Widow's Walk
Publisher's InformationCover BlurbRecurring CharactersUnanswered QuestionsThe Annotated Gumshoe
In the Spenser UniverseFavorite LinesThe Food of SpenserThe Drinking GumshoeNotes
Back to the List of BooksTo the previous book: Sudden Mischief

Latest Update 13 January 2007

I took this picture of a Widow's Walk while strolling down Linnaean Street.

Publication Information

Hardcover Edition    
  Published by:   G. P. Putnam's Sons    
Publication Date: March 2002    
ISBN: 0-399-14710-1    
     
Paperback Edition    
  Published by:   Berkeley    
  Publication Date:    2003    
  ISBN   0-425-1890-4X    
     
Large Print Edition    
  Published by   Thorndike Press    
Publication Date: August 2002
  ISBN   0-786-2421-59    
     
Audio Editions    
  Published by:   Random House Audio   Books on Tape         Random House Audio www.Audible.com
Read By: Joe Mantegna   Joe Mantegna Joe Mantegna Joe Mantegna
Length 4 cass., 6 hr.       4 cass., 6 hr. 4 CD, 6 hr.       audio file, 5 hr. 41 min.

Cover Information

"Joan, Dave, and Dan: the rest is decoration."

From the dust jacket of the hard cover edition:

When fifty-one-year-old Nathan Smith, a once-confirmed bachelor, is found 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 that Mary Smith is entitled to the best defense she can afford-and thanks to Nathan's millions, she can afford plenty-Spenser hires on to investigate Mary's bona fides. Mary's alibi is a bit on the flimsy side: She claims she was watching television in the other room when the murder occurred. But the couple was seen fighting at a high-profile cocktail party earlier that evening, and the prosecution has a witness who says Mary once tried to hire him to kill Nathan. What's more, she's too pretty, too made-up, too blonde, and sleeps around-just the kind of person a jury loves to hate.

Spenser's up against a wall; leads go nowhere, no one knows a thing. Then a young woman, recently fired from her position at Smith's bank, turns up dead. Mary's vacant past suddenly starts looking meaner and darker-and Spenser's suddenly got to watch his back. 

With lean, crackling dialogue, crisp action, and razor-sharp characters, Widow's Walk is another triumph.

Recurring Characters

In order of appearance:

Unanswered Questions

They are legion, and rather than go over them twice I've moved them to the Notes section further down the page.  

Literary References, or "The Annotated Gumshoe"

   

Stockard Channing and Will Smith starred in the 1993 movies written by John Guare based on his 1990 play of the same name.

It has also led, somehow, to the Kevin Bacon Game. The aim is to link the actor to any other via the fewest number of intermediaries.  Just for the fun of it I tried it with those who have played in the Spenser adaptations and put the results in Six Degrees of Spenser.

Meanwhile, in the Spenser Universe

Favorite Lines

Chapter 1: Rita, the voice of experience

" 'Everybody knows about powder residue anyway,' I said. 'She could have worn gloves.'

'Police didn't find them.'

'You can flush those latex jobs down the toilet like a condom.'

'I've heard that can happen,' Rita said.

'I bet you have,' I said.

'I meant about the gloves,' Rita said.

'Oh.' "

Chapter 2: It may be dumb but it's learned some nifty tricks

" 'So maybe she's smarter than we think she is.'

'Even is she were much smarter than we think she is...'

'She's not capable of trickery?'

'Talk to her,' Quirk said. 'And get back to me.'

'You don't think it's a double fake,' I said.

'She's dumber than my dick,' Quirk said.

'That dumb?' I said.

'But better-looking,' Quirk said.' "

Chapter 3: Here's a little number I like to call "You're dumber than Marty's dick"

"Graff took a small tape recorder from his briefcase.

''You don't mind if we tape this, do you?' he said.

'I wish I'd known,' I said. 'I'd have brought my arrangements.'

'What arrangements?' Mary said.

Graff said, 'It's a joke, Mary.'"

Chapter 6: Fearless but sentimental

" 'If she has to be put away, can you do it?' I said.

'Yes.'

'Good.'

'Because you can't?'

'I don't know about can't,' I said. 'But if you can do it I'll let you.'

'I thought you were fearless,' Susan said.

'I am, but it's embarrassing for a guy as fearless as I am to cry in the vet's office.'

'But it's okay for me?'

'Sure,' I said.  'You're a girl.'

'How enlightened,' Susan said."

Chapter 16:  Spenser, master of dialects

" 'So it is your professed intention,' Hawk said, 'to continue visiting with principals in the case until you get a discernible reaction from those monitoring your movements?'

'That be my professed intention, bro,' I said.  'You be down with that?'

'Jesus Christ,' Hawk said.

'I don't sound like an authentic ghetto-bred Negro?' I said.

'You sound like an asshole,' Hawk said.

'Well,' I said.  'There's that.' "

Chapter 17:  Punchline: there were no skid marks before the stockbroker's body.

" 'So you think she murdered her husband, but you still need her permission to give me access to something as innocuous as his monthly statements?'

'I have a fiduciary responsibility here.  I can't betray it.  If I did, and word got around, who would trust me?'

'You're a stockbroker,' I said.  'You think people trust you now?' "

Chapter 21: And I've heard rumors about telephones with push buttons instead of dials 

" 'It'll only be a minute.' she said.  'Computers, you know, they've revolutionized record-keeping.'

'I'm going to get one soon,' I said.

