Robert B. Parker | |
|---|---|
 Parker in 2006 | |
| Born | Robert Brown Parker (1932-09-17)September 17, 1932 |
| Died | January 18, 2010(2010-01-18) (aged 77)[1] Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Period | 1974–2010 |
| Genre | Detective fiction,Western fiction |
| Notable works | Spenser series Jesse Stone series Sunny Randall series |
| Spouse | Joan Hall Parker (m. 1956) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | |
| robertbparker | |
Robert Brown Parker (September 17, 1932 – January 18, 2010) was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works include the 40 novels written about the fictional private detectiveSpenser. In the mid-1980s, based on the character of detective Spenser,ABC television network developed the television seriesSpenser: For Hire. Aseries of TV movies was also produced based on the same character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of theBoston metropolitan area.[2] The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors,[3] includingRobert Crais,Harlan Coben, andDennis Lehane.[4]
Parker also wrote nine novels featuringJesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first wasAppaloosa, made into a film starringEd Harris andViggo Mortensen. The Jesse Stone books were adapted into a series of TV films starringTom Selleck.
Following Parker's death, authorised continuations of his works have been penned by other authors: the Spenser books were written byAce Atkins (2012-2022) andMike Lupica (2023-present); Jesse Stone by Michael Brandman (2011-2013),Reed Farrel Coleman (2014-2019), Lupica (2020-2022) andChristopher Farnsworth (2025-present); Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch by Robert Knott; and Sunny Randall by Lupica (2018-2020) andAlison Gaylin (2023).
Parker was born inSpringfield, Massachusetts.[5] In 1956, Parker married Joan H. Parker, whom he claimed to have met as a toddler at a birthday party.[6] They spent their childhoods in the same neighborhood.[7]
After earning a bachelor of arts degree fromColby College inWaterville, Maine, Parker served as a soldier in theUS Army Infantry inKorea. In 1957, he earned his master's degree in English literature fromBoston University and then worked in advertising and technical writing until 1962.[5] Parker received a PhD in English literature from Boston University in 1971.[8] His dissertation, titled "The Violent Hero, Wilderness Heritage, and Urban Reality," discussed the exploits of fictional private-eye heroes created byDashiell Hammett,Raymond Chandler, andRoss Macdonald.[5]
Parker wrote his first novel[8] in 1971 while teaching atNortheastern University. He became a full professor in 1976, and turned to full-time writing in 1979, with five Spenser novels to his credit.[5]
Parker's popularSpenser novels are known for his characters of varied races and religions. According to critic Christina Nunez, Parker's "inclusion of [characters of] other races and sexual persuasions" lends his writings a "more modern feel".[9] For example, theSpenser series characters include Hawk and Chollo, African American and Mexican American, respectively, as well as Spenser's Jewish girlfriend, Susan, various Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, a gay cop, Lee Farrell, and even a gay mob boss, Gino Fish.[10] The homosexuality of both his sons gave his writing "[a] sensibility," Ms. Nunez feels, "[which] strengthens Parker's sensibility [toward gays]." In 1985,Spenser was made into a successful television series,Spenser for Hire, which starredRobert Urich,Avery Brooks, andBarbara Stock.
In 1994, Parker collaborated with Japanese photographer Kasho Kumagai onSpenser's Boston, acoffee-table book that explores the city through Spenser's eyes via high quality, four-color photos. In addition to Parker's introduction, excerpts from several of the Spenser novels were included.[11]
Parker created female detective Sunny Randall at the request of actressHelen Hunt, who wanted him to write a part for her to play. He wrote the first book, and the film version was planned for 2000,[5] but never materialized.[8] His publisher liked the character, though, and asked him to continue with the series.[8]
Another figure created by Parker wasJesse Stone, a troubled formerLAPD detective, who starts a new career as a police chief in a small New England town. Between 1997 and 2010, he wrote nine novels featuring Jesse Stone, all of which have been adapted as a series of TV movies by CBS starringTom Selleck as Jesse Stone.
