popcorn

I somehow skipped this book in the Spenser canon, and once I had read it, I wished that I’d read it much sooner. It’s as if Parker longed to return to the early days of Spenser, and wrote a throwback. He sheds — for the largest part — most of the formulaic earmarks of the series readers have come to expect at this point — i.e. Boston, because this one is set in rural Georgia, and Hawk, who is in France with a woman. There is a phone conversation with the most interesting character in the series, Vinnie, and with Captain Martin Quirk, for nostalgia’s sake, but overall this is more like the early books in the series.

The vain and annoying Susan Silverman is still around, of course — just to make Spenser appear like a love-sick wuss, apparently — but it’s easy to glide over the couple's snobbish banter — lustful and otherwise — and just enjoy the refreshing Georgia setting and an array of interesting characters. The most interesting of them is Penny, who Spenser — and the reader — initially find adorable. So much so, that I heaved a wistful sigh that this wasn't an early entry in the series, because like Linda in Valediction, she is, at least at first, a breath of fresh air, and it was certainly no mistake that Parker wrote her that way. Even the ending is refreshing in this one, with a conclusion more Ross Macdonald in nature than Parker, as if he is doing some vague homage to him.

In essence, though this is about Georgia horse country, and horse racing, it is more about a Georgia family of immense wealth and social standing which is as damaged and dysfunctional as it is powerful — Ross Macdonald territory. There is even an enjoyable and unexpected detour when Spenser is booted off the Georgia case and returns to Boston. What transpires back on familiar turf again harkens back to the early Spensers. Also woven into the fabric of the narrative is a nice trip to San Francisco to question an aging flower-power child. It turns out to be more important to the story than we’d thought.

Parker creates great atmosphere in this one, and in tune with the setting, makes the pace more languid than usual. This serves to give Parker room to write a story a bit more nuanced than many of the later formulaic entries. I can definitely see fans of the series being divided on this one, especially if they're not fans of Lew Archer, but I enjoyed it a lot. I'm probably giving this one an extra star, just because Parker changed the setting, seemed to be paying some sort of vague homage to Ross Macdonald, and because of Penny.

Hugger Mugger begins with Spenser hired to find out who is shooting at race horses, and for a while, this one appears to come up lame. If you stay with it, however, it makes a quick move along the inside rail during the final furlong, and by a nose becomes one of the better entries in the series. ( )

First edition as new

attacks on horses to cover planned murder of father

This is one of the most enjoyable of the Spenser stories and this re-read did nothing to change my opinion. This was as much fun as the first time I read this.

4 stars for a really fun read. ( )