'They're here to stay,' she said."

Chapter 25:  Philosophical Cooking 101

" 'Are you sure you're cooking those scallops long enough?' she said.

'Of what can we be sure.' I said, 'in this uncertain world?'

'We're not going to discuss the nature of being, are we?' Susan said.

'No.'

'Thank God.'

'Or whoever,' I said."

Chapter 29:  There were no skid marks before the lawyer either.

" 'You have any reason to think she was suicidal?' I said.

'The police asked me the same thing,' Maggie Mills said.  'And I'll answer you the same thing I answered them. I'm an attorney, not a psychiatrist.  I don't know what someone is like when they are suicidal.  But it seems odd to me, personally, that she would hire a lawyer and then kill herself.'

'At least until the bill came.' "

Chapter 38:  We're not going to find many skid marks on this case, are we?

" 'There got to be some money  in here someplace,' Hawk said.

'See, that's just the reason you're a hooligan and I'm a detective,' I said.  'You jump to conclusions.  I search for clues.'

'Here's a clue,' Hawk said.  'A banker, a financial guy, a real estate developer, and a lawyer.  All connected in some way to a homicide.'

'Gee, you think there's money involved.?'

'How I know.  You the detective.  I is just a hoo-li-gan.'

'At least we're clear on that,' I said.  'Maybe we should revisit Jack DeRosa.'

'The jailbird?  Why him?'

'Can't think of anybody else?' I said.

Hawk grinned.

' 'Least he fit on the list,' Hawk said.  'Right after lawyer.' "

Chapter 39:  What kind of fertilizer do you use on a rock garden?

"We walked across the street to a brick duplex, which had a tiny front yard that had been carpeted with gray stone and surrounded by a chain-link fence.  The downstairs windows were grated.  There was a peephole in the front door.

'DeRosa don't seem interested in botany,' Hawk said.

'He's probably just a renter,' I said.

'Landlord's a geologist?' Hawk said."

Chapter 40:  The non-minority person's burden

" 'You bother me,' Quirk said.  'I know you wouldn't have aced these two people, then come back a week later and called us.'

Hawk smiled some more.

'And I know that when you're with Snoop Doggy Dog here, you may not be on the up-and-up, but you're probably not illegal.'

Hawk's smile seemed almost sweet as he listened to Quirk.

'On the other hand,' Quirk said, 'I hate to come upon a double homicide and find you lingering about and give you a bye.'

I said, 'I'm pretty sure he didn't do it, Captain.'

''I'm pretty sure he didn't, too' Quirk said.  'But not because you say so.'

'My word is my bond,' I said.

'I don't know what the connection is between you two clowns, but I know you'd cover for him.'

'White guilt,' I said.  'My ancestors might have owned slaves.'

'Yo' ancestors being bog-trotting paddies didn't have the money to own no slaves,' Hawk said.

I looked at him sadly.  'You wouldn't understand,' I said.  'It's a white thing.'

Chapter 41:  Lord Peter Whimsey never had to put up with this kind of back talk

"A mailman in blue shorts came in carrying a packet of mail held together by a wide rubber band.  He looked around.

'You guys moving out?' He said.

'Just rehabbing,' I said.  'Closed for a couple of weeks.'

'You oughta notify us, fill out a form, have us hold your mail until you're back in business.'

'What a very good idea,' I said.  'My man here will be down to the post office later today to fill out the documents.'

'It's just a form,' the mailman said.  'What do I do with this mail?'

'I'll take it,' I said.

He handed me the mail and left.

'My man be down to the post office?' Hawk said.

'I'm cleaning up my act,' I said. 'There was a time I would have said my boy.'

'I love a liberal,' Hawk said."

Chapter 49:  It's just part of the job, guys

" 'I hear you know Rita Fiore,' Santoro said.

'You work for the Norfolk DA when she was there?' I said.

Santoro looked reminiscent.  'I did,' he said.

'I'm working for her now,' I said.

'Getting any fringe benefits?' Santoro said.

'Rita and I are friends,' I said with dignity.

'And Rita's got no enemies,' Santoro said."

Chapter 50:  Don't make me go in there, Captain, I can't take any more

" 'I'm going to call her attorney,' Quirk said.  'Have her come in with Mrs. Smith for a dignified interview.'

'Homicide commander doesn't usually get down to this level of nitty-gritty,' I said.  'Does he?  Or she?'

'In this case, he,' Quirk said.  'Lotta people been killed.  And the suspect is worth a large amount of money.'

'So you're hearing about it.'

'Mayor's up for reelection,' Quirk said.  'He's been bragging about the crime rate.'

'So you're showing a laudable hands-on interest.'

Quirk nodded.  He might have almost smiled a little.

'And there are personnel issues,' he said.

Belson kept his eyes on the road as he spoke over his right shoulder.

'I told Quirk I'd take early retirement,' he said, 'before I'd go one-on-one with Mary Smith again.'

'The power of dumb,' I said."

Chapter 56:  "Champagne, compliments of the house."  That one always works

" 'How you going to get in?' Vinnie said.

'Maybe I'll knock on the door, like in the movies, tell him there's a message?'

Vinnie grinned.  'And he says slip it under the door.'

'And I say he's got to sign for it.'

'And the dope jumps up and opens the door.'

'Or he tells me to blow,' I said.  'Especially if nobody knows he's here and how could they send him a message.'

'Always works in the movies,' Vinnie said."

Food

Drink

Notes

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