Robert Parker Dies

Robert Parker, best-selling author and creator of "Spenser" novels, has died at age 77. A disciplned and prolific writer, Parker wrote five pages per day every day but Sunday.

"Spenser, spelled “like the poet,” as the character was wont to point out (his first name was never revealed) — was Parker’s signature creation. He appeared for the first time in 1973 in “The Godwulf Manuscript,” in which he is hired by a university to retrieve a stolen medieval document, an investigation that triggers a murder. The first pages of the book revealed much of what readers came to love about Spenser — his impatience with pomposity, his smart-alecky wit, his self-awareness and supreme self-confidence.

“Look, Dr. Forbes,” Spenser says to the long-winded college president who is hiring him. “I went to college once. I don’t wear my hat indoors. And if a clue comes along and bites me on the ankle, I grab it. I am not, however, an Oxford don. I am a private detective. Is there something you’d like me to detect, or are you just polishing up your elocution for next year’s commencement?” (quoted from The New York Times; 1/20/2010).

Read more in the The New York Times or explore Parker's books in the Mac library.