Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkinson

 Guest reviewer Kevin Tipple is back with his take on this Spenser novel which continues the characters created by Robert B. Parker.  Check out his blog Kevin's Corner for more book reviews and book news, as well as links to topics of interest.

Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins takes readers to sunny California where things are decidedly not sunny in so many ways. Not only is the weather often cold and rainy, the trail has gone very cold. 24 years ago old Gabrielle Leggett is a part time actress and full time social media influencer. “Gabby” is very much missing and her mom wants her found and back in contact with her family in Boston.

Mom hired Spenser to come to Los Angeles and find her daughter. Spenser is trying to do so and has sought help from his friend, Zebulon SixKill, who these days is also a private investigator thanks to the efforts of Spenser and Hawk, among others and his own hard work. Sixkill has cultivated his own network of contacts in the few years since he came out west and those contacts are going to be needed if Spenser is going to be at all successful.

It is easy enough to see her apartment and meet with Eric Collinson who used to be her boyfriend and then moved on to be her agent. It is also relatively easy to find her acting teacher and her classmates from the acting class she was taking before she vanished. What isn’t easy is to actually find her with so many folks being massively unhelpful as they claim she was the best and claim to know nothing. Then there are those who are hostile to finding her such as the creepy movie producer, members of the Armenian Mob, and a woman’s empowerment group that maybe is nothing more than a pyramid scheme wrapped up in a cult. They know things and when Spenser and Sixkill push a bit, the bullets start flying their way with much more promised. Good thing Spenser and SixKill can cash in some favors.

Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel is an entertaining read. Unlike the Jesse Stone series that continued under Reed Farrell Coleman and had Jesse evolving as he grew older, this Spenser is the classic Spenser unchanged. He still cooks in detail all manner of dishes, flirts with Susan Sliverman, turns down the advances of beautiful and willing women, and still manages to survive wicked gun battles, all while doing the frequent sarcastic quip and taking the occasional long run to think. This Spenser has not changed a bit.

An entertaining read that never pushes any boundaries, Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel is a fun light weight diversion that entertains and moves along at a fairly brisk pace. It is also a read that those new to the series can easily enjoy as there are very few references to the past. Those references that do popup are small references that are typical of the series and therefore do not impact reading enjoyment of the other books. 

My reading copy came from the Prairie Creek Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2019

Series rule!

Comments by Jeanne

Or so it seems, anyway!  Readers do enjoy following a particular character from book to book, and this September  will see a bumper crop of returning favorites.

Catherine Coulter teamed up with J.T. Ellison to start a spin-off of her very popular FBI series about a Scotland Yard detective stationed in the U.S.  The Final Cut came out last year to good reviews. The new book will be The Lost Key. Some of our local readers also recommend books by Coulter’s co-author, so you may want to check out some of Ellison’s other books while you wait for this one.

Reacher fans who have been waiting anxiously for the next book after the twists of Never Go Back will have curiosity satisfied when Personal by Lee Child hits the shelves.

Philippa Gregory brings her “Cousins’ War” series to a conclusion with The King’s Curse. Margaret Pole was an intimate of Katherine of Aragon, first meeting her when Katherine was married to Arthur, Prince of Wales who died some six months after the wedding. Margaret becomes one of Katherine’s ladies-in – waiting when Katherine marries her former brother in law when he takes the throne as Henry VIII. Gregory has a real gift for making historical figures into flesh and blood people, making her one of the most popular current historical novelists.

Several authors have picked up characters from Robert B. Parker following the author’s death in 2010. Ace Atkins picked up the Spenser novels and Michael Brandman took over the Police Chief Jesse Stone, producing three novels.  Now Reed Farrel Coleman is going to take up the challenge of writing a new Jesse Stone.  We’ll see how he does in September, when Robert B. Parker’s Blind Spot comes out.

Speaking of characters picked up by other authors, Sophie Hannah will be resurrecting Hercule Poirot in an as yet untitled book.  According to an article in The Guardian, Agatha Christie’s estate selected Hannah to revive the series in hopes that it will bring new readers to Dame Agatha’s original books.  The only plot hints so far is that the book will be set in 1920s London. A few years back, Charles Osborne adapted a play by Christie as the Poirot novel Black Coffee, but Hannah's will be the first original book by someone other than Christie to feature the detective.

This is a good place to mention that another Golden Age detective has been revived for at least one book.  Albert Campion returns for Margery Allingham’s Mr. Campion’s Farewell by Mike Ripley.  After her death, Allingham’s husband Philip Youngman Carter had completed one of her books, then went on to write two Campions of his own.  He in turn left notes for another adventure, which form the basis of the Mike Ripley novel. The book is already out in England, but won’t be published in the U.S. until July.

Jill Paton Walsh has done another in her continuation of Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane series. The Last Scholar takes the two back to Oxford where Peter wants to look in the disappearance of the Warden, who was to cast the deciding vote as to whether or not to sell some of the school’s assets. As with The Attenbury Emeralds, the story takes place in 1950s as the characters are adjusting to the changing times of post WW II England. The book is due out in June.

Another intriguing book for June is an anthology edited by David Baldacci entitled Faceoff.  This collection of stories pairs some of the most popular characters in thriller fiction in new stories written their creators:  Lee Child’s Jack Reacher meets Joseph Finder’s Nick Heller, Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme meets John Sanford’s  Lucas Davenport, and many more, including Linda Fairstein’s Alexandra Cooper, Lisa Gardner’s D.D. Warren, and Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch.