Small Vices |
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Small Vices |
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Latest Update 13 January 2007 by Bob Ames
| Hardcover Edition | |||||
| Published by: | G. P. Putnam's Sons | ||||
| Publication Date: | 1997 | ||||
| ISBN: | 0-399-14244-4 | ||||
| Paperback Edition | |||||
| Published by: | Berkley | ||||
| ISBN | 0-425-46358-0 | ||||
| Large Print Edition | |||||
| Published by | Wheeler Pub. | ||||
| ISBN | 1-568-94568-2 | ||||
| Audio Editions | |||||
| Published by: | Dove Audio | www.Audible.com | |||
| Read By: | Burt Reynolds | Burt Reynolds | |||
| Length | 6 cassettes, 480 min. | audio file, 8 hr. | |||
The above information is from the online catalog of the Minuteman Library Network and my own collection.---Bob
Dedication: "For Joan: You may have been a headache,
But you've never been a bore"
(See Annotation below)
Taken from the book jacket of the hardcover edition:
Spenser dies--and lives to tell the tale--in Robert B. Parker's stunning new bestseller.
Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;
Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;
Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.
What makes it very interesting was this extremely accurate interpretation from BIGCATCWK@aol.com (and this person hadn't even read the book yet!):
To me, the quote stands for the idea that money can hide a man's sins and character flaws (Robes and furr'd gowns hide all). While if you are poor, even your smallest weaknesses will be exposed to the world. (Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear). Given enough money and power you can be above the law (Plate sin with gold And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks) (e.g. O.J. Simpson). While if you are poor, you have got big problems when faced with even a weak case (Arm it with rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.)
Relying on the quote and title, it is easy to take a stab at the plot of the book. The accused rapist is the person with the "tatter'd clothes" who is facing trumped up charges, while the true rapist is the son of a rich and powerful member of the communty who is sporting Shakespeare's "Robes and furr'd gowns." The true rapist's money and power protect him from the law and Rita Fiore's charges. His gold plated protection in the form of slick lawyers and hired hoods, however, obviously will not protect him from rough justice - the type of justice that Spenser loves to hand out.
"Refers to the first 'talkie' cartoon by Disney that made Mickey Mouse famous as Steamboat Willie"
See http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/movies/steamboat/steamboat.html for details.
"Refers to male lead of '50s TV show "I Love Lucy" which starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. Ricky was a Cuban band leader and husband of the hapless Lucy."
The show ran from 1951 to 1957 and was one of the highest rated of that decade. Here's an example of the wonderful hairdo.
"The shot was fired from the knoll. Just one. And not a book depository in sight. And it was big money paying big crime, not the CIA! Fascinating! or am I stretching things too far? To any anglophone alive and capable of remembering 1963, the words 'grassy knoll' have taken on an indelible coloration, I fear."
"Takes us back to Plato who defined beauty as the state arising when form is perfectly adapted to function."
Philo Vance, the art connoisseur and amateur detective created by S.S. Van Dyne, was a practitioner of the 'ratiocination' school of crime solving. His work probably inspired Ellery Queen (Frederick Dannay and Manfred B. Lee), the most well-known of the logical detectives.
Dennis Tallett wrote in to point out "Nat Love (1854-1921). Former slave and most famous black cowboy..."
Sorry, but I've found it to almost certainly be self-aggrandizing folklore. Nat Love did move to Dodge City and worked as a cowboy. In 1907 he wrote a highly romanticized autobiography portraying a life filled with Indian fights, famous outlaws, dusky maidens, and amazing feats. In so doing he sought to become accepted as the prototype of the dime novel 'Deadwood Dick' series. He claimed that he entered a rodeo at Deadwood in 1876, won several of the roping and shooting contests, and was given the name 'Deadwood Dick'. In reality, however, Love spent most of his time working as a cowpuncher driving cattle up the Chisholm Trail.
James Lawrence supplied a link to an online copy of the book, and Spenser's joke gets even better when you see a picture of the guy.
"The Swiss Family Robinson is an adventure story with a decidedly domestic centre, in which smugness and safety thoroughly outbalance the element of danger. Inspired by Rousseau's theories of education, the story of the shipwrecked Swiss pastor and his family is liberally seasoned with suspense, adventure, and
discovery. Popular from the moment of its publication in 1812, it established a pattern for children's literature and continues to appeal to young readers and adults alike."