Aside from crime writing, Parker also produced several Western novels, includingAppaloosa,[12] and children's books. Like Parker's Spenser series, his Westerns have received critical attention. Chris Dacus, who has written on other authors including Cormac McCarthy, has written of the intellectual depth and importance of Parker's Westerns inThe Stoic Western Hero: Robert B. Parker's Westerns.[13]
Parker and his wife created an independent film company called Pearl Productions, based in Boston. It was named after theirGerman Shorthaired Pointer, Pearl.[8]
Parker and his wife, Joan, had two sons, David and Daniel. Originally, the character of Spenser was to have been called "David", but Parker did not want to appear to favor one of his sons over the other, so Parker omitted Spenser's first name entirely, and it was never revealed.
Parker and his wife separated at one point, but then came to an unusual arrangement. They lived in a three-story Victorian house just outside of Harvard Square; she lived on one floor and he on another, and they shared the middle floor. This living arrangement is mirrored in Spenser's private life: his girlfriend, Susan, had an aversion to marriage and living together full-time. Living separately suited them both, although they were fully committed to each other. Explaining the arrangement in an interview onCBS Sunday Morning, Parker said, "I want to make love to my wife for the rest of my life, but I never want to sleep with her again."
He had a great fondness for dogs, including German Shorthair Pointers. Dogs were included in his Spenser stories, aging along with the character and appearing in the ongoing series of novels. The dogs were always named Pearl.[14]
Parker's favorite books wereThe Bear,The Great Gatsby,Hamlet,Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,The Maltese Falcon,The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,Dubliners,The Big Sleep,U.S.A. trilogy, andThe Ambassadors.[15]
Parker received three nominations and twoEdgar Awards from theMystery Writers of America. He received the first award, the "Best Novel Award" in 1977, for the fourth novel in the Spenser series,Promised Land.[16] In 1983, he received theMaltese Falcon Award, Japan, forEarly Autumn. In 1990, he shared, with wife Joan, a nomination for "Best Television Episode" for the TV seriesB.L. Stryker, but the award went to David J. Burke and Alfonse Ruggiero Jr. forWiseguy.
In 2002, he received the Grand Master Award Edgar for his collectiveoeuvre.[17]
Parker received the 2002 Joseph E. Connor Memorial Award from the Phi Alpha Tau Fraternity at Emerson College. He was inducted into the fraternity as an honorary brother in spring 2003.[18]
In 2008, he was awarded theGumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award.
Parker was 77 when he died suddenly of a heart attack at his home inCambridge, Massachusetts, on January 18, 2010; discovered at his desk by his wife Joan, he had been working on a novel.[1][19][20]
Joan Parker, the inspiration for the Susan Silverman character in the Spenser series, died June 12, 2013.
Later written byAce Atkins, the Spenser series continued following Parker's death.The Boston Globe wrote that while some people might have "viewed the move as unseemly, those people didn't know Robert B. Parker, a man who, when asked how his books would be viewed in 50 years, replied: 'Don't know, don't care.' He was proud of his work, but he mainly saw writing as a means of providing a comfortable life for his family."[14]
After Parker died, his family, together with Parker's publishers, chose to continue the Jesse Stone, Spenser, and Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch series.[21]
Ace Atkins was selected to continue the Spenser novels. The book Parker was working on at the time of his death was completed by his literary agent Helen Bran.[22]
Eleven Jesse Stone novels have been published since Parker's death. The first three were by Parker's longtime friend and collaborator, Michael Brandman, and the next six byReed Farrel Coleman.[23][24]Mike Lupica wrote the 10th in 2020 and eleventh in 2021.
Parker's Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch series was continued by actor and screenwriter Robert Knott.[25]
The Sunny Randall series continued withBlood Feud (November 27, 2018),Grudge Match (May 4, 2020),Payback (2021), andRevenge Tour (2022). The books were written by Parker's friend, sports journalistMike Lupica.[26] The eleventh and twelfth books in the Sunny Randall series,Bad Influence andBuzzkill, were written byAlison Gaylin and published in 2023 and 2024.
"Surrogate"' (1991)" A short story published in the crime anthologyNew Crimes 3ISBN 0-88184-737-2
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