Robert B. Parker

When Raymond Chandler died in 1959, he left behind the first four chapters of a new Philip Marlowe thriller. Now three decades later, Robert B. Parker, the bestselling creator of the Spenser detective novels, has completed Poodle Springs in a full-length masterpiece of criminal passion." More than just an impressive homage, this is a first-rate detective novel with all of the suspense, action, and human drama that we have come to expect from the best."--PlayboyPhilip Marlowe is alive and well and living in Poodle Springs, California. He's married to a wealthy heiress now. But living in the lap of luxury hasn't made a dent in Marlowe's cynicism--or his talent for attracting trouble. Soon he's on a trail of greed, lust, and murder as dark and cunning as any he's ever seen. Philip Marlowe is back in business." Raymond Chandler fans, throw away your dog-eared copies of The Big Sleep... Philip Marlowe has returned "--Milwaukee Journal

Private eye Spenser has never had any difficulty handling women. But when four stunningly beautiful trophy wives hire him to protect them against a blackmailer threatening to expose their infidelities, even he must admit that they look like trouble. Tracking down Gary Eisenhower, the blackmailer and serial adulterer, isn't too difficult - but almost in spite of himself Spenser finds that he quite likes the guy. Certainly the women, with their loose purse-strings and looser morals, and their loveless marriages to rich, powerful, corrupt men, are hard to feel sorry for. But a killing soon changes the complexion of the case, and draws Spenser into the world of Boston's moneyed aristocracy: a world of corruption, vice and murder. As the bodies start to pile up, Spenser must decide which of his friends he can trust.'One of the great series in the history of the American detective story' New York Times

Boston P. I. Sunny Randall goes on the road to protect a bestselling author--and uncovers a world of dark secrets--in the new novel by the Grand Master. Melanie Joan Hall is a bestselling author in a bind. Her publisher needs her to tour on behalf of her latest blockbuster, and Melanie Joan needs a bodyguard-cum-escort to protect her from an overbearing ex-husband whose presence unnerves her to the point of hysteria. Sunny's cool demeanor, cop background, and P. I. smarts are an instant balm for the older woman. Sunny begins to sense that Melanie Joan's ex--a psychotherapist--is not your basic stalker, and when an incident at a book signing leaves the ex bloodied and the author unconscious, it's clear the stakes are high. Having decided that the only way to crack the case is from the inside, Sunny enters therapy, only to discover some disturbing truths about herself . . . while putting her life on the line. Gripping, nuanced, and filled with Parker's signature dialogue and psychological insight, Shrink Rap is a winner.

Cole and Hitch are back in a new Western classic... The guns-for-hire introduced in Robert B. Parker's Appaloosa are back... When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch track down the woman who stole Virgil's heart, they find a dispirited prostitute rather than the innocent beauty she once was. Now they must save her, even if murder is the price of redemption.

Jesse Stone is an ex LA cop who has taken the job of police chief in Paradise, Massachusetts...and things are getting strange in Paradise. Stone is called to the junior high school when reports of lewd conduct by the school's principal, Betsy Ingersoll, filter into the station. Ingersoll claims she was protecting the propriety of her students when she inspected each girl's undergarments in the locker room. Jesse would like nothing more than to see Ingersoll punished, but her high-powered attorney husband stands in the way. At the same time, the women of Paradise are faced with a threat to their sense of security with the emergence of a tormented voyeur, dubbed "The Night Hawk." Initially, he's content to peer through windows, but as times goes on, he becomes more reckless, forcing his victims to strip at gunpoint... And according to the notes he's sending to Jesse, he's not satisfied to stop there. It's up to Jesse to catch the Night Hawk, before it's too late.

For almost forty years, Robert B. Parker's inimitable private investigator Spenser has been solving cases and selling millions of books worldwide. Now, for the first time, see how it all began as the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master sheds light on Spenser's formative years spent with his father and two uncles out West. This is an event book for every fan of Spenser, and a revelation for teens about to discover an American icon.

Parker and Stone-back with another New York Times bestseller When the sun sets in Paradise, the women get nervous. A Peeping Tom is on the loose. According to the notes he sends Police Chief Jesse Stone, he's about to take his obsession one step further.

The New York Times bestselling Western from Robert B. Parker Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole are lawmen and friends who share the brutal hardships of an emerging West. But the courage that has defined them is challenged by a man without conscience or remorse. Now, Hitch and Cole have followed him to the small town of Appaloosa. What follows is a dance of wills where villains are cast in shades of grey, where heroes hide in the blackest shadows, where women can betray with frightening ease, and where Hitch and Cole will discover the price of responsibility, honor, and loyalty in the Old West.

Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well-connected. She's also a notorious gold digger only recently separated from her latest husband - and she's hired Spenser to act as her stand-in spouse. The Boston P. I. is to accompany Heidi to her private island to attend her daughter's wedding. It should be a straightforward job, but when his old nemesis Rugar - the Gray Man - arrives, Spenser realizes that something is amiss. As a storm strikes, cutting off the island, a kidnapping and a series of murders turn celebrations into chaos. With six dead bodies and more questions than he can handle, Spenser begins a search for answers - and the Gray Man.'One of the great series in the history of the American detective story' New York Times

A high society wedding ends unhappily ever after in this mystery starring Boston PI Spenser--"the timeless hero of American detective fiction" (The New York Times Book Review). Hired as a bodyguard at an exclusive wedding, Spenser witnesses an unexpected crime: the kidnapping of the young bride, which opens the door for murder, family secrets, and the reappearance of an old nemesis.