It was also a Disney movie (1960) and a TV series (9/75 to 4/76) starring Martin Milner after his 9/68 to 8/75 run on Adam 12.
"You gave me hyacinths a year ago;
They call me the hyacinth girl
It's from The Waste Land - Burial of the Dead, stanza 3, line 36"
"Tumescent: adj. becoming swollen. from the Latin tumescens (tumescentis) from tumescere, to swell up." Often used to describe an engorged penis (Engorge: <med> to congest with blood.)
BTW I asked an expert about the above entry. Iain Campbell notes: "The '-ens' ending is the same as the participial 'ing' ending in English. Tumescentis is the genitive form (means 'of') and is always given in a dictionary so that you can tell what the other forms of the singular and plural of the noun/adjective are going to be."
"Con-" is a little trickier. Used as a prefix it signifies "with" and comes from the Latin "com" or "cum." Iain notes "Perhaps English prof. Parker outsmarted himself. Usually we talk about the 'pros and the cons' meaning the 'fors and the againsts.' 'Con' in this case comes from 'contra' meaning 'against.' Is it possible that Parker wanted to tell us that Spenser was the opposite of tumescent, and created a word?"
Yes, it would seem that Susan and Spenser had a satisfying reunion the previous night and the swelling in question has been relieved :)
"This could be a
lead or reference to Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach:
'And we are here together, as on a darkling plane.'"
Thanks Nick. This was confirmed in the A&E movie,
where Parker put the above quote in the script.
"He is - in Greek mythology - a sculptor who fell in love with a statue of a woman he made. George Bernard Shaw wrote a play with the name Pygmalion and the musical My Fair Lady is about the very theme, about a professor who created the perfect woman."
Yep, the musical (1956) is based on Shaw's play (1914.) Note that a common theme was a hatred of women until an ideal could be created or transformed. In these more enlightened times I think Susan said it best: "Male chauvinist oinkers."
Thanks for the many additions to this page, Simone.
"'Hawk with anybody?'
- 'Always, and not for long,' I said. 'I don't think he's husband material.'
'No,' Rita said, 'he's not. Be a hell of a weekend, though.'
- 'I've heard that about you,' I said.
'Really? Where?'
- 'I think it was written in pencil on the wall of a holding cell in the Dedham jail,' I said.
Rita grinned.
- 'And the sad thing is, I wrote it.'"
"'You think you can eliminate crime?' I said.
- Jackson snorted.
'So what do you do?' I said.
- 'Do what I can,' Jackson said in his deep slow voice. 'There's nobody perpetrating a crime on this corner, right now. That's 'cause I'm here. Somebody's perpetrating something someplace else, maybe, but right now this corner is okay...It's not much but it's all there is.'
'Yeah.'
- Jackson looked at me for a while. Then he nodded slowly.
'Okay,' he said. 'You too. Okay.'"
"'Well, I must say, as adversaries go, you are a lot of fun,' she said. 'A small dose of charm.'
- 'I've found a small dose to be safer,' I said. 'The full wattage, all at once, and people are sometimes injured.'
'Especially women, I imagine.'
- 'They often hurt themselves in their frenzy to disrobe.'"
"'Is it like on TV?' Sandy said.
- 'Exactly,' I said. 'A lot of time I send my stunt double on the hard stuff.'"
"Erika continued to cry steadily. Elayna and Susan both stared at me. Erika tried to bite her mother's hand to get her wrist free. Elayna swept her up off the ground and held her kicking and struggling and crying and said loudly, 'I've got to get her out of here. Susan, I'll call you.'
- When they were gone, Susan went and stood looking out the living room window for a while. Finally she turned and looked at me.
'Should I have let Pearl go?' I said.
- 'Do you think she'd really have bitten her?'
'With proper coaching,' I said."
"'Lucky you got me around,' Hawk said, 'to keep them from inducting you into the Girl Scouts.'
- 'It's the physical.' I said. 'I always have trouble with the physical.'
'You Irish, ain't you?'
- 'Sure and I am, bucko.'
'So you don't have a lot of trouble with the physical,' Hawk said.
- 'Just enough.'
"The receptionist was clearly a student, probably a cheerleader in her other life, cuter than the Easter Bunny, but nowhere near as smart."
"'Still a coincidence,' Hawk said.
- 'Un huh.'
'You like coincidences?'
- 'I hate them,' I said. 'How about you.'
'Got no feeling on it,' Hawk said. 'You the detective. I just a thug.'
- 'You're too modest,' I said.
Hawk grinned.
- 'Didn't mean to say I wasn't a great thug.'
"I took my .38 out and looked to see that there were bullets in all the proper places. I knew there would be, but it did no harm to be careful. And I'd seen Clint Eastwood do it once in the movies."
"'You making any progress on this thing?'
- 'No.'
'No rush,' Belson said. 'I'm here until it's over'
- 'Me too,' Farrell said. 'When we're on days I get to watch Sally Jesse."
'You got to get me a straight partner,' Belson said. 'I'm over here trying to read Soldier of Fortune magazine and he's sitting in front of the tube saying "where did she get those shoes."
- 'Well you saw them,' Farrell said. 'Were they gauche or what?'
'See what I mean?' Belson said."
"Rita finished her dry bagel and washed it down with her black coffee and looked distracted for a moment.
- 'A cigarette would taste good now,' she said.
'Eventually you won't miss it,' I said.
- 'How long for you.'
'Twenty-seven years.'
- 'And you don't miss it?'
'Not a bit.'
- 'How long before you didn't miss it?'
'Ten years.'
- Rita stared at me and said "Oh, God!'"
"'And Quirk's a Captain now,' he said.
'Captain Quirk?'
The motorcycle cop grinned.
'Captain Quirk.'"
"'Where we going,' I said.
- 'Santa Barbara,' Susan said.
'California?'
- 'Yes.'
'We're driving.'
- 'It's safer.'
'You mind if I sing "California Here I Come" as we roll along?' I said.
- 'You're in a weakened condition,' Susan said. 'It's better if you rest.'
'I'm just thinking of you,' I said. 'It's a long ride.'
- 'Remember I got a gun,' Hawk said.
'You'd shoot me if I sing? Your brother?'
- 'Shoot myself,' Hawk said, 'you sing a lot.'"
"'Why Santa Barbara?'
- 'It's far away, it's not a place anyone would look for you. It's warm. I have a friend who knows a person who knows a real estate owner out there. I was able to rent a house.'
'In your name?'
- 'Mr. and Mrs. James Butler Hickock,' Susan said.
I jerked my head towards Hawk. 'Who's he,' I said, 'Deadwood Dick?'
- 'That ain't what the ladies call me,' Hawk said.
'Are you guys going to talk dirty all the way across the country?' Susan said.
- 'I was planning to,' Hawk said.
'Me too,' I said.
- 'Oh, good,' Susan said.
"'You collapse,' Hawk said,'and I gonna have to give you mouth to mouth. Neither one of us be liking that too much.'
- 'Let...me...go,' I said. 'It...comes...to...that.'"
"'I'd say you're as good as new,' Henry said.
- 'Too bad,' I said. 'I was hoping for better.'
'We all were,' Henry said. 'But you can't shine shit.'"
Well, after growing up around cops in CT for 19 years I've heard just about every racial slur that one can think of. That one lives and breathes (as of 1982 it did). In fact, I've begun work on a non-fiction book titled "Small Minded, Anachronistic, Terms of Endearment Spoken by Educated Yankees who Should Know Better". Title's a little long winded, but I have no shortage of material. ;)
Thanks, Tom. It still makes me a little sick to even read it, much less contemplate the mind of someone who would say it.
In chapter 6 Chief Livingston tells Spenser that Melissa'a body was found with her pantyhose tied around her neck. In chapter 11 while talking with Miller Spenser asks what he strangled her with, Miller doesn't know. Neither of them know about the pantyhose.
It's possible that Spenser was being deliberately vague on that point to test Miller. It turns out that he remembered the evidence he made up or used to frame "that nigger" but didn't recall actual facts like his name or how she was strangled. Then again, Parker is not usually that subtle about plot points.
"When Spenser is chatting w/ Patricia Utley, Steven brings in her dog, which is a miniature bull terrier named...Rosie."
Spenser and Susan are Robert and Joan Parker taken to artistic extremes but their dogs are portrayed accurately. In fact Rosie is one of the more important characters in the Sunny Randall novels.
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