Book Review: Small Vices (murder mystery, Boston)

Small Vices by Robert B. Parker (No Exit Press, 24th in a series of 51, 1998, 382 pages, $6.99PB)

It took until the final page to figure out the title, Small Vices, and even then I wasn't sure. But generally when we read a book, we pay attention to the title until we start  page one (then we become engrossed in the story), and then perhaps when we lay the book down to do something else and again when we pick it up to resume reading. But sometimes we don't give the title a second. But sometimes we do and often we don't think we would have titled the book as the author did - or rather, the publisher, almighty.

So, we would recommend reading Small Vices quickly so you don't forget the characters. And yes, there is a dog - the wonder dog, Pearl. We think Pearl is an all-gray American Staffordshire Terrier like this one,

except all gray. But we don't know for sure. And the photo of the author with a dog leads us to believe perhaps Pearl is a Doberman Pinscher.

What's it All About?

Getting to the point of this review, author Robert Parker has done it again - written a fast read that keeps your attention even though you have probably guessed the murderer from the beginning. Just how Parker manages to keep you riveted through hundreds of pages even if you know the ending is a wonder.

A college coed is murdered. A black guy with a background is fingered for it and ends up in prison. Enter Spenser, private detective, hired by a prestigious law firm to review the case because a new attorney with their firm defended the black guy in her first trail out of law school and admits she wasn't experienced enough to do a good job, and it burns her to this day.

Enter Spenser and Company

Spenser is not perhaps someone we would especially like to be but we do like him as a person. We also like his significant other, Susan, a psychologist with a PhD from an Ivy League school (after all, this is Boston) and we like Hawk, even understanding his unique way of speaking, for his loyalty and skill in dealing with guys from the other side - physically as well as conversationally,

Parker writes in short sentences like we speak: he also writes mainly conversation, so the story races along plus he intersperses the action with descriptions of the scene and what the women are wearing but also what the men are wearing. In other words, he describes life.

I can't wait to read another Spenser book.