New Robert B. Parker and J. Sandford Books

[Texas Star]

Went to Barnes & Noble tonight and found a new book by the late Robt. B. Parker. Bought it instead of Wilbur Smith's new one, after browsing the Smith book. (May get that one later, at a used book store. The price will be more in line with the content.)

Anyway, this may be the final mss. left by Parker, who died in Jan. 2010. It's called, Sixkill, after the last name of a Red Indian character. I'm about ten pages into it, and it seems on par with the author's other Spenser books. He seems to have given up very little (if anything!) as he aged. I think he was 78 or 79 at his death. (As the also late Peter H. Capstick might have drolly remarked, he (Parker) has had no further birthdays.)

The premise is that the Boston cops (Lt. Martin Quirk) want Spenser to determine whether a famous actor raped and killed a young, starstruck chick who had bedded down with him. Or, did some other nefarious cause account for her death in his hotel room?

Zebulon Sixkill is the actor's bodyguard, who evidently teams up with Spenser to solve the case.

You may want to take a look at this if you're a Spenser fan. If you aren't, you may become one, and he left a LOT of books to read. Some are in his Jesse Stone series, and I know that some here like Stone's TV movies, where he was portrayed by Tom Selleck. The Spenser books also came to TV, in a series starring the late Robert Urich, and in TV movies starring Joe Mantegna. (Now on, Criminal Minds.)

Oh: John Sandford also has a new book out in his Prey series, Buried Prey. But I could afford only one book tonight. (As with most nights...) That series is usually excellent, though.

Do any of you read these authors?

T-Star
P.S. Sorry about the title of the thread. Can a mod correct the spelling error? I couldn't see the entire line until I posted. And I'm really tired.

 

[dickttx]

Not trying to be a smart a**, just asking, do you use your library?
I keep a list of new books that show up on Amazon, then periodically check on line with the library. When they show up as "On Order" I place a request, and they notify me when they are available. I think the Ft Worth system has 26 libraries, and your book comes from the first one available.
If I decide I like an author I usually start back at their first book, whether from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, or 10's and read in sequence. It is sometimes amazing how their style changes over the years.
I generally keep about 6 books on request all the time.
The only books I buy are from estate sales, usually $2/$4, and, books that are really neat, like by Lew Wallace, Will Rogers, Hemingway, Mark Twain, Ben K. Green, O. Henry, Bill Mauldin, etc. Really some good old books out there.

 

[btruman]

I'm going to check on Sixkill. Sounds like a good one. I also request books from the libraries. I'm an avid reader, mostly mysteries and sci-fi but we really don't have room for many books in our small house so I seldom buy one. We do have 3 branches of the Louisville Free Public library within 10 to 15 minutes of driving and they have been getting new books on the shelves quickly the last few years.

 

[ThirtyAcres]

Sandford's books are the best.

Got everyone but the last one for a dollar apiece at local library booksales. Nice hardcovers with dustjackets. Most are first editions.

I am number one on the list for Buried Prey in large print when it hits the shelf at the library.

I enjoy his Virgil Flowers and Kidd series just as much.

I see Mark Harmon (NCIS) is making a movie out of Sandford's novel Certain Prey.

The two Clara Rinker books are my favorites. I wish he hadn't killed her off.

 

[coldmold]

I am an avid reader. I find it much more enjoyable than most of the junk that is on tv. I have read all of Parker, and Sandfords books and will certainly watch the local library for the new ones.
I live in a smaller town but we boast a new and large libray. Some of the other authors I like are J A Jance and Stuart Wood.

 

[Glock 'em down]

The late, great Robert B. Parker literaly taught me to read.

All thru my life, I've never read a single book cover to cover. Even in school, if we were required to read a book and write a report about it, I would just skim thru it and make up a bunch of stuff.

However...

About 5 or 6 years ago, that all changed when a movie aired on CBS starring one of my very favorite actors, Tom Selleck. That movie was called Stone Cold.

When I realized it was based on a novel, I decided to go to the local library and see if they had it. Since then, I have read EVERY SINGLE NOVEL that RBP has ever written.

I cried the day he passed.

While I do enjoy a good dose of Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall were my favorite of all his characters.

But my very favorite of his writings was All Our Yesterdays and Double Play. If you ever get a chance, check 'em out.

