Chance

Robert B. Parker's 23rd Spenser novel, published in 1996, is called Chance. In it, the famous Boston private eye is hired by a local mobster and his daughter to help find the daughter's missing husband Anthony. Anthony, it turns out, works for the family business and he has a few vices like women and gambling. With the help of his good friend Hawk, Spenser tracks across the country and back to find the man and, in doing so, ends up uncovering a web of lies and criminal activity that leads to a murder.

What I liked about Chance is that Parker uses some established characters and history from earlier books to build upon this one's main plot points. This tight continuity again helps ground the books into an established growing and changing universe for the Spenser novels. It also rewards long-time readers with some appearances of characters from earlier novels. I like that.