Spenser novels
“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...
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...
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...
9) Ceremony
Praise for Ceremony
“Sizzling.”—The...
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...
15) Crimson joy
16) Playmates
17) Stardust
18) Pastime
19) Double deuce
Spenser is forced by loyalty into an alien world where violence is a way of life 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 Duce," he enlists his friend's aid. A Teenage girl and her infant daughtre have been gunned down. Though the act at first appears to be an accidental drive-by shooting, it soon becomes clear that it was premediatated murder.
...20) Paper doll
Hired by Loudon Tripp, an aggrieved Boston aristocrat who believes his late wife Olivia's brutal street slaying to be something other than random violence, Spencer immediately senses that his client's picture-perfect portrayal of his family life is false. For starters, the victim's reputation is too saintly, her house is as lived-in as a stage set, and her troubled children don't appear to be the product of a happy home. Spencer plunges into a
...21) Walking shadow
22) Thin air
23) Chance
24) Small vices
The bad kid from the 'hood has a long, long record, but did he really murder the white coed from ritzy Pemberton College? His former lawyers believe that he was framed, and they hire Spenser and Hawk to uncover the truth. Plumbing the depths of the seamy side of life, they encounter a no man's land of twisted cops and spoiled rich kids with peculiar private proclivities. When a master assassin's bullet takes Spenser down, he survives the attack
...25) Sudden mischief
26) Hush money
When Robin Nevins, the son of Hawk's boyhood mentor, is denied at the University, Hawk asks Spenser to investigate. It appears the denial is tied to the suicide of a young gay activist, and as Spenser digs deeper he is nearly drowned in a multicultural swamp of politics: black, gay, academic, and feminist. At the same time, Spenser's inamorata, Susan, asks him to come to the aid of an old college friend, K.C. Roth, the victim of a stalker. Spenser
...27) Hugger mugger
28) Potshot
29) Widow's walk
Read by
Boston's premier P.I investigates the murder of a prominent local banker, with family ties to the Mayflower - and perhaps the mob.
When fifty-one year old Nathan Smith, a confirmed bachelor, is found dead 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...
30) Back story
31) Bad business
32) Cold service
Spenser quickly learns...
33) School days
35) Now and then
Not surprisingly, Spenser catches Jordan with another man, tells Dennis what he’s found out, and considers the case closed. But...
36) Rough weather
37) The professional
38) Painted ladies
39) Sixkill
44) Kickback
47) Old black magic
Ten years ago, Spenser helped a teenage girl named Mattie Sullivan find her mother's killer and take down an infamous Southie crime boss. Now Mattie—a college student with a side job working for the tough but tender...