Just wanted to add one small item to this Spenser discussion.
Last week I had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time
listening to some of the best contemporary crime writers
discuss their work (I was at the same conference in the
Bahamas that Dick Lochte attended.) Parker's Spenser novels
were mentioned repeatedly as a major influence on many of
these writers (it was also frequently stated, to be fair,
that the early books were far superior to the more recent
ones.) My opinion is that the countless imitations of the
Spenser books--and there are many--have tarnished our
perception of the originals. We're tired of Spenser's sons so
we're tired of Spenser. Put it in another context: a young
person looking at Bullitt or The French Connection today
might yawn at "just another car chase," but those car chases
were groundbreaking and mindblowing at the time of their
release.
On the other hand, some folks just don't care for the books,
and that's cool.
Pelecanos
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