New Releases by Robert B. Parker

All is quiet in Paradise, except for a spate of innocuous vandalism. Good thing, too, because Jesse Stone is preoccupied with the women in his life, both past and present. As his ex-wife, Jenn, is about to marry a Dallas real-estate tycoon, Jesse isn't too sure his relationship with former FBI agent Diana Evans is built to last. But those concerns get put on the back burner when a major Boston crime boss is brutally murdered. Jesse suspects it's the work of Mr. Peepers, a psychotic assassin who has caused trouble for Jesse in the past. Now both Diana and Jenn are in danger...

“A novel of violence, crisp dialogue, and suspense. . . . The reader is immediately caught up in the ambience of danger.”—The Boston Globe At forty-six, Aaron Newman was enjoying the good things in life—a good marriage, a good job—and he was in good shape himself. Then he saw the murder. A petty vicious killing that was to plunge him into an insane jungle of raw violence and fear, threatening and defiling the things he cared about.

Another extraordinary Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times-bestselling author. On location in Boston, bad-boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. The situation doesn't look good for Jumbo, whose appetites for food, booze, and sex are as outsized as his name. He was the studio's biggest star, but he's become their biggest liability. In the course of the investigation, Spenser encounters Jumbo's bodyguard: a young, former football-playing Native American named Zebulon Sixkill. Sixkill acts tough, but Spenser sees something more within the young man. Despite the odd circumstances, the two forge an unlikely alliance, with Spenser serving as mentor for Sixkill. As the case grows darker and secrets about both Jumbo and the dead girl come to light, it's Spenser--with Sixkill at his side--who must put things right.

“Crackling dialogue, plenty of action, and expert writing.”—The New York Times Rachel Wallace is a tough young woman with a lot of enemies. Spenser is a tough guy with a macho code of honor, hired to protect a woman who thinks that kind of code is obsolete. Privately, they will never see eye to eye. But when Rachel vanishes. Spenser is ready to lay his life on the line—to find Rachel Wallace. “A rare kind of book.”—Chicago Sun-Times

The Boston PI gets tangled in Cape Cod's criminal underworld in this Edgar Award–winning mystery from the New York Times–bestselling author. Cape Cod businessman Harvey Shepard is in over his head. He lost a quarter million on a shady real estate deal, the loan shark is circling, and now he needs a private investigator to find out where his wife, Pam, disappeared to. Spencer takes the case, but finding Pam isn't the hard part—the hard part is finding out she's suspected of a bank robbery that led to murder. Robert B. Parker's Spencer novels featuring the former boxer turned Boston PI are "one of the great series in the history of the American detective story." Promised Land, the Edgar Award–winning fourth Spencer novel, was also adapted into the pilot episode of the classic tv series Spencer: For Hire ( The New York Times).

The house looked right. And the neighborhood was perfect. And everything else was wrong. So Spenser took the parents' money and went after a runaway girl. Unfortunately, April Kyle had already traveled two lifetimes from her suburban home. Now she was caught up in a web of pinps, criminals, and exploiters—the kinf of people who won't listen to anything but money, or a gun. . . . Praise for Ceremony “Sizzling.”—The Pittsburgh Press “Pick of the crop, this one. Genuinely involving.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood racketeering. Spenser's job is to keep Candy healthy until she breaks the biggest story of her career. But her star witness has just bowed out with three bullets in his chest, two tough guys have doubled up to test Spenser's skill with his fists, and Candy is about to use her own sweet body as live bait in a deadly romantic game--a game that may cost Spenser his life.

“Suspenseful . . . almost impossible to put down.”—Sacramento Union In the city of the Red Sox and the Red Line someone is leaving roses—red ones, of course—on the bodies of women he kills. For a psychologist named Susan Silverman and a P.I. named Spenser, the case is personal. But Spenser knows it's the wrong man. Because the right one has come calling on Susan—with a red rose in hand. “A novel worth reading with an ending that is worth waiting for.”—South Bend Tribune

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.

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.

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.

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

New York Times bestselling author Robert B. Parker?s first novel for young readers There is something evil in the air ; Bobby senses it. Who is that man he saw arguing with his pretty new English teacher? Bobby knows he should mind his own business, but times are confusing. World War II just ended, and the world is changing? Bobby?s world, especially. There?s Joanie, for one?why does being her friend feel awkward? And then there are his buddies, the junior varsity Edenville Owls?basketball players in need of a leader. Can they help each other off the court as well as they can on it? They will need to.

When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a town suffering at the hands of a renegade rancher who’s already left the city marshal and one of his deputies dead. Cole and Hitch are used to cleaning up after scavengers, but this one raises the stakes by playing not with the rules—but with emotion. Watch a QuickTime trailer for this book.

