Latest update 18 November 2006 by Bob Ames

When I started this site I had a single transcript of a newspaper article and needed a place to put it.  Since then I've tossed everything else in here that didn't belong elsewhere and it became rather messy.  Let's get organized.  

I've divided the page into sections that you can reach by these handy bookmarks:

• Accounts:  Mostly newspaper and magazine articles about Parker or Spenser, although ones written for this page can be included.

• Essays:  Musings on elements of the Spenser universe.

• Lists:  The overall theme of this site is data presented in a logical order.  A well-compiled list takes it to the next higher level. 

• Pictures: In the words of Rod Stewart, "every picture tells a story, don't it." And since each is worth about 1K words I've gathered them together here. 

• Music: has been moved to a page of its own.

• Miscellaneous 

ACCOUNTS

• Kevin Coupe sent me a newspaper article he wrote about his interview with Parker in 1985.  It's called Parker Writes Love Stories

• Kevin also attended a book signing in 2004 for Bad Business.  See his account here

• Parker answered a lot of questions during 2001 tour.  Here are my notes of his appearance.

• Brian J. Noggle vividly remember a signing he attended in the 1980's.  See Meeting Robert B. Parker

• Paul A Sand (AKA Fanboy) posted his experience in rec.arts.mystery and kindly allowed me to reprint it here

• Dr. Parker was interviewed on the CBS show Sunday Morning, and Harvey Morrell was kind enough to send me a copy of the transcript. Thanks again, kind sir. Read it here.

• Dennis Tallett sent me a transcription from an old  copy of TV guide in which Parker compares his Spenser to the television version.  Read it here.

• Bruce Clark sent a transcript of a newspaper article from 1996 about the struggles faced by Robert and Joan Parker over the years. It's fascinating how much of their lives is reflected in the novels. I call it A Life Story.

• Chris Weimer found an article on their unusual living arrangements.  It's called A House Divided, Lovingly.

• And I found another, At Home with Robert and Joan Parker.

• Harvey Morrell found one from a 1988 copy of People magazine called Good Walls Make a Good Marriage 

• Gerald So, guru of the Spenser board at eGroups, transcribed a webcast of Dr. Parker being interviewed after the publication of Perish Twice  and was kind enough to send me a copy. Here it is.

• Dennis Tallett wrote in with another article, this one from BOOK magazine in the March/April 1999 issue titled "Robert B. Parker : Fun-loving pussycat" by Jerome V. Kramer.  It was two pages but you can read the first one here.

• Doug Hanchett, Spenser buff and former reporter sent me an article he wrote on a murder very much the one in The Godwulf Manuscript.  See Life Imitates Art

• Eric Berlin posted a three part interview with Robert B. Parker.

  • http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com/2005/03/dumpster-bust-interviews-robert-b.html

  • http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com/2005/03/dumpster-bust-interviews-r_111107827031399554.html

  • http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com/2005/03/dumpster-bust-interviews-robert-b_19.html

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ESSAYS

• On E-groups we had a discussion about how old Spenser is by now. It made me get around to including this essay I wrote a while back. The Aging Gumshoe.  Latest update 17 August 2006

• Iain Campbell wrote an essay on the Cars of Spenser.  He calls it Tell me what you [drive], and I will tell you who you are.  He later included a follow-up piece on Cars in the non-Spenser books

• Iain Campbell muses on the nature of "Debts to subscribers of the Code."

• Talk about Susan comes up all the time.  "Why doesn't he kill off that bimbo and get on with the story?"  My answer to The Susan Question.

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LISTS

• Dennis Tallett sent me some marvelous research files he collected while writing The SPENSER Companion, a wonderful book that any fan should have a copy of.  (see the Links page for info on buying one.)  Before his untimely death he has contributed the following (BTW: don't blame him for these titles, I chose them to fit my general theme.)

  • The Cast of Characters  updated 05 April 2006

  • The Homicides of Spenser  updated 30 March 2006

  • The Criminals of Spenser  updated 31 July 2004

  • The Booze of Spenser
     

• The Guns of Spenser, originally part of Dennis' list, has had so many additions that is now has a page of its own.

• James A. Weeks, a subscriber to the Spenser board on E-groups, suggested a list of times Spenser had been shot. Sounded like a great idea to me, so I put one together. Read The Bullets of Spenser.

• Parker's characters do seem to be readers.  See who is turning the pages of what in The Books of Spenser.

• I also put together a list of the Dedications Parker has put in his books.  Read The Dedications

• For those with long commutes (like me) or the visually impaired, the Audio versions of these books are a blessing.  Read The Audio Tapes of Spenser.

• "What is this next bullet point here for?" you said.  "It's another bit of trivia regarding Parker's writing style," I said.  Click here to examine You Don't Say.

• What else can I read along a similar vein?  Gerald So put together a list of characters who are Something Like Spenser

• The movie "Six Degrees of Separation" has led to a party game linking various stars in the least number of steps to Kevin Bacon.  I took the actors in the TV movie adaptations of the books through Six Degrees of Spenser

• Are you a fan of Spenser from the TV and video adaptations?  Here is a Filmography I put together.

