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

American Icon: Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire

Reviewed by Doris

The American Western man has long been an icon of American culture. Tall, quiet, a man of action, a man of honor, a man who loves his horse, his dog, his wide open spaces, and his woman (once he finally has one),the Western hero is embedded in the American Consciousness. Think Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, or Henry Fonda in their heyday of movies. Framed by the likes of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey the Western novel is still one of the most requested genres at the BPL. Recently I was reading some reviews and saw one highly recommending Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series of Western mysteries so I decided to give them a read.

Johnson’s books continue the Western tradition, but he adds a few new twists and turns. Walt Longmire is a Wyoming sheriff whose view of the world is shaped by those vast, often desolate spaces and the creed of the West. Having survived serving in Vietnam, losing his wife to cancer, and being a sheriff for twenty some years, he has reached the point where he thinks few things surprise him. Yet, he is often surprised by the peculiarities of the people around him. His sense of humor is wry and usually misunderstood. His penchant for quoting the Bible or works of great literature in almost any situation tends to confuse or annoy his neighbors. Surrounded by a cast of intriguing and quirky characters, Longmire uses his innate sense of justice and his strength of will to solve his cases. He is no longer young, no longer in good physical shape, no longer eager to take on the world, but he is a solid, kind man who gives everything to his family and job.

The Absaroka County setting plays a significant role in Johnson’s novels to the point that the landscape is almost a character in the books. It is this vast and often hostile land that shapes the people and the crimes Longmire must handle. Johnson lives in the town of Ucross, population 25, so his feel for the vast and often violent terrain is genuine. His career in law enforcement also lends an authenticity to the books not always found in mysteries.

You don’t have to read the six Longmire books in order though it does help you see the evolution of both the characters and Johnson’s writing which improves with each novel. I started with the fifth book then backtracked to the beginning, and it did not diminish my enjoyment at all. The newest book in the series, Junkyard Dogs, is a major step forward for Johnson in plotting and style. Similar to Robert Parker’s Spenser series which I have always enjoyed and mourned the passing of with Parker’s death, this series is one I look forward to enjoying for years to come.

The Cold Dish-This first book introduces most of the characters that will shape Walt Longmire’s life. It opens with the death of Cody Pritchard who was convicted—along with three other high school boys—of the rape of a young Cheyenne girl who is a victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The boys’ punishment for the brutal attack was suspended sentences, and the racial tensions between the white community and the Cheyenne Reservation have escalated. Even his chief deputy believes Cody’s death was a hunting accident, but Walt has an uneasy feeling about it. Then another of the boys dies and the tensions and questions really heat up. Are the killings revenge for the rape or are there other factors involved? Is the killer Walt’s best friend who is the uncle of the raped child?

Death Without Country-Absaroka County sheriff Lucien Connolly hired Walt as a deputy as soon as Longmire left the Marines after Vietnam. Years later Lucien made sure Walt succeeded him as sheriff. The long-time friendship comes into question when secrets from Lucien’s past come out after a Basque woman dies at a local assisted living facility where Lucien lives. Walt finds himself torn between catching a killer and protecting his friend who may have been involved in a death and its cover up. The plotting of this story is fast and convoluted.

Kindness Goes Unpunished—Longmire’s daughter Cady is the light of his life. She is fiercely independent and a hotshot young attorney in Philadelphia. Walt and Henry Standing Bear take a road trip to the City of Brotherly Love just in time for Cady to be brutally attacked and left in a coma. Out of his element in a big city and crushed by the possible loss of his daughter, Longmire joins forces with the Moretti family of cops and the Philadelphia PD to find Cady’s attacker. This one pulls at your heart.

Another Man’s Moccasins begins with the dead body of a Vietnamese woman along the road. In her belongings is a picture of Longmire and a barmaid he knew when he was a Marine MP in Saigon in 1968. The investigation leads to human trafficking and flashbacks that carry Walt to the heart of his war experiences. Vivid scenes of Vietnam and what happened there are the hallmark of this book.

The Dark Horse—Wade Barsad, a man with a dubious past, locked his wife Mary’s horses in the barn and then burned it down. In return she shot him in the head six times or so she said. Walt goes undercover to the county where Mary and Wade lived. There he encounters some of his own ghosts and discovers there were many people who wanted Wade Barsad dead. Mary shot him, but did she kill the man who needed killing?


Junkyard Dogs—The Stewart family owns a local junkyard right next door to a new exclusive housing development. Neither the Stewarts nor the developer is happy about it. Then a severed thumb turns up in a cooler in the junkyard. Where is the rest of the body? This book has enough turns to make your head spin and it is funny to boot. The solution was not one I saw coming!


Hell is Empty—comes out in June, 2011. I have already pre-ordered it.

The main library has Cold Dish, Kindness Unpunished, the Dark Horse, and Junkyard Dogs. Just look for F Joh at Main or Avoca. We can request the other books for you from other libraries in the region.

Thanks, Mr. Parker

An Appreciation by Doris

Years ago I picked up my first Spenser novel by Robert P. Parker, and I fell in love. Spenser is the bad boy every woman secretly wants. He is strong, protective, gentle with those he loves, and he can quote poetry even in the deadliest situations. He is totally dedicated to the love of his life, Hawk—uh, I mean Susan Silverman. And, he is funny. I added the Jesse Stone novels and the Sunny Randalls, and, while they are not Spenser, they do very well. It doesn’t matter that the last few novels showed Parker’s plotting skills were fading a bit. It is the characters I love, and Spenser, Hawk, Jesse, and Sunny are still intriguing and fun. Now, with the death of Parker, comes the end of that era. I grieve not only for the author who gave me so many pleasurable hours of reading but for my characters left in limbo. Will Hawk and Spenser—no, no, I mean Spenser and Susan—finally marry? Will Pearl the Dog continue to be the perfect child? Will Jesse finally get over his ex-wife and deal with his alcoholism? Will Sunny and Jesse decide they have found what they need in each other? Those questions may now never be answered except in our hearts, but that is okay. It has been great just getting to know them.

Split Image is the newest Jessie Stone outing. It is a book about love, letting go of old loves, obligations, and understanding what makes us do what we do. Jesse is joined by Sunny Randall who also has relationship issues. Jesse and Sunny are both in therapy to deal with their issues, and the cases they are handling provide a nice framework for some telling therapy sessions. (Sunny’s therapist is the ever-gorgeous Susan Silverman, Spenser’s girlfriend.) Jesse is looking for the killer of a Russian mob enforcer. Sunny is looking for the 18 year old daughter of a high society couple who has ditched the family for a New Age cult. Of course there is more to the cult than meets the eye, and the dead Russian is soon joined by other dead mob people. While discovering if there is a possibility of a healthy relationship for them, Jesse and Sunny work through the separate cases in their laconic and often amusing ways.

Split Image has three plots in motion, but it is the characters that really drive the book. Jess has Suitcase and Molly. Sunny has Spike who, contrary to the implications of the name, is not a Doberman. There are also the Bang Bang Twins who are called such for good reason and the leader of the cult who just might turn out to be rather pathetic. To me the plots have always been secondary to the play of the characters, and Parker has never disappointed me with them.

Rumor has it that there may be another Spenser book in the pipeline. I hope so because I would love to see that Jesse and Sunny, Spenser and Hawk live happily ever after—uh, and you too, Susan Silverman.

Note: Painted Ladies: A Spenser Novel, was completed a year before Robert B. Parker's death. It is scheduled for release in October, 2010. Mr. Parker was at work on another Spenser novel when he died.