Back Story

Back Story, published in 2003, is the 30th Spenser novel. Like most cases, it starts out simple enough - a friend of Paul's asks Spenser to find out who murdered her mother. Problem was the murder happened twenty-eight years ago. It doesn't take the Boston private eye too long to find out this cold-case is so hot that a number of someones want to make sure it stays closed. And they'll threaten Spenser to do so.

I have to admit that I wasn't so hot on this book. It really didn't gain a lot of momentum for me until the final third of the book. And chapter 56 actually touches upon something Parker hasn't done since A Savage Place - Spenser has a rare crisis of conscious. My hope is that Parker can build upon this though I fear it will sort of get pushed back under the rug in later novels. That's a shame.

One thing that is cool about this book though is that Parker has a cameo/crossover of sorts with Jesse Stone, another lead character in a Parker written series. I plan to read the Jesse Stone novels after I finish the Spenser set. So it was good to get a little introduction to him. It really helps to build the Parker-verse of sorts.