A quest for vengeance packed with heart-pounding action and unexpected twists When his closest ally, Hawk, is beaten and left for dead while protecting a bookie, Spenser embarks on an epic journey to rehabilitate his best pal, body and soul. But that means infiltrating a ruthless mob—and redefining his friendship with Hawk in the name of vengeance... With its fast-paced narrative and unpredictable twists, Cold Service is perfect for fans of crime fiction.

In Robert B. Parker's most popular series, an unsolved thirty-year-old-murder draws the victim's daughter out of the shadows for overdue justice-and lures Spenser into his own past, old crimes, and dangerous lives.

One of Boston’s elite has been murdered. The accused is his new wife. She’s blonde, beautiful, and young. The jury’s going to hate her. With next-to-no alibi, and multi-million reasons to kill her husband, she needs the best defense money can buy. His name is Spenser, and he’d give anything to believe her.

“[Parker's found] the pitch-perfect voice for a guy who is straining every muscle to cut down on the booze, hang on to his new job as police chief, and not get rattled by the body of a teenage girl”(The New York Times) in this bestselling mystery in the Jesse Stone series. Robert B. Parker takes readers back in Paradise, where Detective Jesse Stone is looking for two things: the killer of a teenage girl—and someone, anyone, who is willing to claim the body... The local cops haven't seen anything like this, but Jesse's L.A. past has made him all too familiar with floaters. This girl hadn't committed suicide; she hadn't been drowned: she'd been shot and dumped, discarded like trash. Before long it becomes clear that she had a taste for the wild life; and her own parents can't be bothered to report her missing, or even admit that she once was a child of theirs. All Jesse has to go on is a young man's school ring on a gold chain, and a hunch or two. Filled with magnetic characters and the muscular writing that are Parker's trademarks, Death in Paradise is a storytelling masterpiece.

Boston P.I. Spenser returns—heading west to the rich man’s haven of Potshot, Arizona, a former mining town reborn as a paradise for Los Angeles millionaires looking for a place to escape the pressures of their high-flying lifestyles. Potshot overcame its rough reputation as a rendezvous for old-time mountain men who lived off the land, thanks to a healthy infusion of new blood and even newer money. But when this western idyll is threatened by a local gang—a twenty-first-century posse of desert rats, misfits, drunks, and scavengers—the local police seem powerless. Led by a charismatic individual known only as The Preacher, this motley band of thieves selectively exploits the town, nurturing it as a source of wealth while systematically robbing the residents blind. Enter Spenser, who has been hired by the comely Mary Lou Buckman to investigate the murder of her husband. The Buckmans, a pair of L.A. transplants, moved to Potshot and started a modest outdoor tour service. It is Mary Lou’s belief that when her husband refused to pay The Preacher and his men protection money he was killed. Without any witnesses, Spenser has little to go on, and it’s clear the local police chief won’t be doing much to help. Calling on his own cadre of tried-and-true cohorts, including Vinnie Morris, Bobby Horse, Chollo, Bernard J. Fortunato, Tedy Sapp and the redoubtable Hawk, Spenser must find a way to beat the gang at their own dangerous game.

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker returns with his newest heroine, Boston P.I. Sunny Randall, coming to the aid of three very different women in three very dangerous situations. One is for business. One is for a friend. One is for family. And all could be fatal…

Robert B. Parker introduces readers to police chief Jesse Stone in the first novel in the beloved mystery series—a New York Times bestseller. After a busted marriage kicks his drinking problem into overdrive and the LAPD unceremoniously dumps him, thirty-five-year-old Jesse Stone’s future looks bleak. So he’s shocked when a small Massachusetts town called Paradise recruits him as police chief. He can’t help wondering if this job is a genuine chance to start over, the kind of offer he can’t refuse. Once on board, Jesse doesn’t have to look for trouble in Paradise: it comes to him. For what is on the surface a quiet New England community quickly proves to be a crucible of political and moral corruption—replete with triple homicide, tight Boston mob ties, flamboyantly errant spouses, maddened militiamen and a psychopath-about-town who has fixed his violent sights on the new lawman. Against all this, Jesse stands utterly alone, with no one to trust—even he and the woman he’s seeing are like ships passing in the night. He finds he must test his mettle and powers of command to emerge a local hero—or the deadest of dupes.

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker turns his eye to the Old West with his stirring rendition of the legendary exploits of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the Clanton Gang, and the fateful gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

"It's easy to see why Parker's snappy banter and cynical eye have kept fans turning pages for 25 years . . . his wisecracks, combined with Parker's shorthand flair for scathing characterization, make for a satisfying read," said Entertainment Weekly of last year's Hush Money. Now Parker presents Spenser with a deceptively dangerous and multi-layered case: Someone has been killing racehorses at stables across the south, and the Boston P.I. travels to Georgia to protect the two-year-old destined to become the next Secretariat. When Spenser is approached by Walter Clive, president of Three Fillies Stables, to find out who is threatening his horse Hugger Mugger, he can hardly say no: He's been doing pro bono work for so long his cupboards are just about bare. Disregarding the resentment of the local Georgia law enforcement, Spenser takes the case. Though Clive has hired a separate security firm, he wants someone with Spenser's experience to supervise the operation. Despite a veneer of civility, Spenser encounters tensions beneath the surface southern gentility. The case takes an even more deadly turn when the attacker claims a human victim, and Spenser must revise his impressions of the whole Three Fillies organization--and watch his own back as well. With razor-sharp dialogue, eloquently spare prose, and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, Hugger Mugger is grand entertainment.

