Walking Shadow - Spenser, Bk 21 Author:Robert B. Parker Spenser encounters danger, venality and plenty of comic material in this brisk tale spanning the worlds of experimental theater and illegal immigration. While he'd rather be at work renovating the old farmhouse that he and his lover, psychiatrist Susan, have bought in nearby Concord, Spenser agrees to find out who is following the Artistic Direc... more »tor of the Port City Theater Company, on whose board of directors Susan sits. The detective is utterly bored by a performance of the latest production in Port City, "a town 50% Portuguese and 50% Chinese"--until one of the actors is fatally shot from the audience. The shooter gets away, leaving Spenser with murder to probe as well. After talking to one of the board members, Spenser is warned out of Port City by the woman's husband, an important member of a Boston tong. The threat prompts a call to his old pals Hawk and Vinnie, who, he notes, blend in to the theatrical scene "like two coyotes at a poultry festival." As Spenser discovers that the influx of Chinese illegals into the area is being overlooked by the Port City Chief of Police, an actress in the company reports that she too is being followed. Another murder and a kidnapping occur before the mysteries are resolved and Spenser can get back to his sledgehammer. Although the detective lags in reaching a conclusion readers may have sussed out earlier, the expected pleasures of an adroit Spenser adventure are here in full supply.« less
Another terrific Spenser novel. "Heady and sardonic, with an unpredictable cast of lovers, liars, killers and clowns, Walking Shadow entertains even as it ponders the instability of identities. It is a thoroughly engrossing performance by a classic talent.?
A Massachusetts waterfront town. A small repertory theater with a big reputation. A soupcon of scandal. And Spenser is on hand to steal the scene.Hired by the Port City Theater Company's board of trustees to investigate the director's claim that he is being followed, Spenser feels like a fish out of water-until an actor is gunned down during a performance of a politically controversial play. Then Boston's premier private cop and his cohort, Hawk, go into action, plunging straight into a maze of motives that constitutes a master class in the difficulty of judging reality from appearances. Spenser soon discovers that solving the actor's murder is only a piece of the puzzle. From covert carnal connections within the community to municipal corruption with international tentacles; from petty troublemakers to major malefactors for whommurder is merely a day at the office-this case has everything it takes to stump the sharpest of Sherlocks. And nobody loves a challenge more than Spenser. Heady and Sardonic, with an unpredictable cast of lovers, liars, killers, and clowns, Walking Shadow entertains even as it ponders the instability of identies. It is a thoroughly engrossing performance by a classic talent.
While investigating the murder of a college theater actor, shot dead on stage, Spenser seems to just wander around through most of the book trying to make connections between the college, human smuggling, and Chinese tongs. More low-key than most of the Spenser books.
Walking Shadow (Spenser, Bk 21)
Walking Shadow - Spenser, Bk 21
Author: Robert B. Parker
Spenser encounters danger, venality and plenty of comic material in this brisk tale spanning the worlds of experimental theater and illegal immigration. While he'd rather be at work renovating the old farmhouse that he and his lover, psychiatrist Susan, have bought in nearby Concord, Spenser agrees to find out who is following the Artistic Director of the Port City Theater Company, on whose board of directors Susan sits.
The detective is utterly bored by a performance of the latest production in Port City, "a town 50% Portuguese and 50% Chinese"-- until one of the actors is fatally shot from the audience. The shooter gets away, leaving Spenser with murder to probe as well. After talking to one of the board members, Spenser is warned out of Port City by the woman's husband, an important member of a Boston tong.
The threat prompts a call to his old pals Hawk and Vinnie, who, he notes, blend in to the theatrical scene "like two coyotes at a poultry festival." As Spenser discovers that the influx of Chinese illegals into the area is being overlooked by the Port City Chief of Police, an actress in the company reports that she too is being followed.
Another murder and a kidnapping occur before the mysteries are resolved and Spenser can get back to his sledgehammer. Although the detective lags in reaching a conclusion readers may have sussed out earlier, the expected pleasures of an adroit Spenser adventure are here in full supply.