When a shy high school student's body is found washed up on the shore of a quiet beach town - an apparent suicide - Terry Novak doesn't know what to think. He decides to do some investigating with the help of his best friend, Abby. Before long, they learn that asking questions puts them in grave danger. Fortunately, Terry has been learning about fighting, thanks to a retired boxer, who teaches him to use his head and keep his feet set beneath him - lessons Terry takes to heart in more ways than one. Robert B. Parker delivers a taut, empowering mystery for teen readers.

In the wild and untamed West, two honorable gunfighters find themselves caught in a gritty battle that threatens the peaceful town of Resolution. After relocating to an Old-West saloon town after the bloody confrontation in Appaloosa, Everett Hitch is relieved by the arrival of his friend, Virgil Cole. In a place where law and order don't exist, Hitch and Cole find themselves at the center of a make-shift war against Eamon O'Malley, a greedy mine owner, and his men who threaten to gobble up Resolution's land and businesses. Guided by their sense of duty, honor, and friendship, Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole fight to defend a coalition of local ranchers and challenge the violently shifting laws of the West.

Jesse Stone is an ex LA cop who has taken the job of police chief in Paradise, Massachusetts. His drinking and his damaged relationship with his wife, define him as much as his supreme skill at policing his patch. When Crow, an Apache hitman, turns up in Jesse Stone's office, he is intrigued and very much on his guard. Ten years before, Crow was part of a gang that had taken a woman in the town hostage when a bank raid went wrong. The hostages were released unharmed, thanks to Crow's moral view that you didn't kill women, but he also got away with enough money not to have to work again. So why is Crow back in town? Why has he come to see Jesse? And why has he taken a job of kidnapping a young girl and her mother? All questions to which Jesse has to find answers as things start to go badly wrong in Paradise.

An Apache hit man arrives in Paradise to find a missing girl and snuff out her mother. But his conscience is getting the best of him. If he doesn't make the hit, he'll pay for it. So might Jesse Stone, who's been enlisted to protect them all.

Return with us to yesteryear, when cowboys were cowboys and gunslingers lurked around every corner. Today that colorful period continues to resonate in the collective imagination of red-blooded Americans every-where - and now we have ""True West"", which illustrates, in hundreds of full-color illustrations, how America's mass media stamped that vision so indelibly on our collective unconscious over the past century, into today. Boasting hundreds of rare and colorful movie posters, pulp magazines, comic books, comic strips, television memorabilia, advertisements, paperback books, record album jackets, toys, and clothing, ""True West"" covers such hugely popular television series as Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, and Bonanza, along with classic western novels, including ""Shane"", ""The Searchers"", ""Welcome to Hard Times"", and that epic of all epics, ""Lonesome Dove"". It also bows to the icons who ruled the silver screen - Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood, to name a few. And what would the Wild West be without an accompanying soundtrack? ""True West"" reproduces the sublime album covers and sheet music that served up classic odes like ""Streets of Laredo"" and ""Cool Water,"" narrative ballads like ""El Paso"" (with Marty Robbins bedecked in his black gunfighter togs on the cover!), and ""High Noon.

Investigating a case of infidelity sounds simple--until it plunges Spenser and his beloved Susan into a politically charged murder plot that's already left three people dead.

Boston P. I. Sunny Randall joins forces with the most important man in her life--her father--to crack a thirty-year-old case. When a serial murderer dubbed "The Spare Change Killer" by the Boston press surfaces after three decades in hiding, the police immediately seek out the cop, now retired, who headed the original task force: Phil Randall. As a sharp-eyed investigator and a doting parent ("You're smart. You're tough . . . You, too, are a paradigm of law enforcement- perfection, and you're my kid"), Phil calls on his daughter Sunny to help trap the criminal who eluded him so many years before. After interviewing just a handful of suspects, Sunny is certain that she's found her man. Though she has no evidence against Bob Johnson, she trusts her intuition. And she knows the power she has over him--she can feel the skittishness and sexual tension that he radiates when he's around her--but convincing her father and the rest of the task force is a different story. When the killer strikes a second time and a third, the murders take a macabre turn, as, eerily, the victims each resemble Sunny. While her father pressures her to drop the case, her need to create a trap to catch her killer grows. In a compelling game of cat-and-mouse, Sunny Randall uses all her skills to draw out her prey, realizing too late that she's setting herself up to become the next victim.

The murder of a notorious public figure places police chief Jesse Stone in the harsh glare of the media spotlight in this New York Times bestseller. When the body of controversial talk-show host Walton Weeks is discovered hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone finds himself at the center of a highly public case, forcing him to deal with small-minded local officials and national media scrutiny. When another dead body-that of a young woman-is discovered just a few days later, the pressure becomes almost unbearable. Two victims in less than a week should provide a host of clues, but all Jesse runs into are dead ends. But what may be the most disturbing aspect of these murders is the fact that no one seems to care-not a single one of Weeks's ex-wives, not the family of the girl. And when the medical examiner reveals a heartbreaking link between the two departed souls, the mystery only deepens. Despite Weeks's reputation and the girl's tender age, Jesse is hard-pressed to find legitimate suspects. Though the crimes are perhaps the most gruesome Jesse has ever witnessed, it is the malevolence behind them that makes them all the more frightening. Forced to delve into a world of stormy relationships, Jesse soon comes to realize that knowing whom he can trust is indeed a matter of life and death.

April Kyle, a prostitute from Spenser's past, comes back into his life-with deadly complications.

Sunny Randall, "Boston's leading lady gumshoe" (New York Daily News), returns as hired bodyguard for the spoiled, and possibly dangerous, prize female client of a sleazy producer. This time, she gets a little help from Parker's popular character Jesse Stone, making a guest appearance here