a harrowing investigation in this thriller by New York Times bestselling author Robert B. Parker. When a Massachusetts boy is accused of mass murder, his socially prominent grandmother is convinced of his innocence and is willing to fight for him. But based on the boy’s resigned attitude and the evidence stacked against him, Spenser isn’t convinced of anything—except that there’s trouble ahead...