Hush Money

In 1999, Robert B. Parker's 26th Spenser novel - Hush Money - was published. Once again, Spenser's friends get him involved in cases. But this time, not only is it a friend of Hawk's needing help investigating why he was turned down for tenure, amid some speculation of sexual encounters with a student who appears to have committed suicide, but also Susan asks him to help a friend of hers who is being stalked. Both cases, in typical Parker fashion, turn out to be more than what they appear on the surface.

It was interesting to see Spenser juggle two cases as once. However, it felt as though Parker really was trying to use two ideas to fill out a single novel - with one that might possibly been not enough to support a book of its own. Still the stories move along nicely and drive along to their seperate, unconnected conclusions.

Parker really has a good approach to understanding different natures of people. His characters reflect diverse individuals and very few are cookie-cutter versions of people you've seen before. That helps too to make his books a pleasure to read.