Since watching (and reading) Stone Cold, I have purchased the entire Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall series on paperback and I also own the complete Jesse Stone DVD collection.

Incidentally...the newest Jesse Stone movie, Innocents Lost debuts on CBS Sunday, May 22nd at 8pm CST.

 

[H Richard]

I just downloaded the "Buried Prey" by Sanford to my Kindle, just a few pages into it. I think I have read every novel Sanford has written. I think his Virgil Flowers one of his best.

 

[mtgianni]

I enjoyed Sixkill from the Library. I have all the Parkers' in paperback. I still prefer Lucas Davenport to Virgil Flowers but enjoy both.

 

[Texas Star]

I think I've read all of Parker's Spenser, Jesse Stone, and Sunny Randall books. I have not tackled his Westerns.

I've read the Lucas Davenport books from Sandford, and like Virgil Flowers, but not as much as Davenport. I like that Virgil writes on the side for outdoor magazines. But the doofus doesn't wear his gun half the time. Davenport has to remind him to have it on him! That's as bad as the Navaho cop Jim Chee in Tony Hillerman's books. Chee was about halfway to being a hippie.

Sandford hunts, and he knows a fair amount about guns. But he is a former newsman and an open Democrat, and plugs Dem politics in his books. He has been mentioning gun types less. The author may be trying for a political appt.?

I do read Stuart Woods (not Wood, as one poster spelled it.) I like his Stone Barrington books, the others less. But the pic of Woods on the back cover of recent books with Jackie Kennedy Onassis on the wall of a NYC restaurant offends me, and he seems to love posturing himself as a shoulder-rubber with New York society. That leaves me cold. But I like his flying expertise, which finds its way into his books. I like his Holly Barker books, but she may have been phased into the Barrington books, now that she works for that CIA guy. Don't care for the Kahr .380 in some books. Rather see the Ruger .380 in new books. Too often, Woods has opted for a generic 9mm automatic. Probaby doesn't know guns much.

Barrington's smart-donkey (is that board-okay? ) NYPD pal, Dino Bachetti, reminds me of someone on this board. Anyone wanna guess who?

I review my hardbacks occasionally and give some to friends or relatives. Sell some at used book stores. I need to thin out the stock now. I usually don't use the library, because I often ran up fines when I couldn't return books on time. I often want to keep the better books, too. I do usually buy books at the half price store near me. But if I've been waiting for one and want it NOW, I buy at B&N or Border's.

Finally, as the Spenser books evolved and Parker acquired some gun knowledge, Spenser's armament improved. His .32 was exchanged for a snub .38 S&W and he often had a 9mm Browning. Jesse Stone uses a .45 auto onscreen, but that's Selleck's preference. Stone has a snub .38 in the books. And Molly is white in the books. I guess TV had to change that for PC reasons...

T-Star

 

[rangemaster]

Growing up, I was obsessed with Spenser. Robert Urich was my hero. Mr. Urich went to high school in Toledo, OH which is not far from where I lived. I once got to meet him there when I was about 12 years old. It was the coolest thing that happened to me as a kid.

I was in Kuwait when Robert Urich passed on in 2001. He was too young.

I was not aware that Mr. Parker too had passed. This leaves me saddened. I read all of the Spenser novels I could find, and own most of them.

 

[rocketdog]

I think I've read every book by Parker and by Sandford.

Was lucky enough to meet Robert B. Parker at a book signing. Brought a cool little gift for him, which I think he liked and found amusing. IIRC, he wrote, "Gene, you the man!" and signed the title page.

Almost got to meet Sandford last year at a book signing, but the line was really long, guessing 100 or more persons.

Ran across a very good series by Philip Kerr involving the Bernie Gunther character, a German detective trying to survive WWI, Weimar years, the thirties, WWII and postwar years. Good stuff.

BernieGunther.com - The Bernie Gunther Novels of Philip Kerr

 

[Anton Chigurh]

I have read all the Stone books, most of the Sunny's, but find the 4 book series featuring Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch the most fun. Wish Parker had at some point finally understood that Colt SAA pistols didn't have swing out cylinders, but this is an author who could totally enthrall you with just dialog. No long winded **** about the birch trees, or the ocean, or what everyone pined for in their lives.