"Robert B. Parker has always been a master of razor-sharp and witty dialogue, hard-driving suspense and memorable characterization," says the Houston Chronicle. With both the classic Spenser series and the more recent Jesse Stone novels, Parker's spare prose and tight storytelling have earned him critical praise and popular success in equal measure. In Family Honor, he creates an entirely new character--young, smart, and, for the first time, female.Her name is Sunny Randall, a Boston P.I. and former cop, a college graduate, an aspiring painter, a divorcee, and the owner of a miniature bullterrier named Rosie. Hired by a wealthy family to locate their teenage daughter, Sunny is tested by the parents' preconceived notion of what a detective should be. With the help of underworld contacts she tracks down the runaway Millicent, who has turned to prostitution, rescues her from her pimp, and finds herself, at thirty-four, the unlikely custodian of a difficult teenager when the girl refuses to return to her family.But Millicent's problems are rooted in much larger crimes than running away, and Sunny, now playing the role of bodyguard, is caught in a shooting war with some very serious mobsters. She turns for help to her ex-husband, Richie, himself the son of a mob family, and to her dearest friend, Spike, a flamboyant and dangerous gay man. Heading this unlikely alliance, Sunny must solve at least one murder, resolve a criminal conspiracy that reaches to the top of state government, and bring Millicent back into functional young womanhood.

Jesse Stone returns in this New York Times bestselling novel of death and deception from Robert B. Parker. Stiles Island is a wealthy and exclusive enclave separated by a bridge from the Massachusetts coast town of Paradise. James Macklin sees the Island as the ultimate investment opportunity: all he needs to do is invade it, blow the bridge, and loot the island. To realize his scheme, Macklin, along with his devoted girlfriend, Faye, assembles a crew of fellow ex-cons—all experts in their fields—including Wilson Cromartie, a fearsome Apache. James Macklin is a bad man, a very bad man. And Wilson Cromartie, known as Crow, is even worse. As Macklin plans his crime, Paradise police chief Jesse Stone has his hands full. He faces romantic entanglements in triplicate: his ex-wife, Jenn, is in the Paradise jail for assault, he’s begun a new relationship with a Stiles Island realtor named Marcy Campbell, and he’s still sorting out his feelings for attorney Abby Taylor. When Macklin’s attack on Stiles Island is set in motion, both Marcy and Abby are put in jeopardy. As the casualties mount, it’s up to Jesse to keep both women from harm.

Susan Silverman's ex isn't your average ex... he's someone much more suspicious Susan's ex doesn't call himself "Silverman" anymore—he's changed his name to "Sterling." And that's not the only thing that's phony about him. A do-gooding charity fundraiser, he's been accused of sexual harassment by no less than four different women. And not long after Spenser starts investigating, Sterling is wanted for a bigger charge: murder...

Ellis Alves is no angel. But his lawyer says he was framed for the murder of college student Melissa Henderson...and asks Spenser for help. From Boston's back streets to Manhattan's elite, Spenser and Hawk search for suspects, including Melissa's rich-kid, tennis-star boyfriend. But when a man with a .22 puts Spenser in a coma, the hope for justice may die with him...

PI Spenser is hired to find the missing husband of a Boston gangster's daughter. The assignment leads him to the underworld in Las Vegas where he realizes the case is not one of young love, but control of the gangland in Boston.

They were the Sheridan men, ruled by passion, betrayed by love, heirs to a legacy of violence and forbidden desire. Gus, Boston's top homicide cop: he knew equally well the backroom politics of City Hall and the private passions of the very rich, a man haunted by the wanton courage and perilous obsessions he inherited from his father... Conn, the patriarch, a lawless cop who spawned a circle of vengeance and betrayal that would span half a century... and Chris, Gus's beloved son, a Harvard lawyer and criminologist, fated to risk everything to break the chain of obsession and rage... Three generations linked by crime and punishment--cops and heroes, fathers, sons, and lovers united at last by revelations that could bring a family to its knees...

A murder draws Boston PI Spenser into the dramatic world of theater in this New York Times bestseller in Robert B. Parker’s long-running series. In a shabby waterfront town, an actor is shot dead onstage. Granted, the script left much to be desired. But there's more behind the scenes than an overzealous critic—and Spenser and Hawk are combing Port City’s underworld to find it... “Great fun...[Spenser] is still the cockiest and wittiest P.I. on the block.”—The New York Times