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  PICTURES

• I want to thank Thom Brannan of the band Joker Saints who let me store all of these pictures on his site when I only had a dinky personal website.  I'll always owe you Thom. 

  • We know that the fictional Susan has a house on Linnaean Street in Cambridge.  Did you know that Parker was referring to a street that really does exist?   Just for the fun of it I grabbed my camera and recorded A Walk Down Linnaean Street.

  • Spenser in Context: A map and aerial photo to see where these next ones are located in the Back Bay.

  • Spenser's Offices:  

    • The first office: in the Combat Zone

    • The second office: corner of Mass Ave and Boylston.

    • His present office: corner of Berkeley and Boylston (actual location confirmed by Dr. Parker himself.)

  • Spenser's Apartment: and how I tracked it down.

  • The Glenn Curry Collection: Glenn visited Boston and actually took some pictures out the window of Spenser's office, and some gorgeous photos in the Ritz bar; you can almost taste the martini.

  • Spenser: For Hire Apartments: a former firehouse and a historic building in Charlestown. 

  • Mr. Spenser's Neighborhood: just a short walk away.

  • Observatory at Blue Hills:  Mentioned in Promised Land

  • Spenser's Mystery Bookstop:  In honor of Parker's most beloved character.

• Dennis Tallet supplied the following 

  • Spenser's Boston, the map

  • A Spenserian Sonnet

• I did a Google search of the web for images under the search string "Robert Parker" and put the results in Spenser's Daddy updated 15 July 2005

• For those of you who love Barbara Stock here are my Pictures of Susan

• I put together a page showing the covers of just about everything Parker has ever published in this country.  It has since expanded to include as many worldwide editions as I could get my electronic hands on.  I had to break them up into several pages, which can be reached from a central point called The Covers. updated 10 June 2005

• Just in case you were wondering about who was in charge of this place: I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille

• I  found what I consider perfect representations of Hawk and Spenser, much more like what I have in mind than any actors who have taken on the roles.  Jonathan Andrew Sheen, you have done a great service for humanity.  Follow these links:

  http://www.leviathanstudios.com/figures/12s_h/

  http://www.leviathanstudios.com/figures/NewSpenser/

  http://www.leviathanstudios.com/figures/Hawk/

• Spenser, the comic strip?  Well as a guest star anyway.  See my Tank McNamara page.

• And again Spenser hits the comics, this time in Arlo and Janis

• Diana O. Hanshaw fired up Photoshop to combine her picture of a Boston street sign with a few other files to come up with a powerful (if somewhat surreal) image.  It's an awesome piece of artwork, and I decided to call it  Visions of Spenser.  I posted two versions to chose from depending on your connection speed and patience:

  • The original (146K) - Worth it to see the detail
  • The abridged (26K) - A faster download
• Illustrator and graphic designer Dave McCraken used Photoshop to make some excellent Wallpaper designs out of pictures from the TV show and quotes from the books.  Click on the icons below to view the full size image.  

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  MISCELLANEOUS

   

• What about the video versions of Parker's works?  See Parker on TV

• Noted author Nick Pollotta (visit his page here) was kind enough to send a copy of the wickedly funny Spenser satire he wrote for his collection of SF and mystery short stories "Tequila Mockingbird", published in May 2004 by Wildside Press.  It's called Pensive, The Rock.

• Rob Averbeck boiled down the essence of the novels in his wonderful parody The Spenser Manuscript 

• Warner Brothers has never released Spenser: For Hire on Video Tape or DVD.  See my rant here and what to do about it on my Release Spenser page.  If you want to try buying a bootleg copy, see one person's experience on my page Buyer Beware.

• Here's an account of one of my photo journeys into Boston and the rock solid sleuthing I am capable of.  I call it The Clueless Gumshoe.

• Parker specializes in novels and is not comfortable with short stories.  He has written a few less lengthy works that I've detailed in Spenser's Shorts but the classic Surrogate still merits a page of its own.  Latest update 28 January 2005 

• The Spenser Cookbook is making slow progress.  See it here  Latest update 03 November 2006

• Please address him as Doctor.  Parker holds a PHD in English Literature from Boston University.  Would you like to read his Doctoral Dissertation?  I've put the information on how to obtain a copy here

• The Database of Spenser.  I cut and pasted all of the "Annotated Gumshoe" sections in one place for my own convenience in doing research between the various books.  Play around with it if you like, although I've disconnected all of the links.  It's meant to be used for "Search" or "Edit/Find" and it's neither up to date nor one one of my highest priorities. 

• Gerald So came up with some Instant Messenger icons that have proved useful in the chats on his Spenser board (see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spensneak).  I put them here.  Latest update 02 March 2005.

• Mark Cook came up with a connection most of us never noticed.  See Spenser meets the Hardy Boys.

• What can we expect in the future from Dr. Parker?  See Upcoming

This Page Created by Bob Ames