 

[GKC]

Sandford is my favorite author...I have every one of his books in hardcover, and most of them on my Kindle. I just finished "Buried Prey" on my Kindle. I'll order the hardcover soon.

Hopefully, this isn't a spoiler for anyone who hasn't read the book...but I do have one gripe with the book, and I don't recall him making this mistake before: at one point, there is a reference to a character checking his Glock to make sure the safety is off. Now, it is possible for a Glock to have a safety, because I have seen an advertisement for a company that installs them on Glocks...but unless that is what he was thinking, Sandford made a mistake on that.

He does have Lucas carrying a S&W Model 40 off duty early in his career (this book goes back to the start of Lucas' career) and then later on, a Colt Gold Cup. I like to read what guns the characters carry and use.

There was a movie made some time ago based on his first book: "Mind Prey." It wasn't very good, and one of the worst things about it was the actor who played Lucas Davenport was black! Now, I don't mean that to sound racist, but Davenport is very well described in every Prey novel, and he is not black! I would like to see some more movies made from Sandford's novels, but I hope they will be true to his characterization.

I'll leave you with this little teaser: a fairly major character dies in this book. It was a shock to me!

 

[Texas Star]

I hear you! Other whites who became black in movie roles were Molly in the Jesse Stone books and Felix Leiter in the Bond movie, "Live and Let Die."

Now, nothing in the Stone books infers that Molly is black.
I've always pictured her as blonde. And Ian Fleming described Leiter as a "straw-haired Texan." Fleming had the basic attitudes of traditional upper class Britons when he wrote, and I think he spun in his grave with what the movies did with some of his titles.

If they need black characters to be PC, they need to not do that to people who should not be portrayed that way. They can add a character if they feel the need.

T-Star

 

[Marshwheeling]

For me, Parker and Sandford fall in the category of authors who, once I have read a few of them, I don't need to read any more. I read a few of Sandford, and quite a few of Parker, before I lost interest. I gave up on Harry Potter after the first three or four, too. Not that I dislike any of them: there are just a lot of other guys I'd rather read.

Sandford (real name: John Camp) is a kind of neighbor, and was well known around here as a St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist before he started writing fiction.

 

[GKC]

For me, Parker and Sandford fall in the category of authors who, once I have read a few of them, I don't need to read any more.

I understand what you are saying...there are a few authors I feel that way about too. With Sandford, though, I like to follow the characters and see how they progress, change, interact, etc from book to book.

 

[5Wire]

Lucas carried an HK P7M13 early on. It was his "dress gun". His armory changed over the years and he got tamed a bit by Weather. Sandford/Camp seems to be having good time writing these stories and he makes it look easy. What's not to like.

Parker has the same apparently effortless way with words and also builds his characters through dialog. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself in the world he invokes even though you know that Spenser is going to deck some overconfident thug or two within the first thirty or forty pages.

I thought Robert Urich was definitively Spenser and that Avery Brooks was definitively Hawk.

 

[GKC]

My son got me started reading Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" books...they are not on the same level as Sandford's books. I've read them all, but as a character Reacher is just a little too improbable...kinda like Rambo in print.

If you like legal fiction, I recommend Scott Turow. He really delves into the characters. His novels don't have a lot of action, but they are very suspenseful. I used to like John Grisham, at least initially, but his constant "liberal lawyer takes on the system and wins" theme gets rather old.

This past Christmas, my wife gave me a complete set of James Patterson's books...at least all that were available at the time. I'd never read him before, although I liked the movies that were made from his books. I read a couple of the books, and found that I didn't really care for them.

 

[GoHogs]

I've read all the "Prey" series from John Sandford.
Lucas has gotten older and tamed down quite a bit from his old days and the recent books have been largely police procedurals but he's like family now so I stick with him.
And 5wire is correct, he carried an HK P7M13 in the beginning.

 

[mm6mm6]

Another fan of the Prey books by John Sandford. I love reading "series" books.

I am coursing through Lee Child's "Reacher" books now and they are absolutely amazing. They don't need to be read in any order and I'm on my 10th out of 16 books.

Stephen Hunter is the best when it comes to gun stuff and I relish each book he's written in the Swagger (Bob Lee or Earl) series. The triple combination of Point of Impact, Dirty White Boys, and Black Light still stuns me....