Robert Parker Biography

About Robert Parker

Robert B. Parker has long been acknowledged as the dean of American crime fiction. His novel featuring the wise-cracking, street-smart Boston private-eye Spenser have earned him a devoted following and reams of critical acclaim, typified by R.W.B. Lewis’ comment, “We are witnessing one of the great series in the history of the American detective story” (The New York Times Book Review). In June and October of 2005, Parker had national bestsellers with Appaloosa and School Days, and continued his winning streak in February of 2006 with his latest Jesse Stone novel, Sea Change.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Parker attended Colby College in Maine, served with the Army in Korea, and then completed a Ph.D. in English at Boston University. He married his wife Joan in 1956; they raised two sons, David and Daniel. Together the Parkers founded Pearl Productions, a Boston-based independent film company named after their short-haired pointer, Pearl, who has also been featured in many of Parker’s novels. He and Joan live in the Boston area.

Parker began writing his Spenser novels in 1971 while teaching at Boston’s Northeastern University. Little did he suspect then that his witty, literate prose and psychological insights would make him keeper-of-the-flame of America’s rich tradition of detective fiction. Parker’s fictional Spenser inspired the ABC-TV series Spenser: For Hire. In February 2005, CBS-TV broadcast its highly-rated adaptation of the Jesse Stone novel Stone Cold, which featured Tom Selleck in the lead role as Parker’s small-town police chief. The second CBS movie, Night Passage, also scored high ratings, and the third, Death in Paradise, aired on April 30, 2006.

Parker was named Grand Master of the 2002 Edgar Awards by the Mystery Writers of America, an honor shared with earlier masters such as Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen.

Books

The Spenser Series
The Professional
Rough Weather
Now and Then
Hundred-Dollar Baby
School Days
Cold Service
Bad Business
Back Story
Potshot
Hugger Mugger
Hush Money
Sudden Mischief
Chance
Thin Air
Walking Shadow
Paper Doll
Double Deuce
Stardust
Pastime
Playmates
Crimson Joy
Pale Kings and Princes
Valediction
Taming a Seahorse
A Catskill Eagle
The Widening Gyre
The Judas Goat
Ceremony
A Savage Place
Early Autumn
Looking for Rachel Wallace
Promised Land
Mortal Stakes
God Saved the Child
The Godwulf Manuscript
Widow’s Walk
Small Vices

The Sunny Randall Series
Spare Change: A Sunny Randall Novel
Blue Screen
Melancholy Baby
Shrink Rap
Perish Twice
Family Honor

The Jesse Stone Series
Split Image
Night and Day
Stranger in Paradise
High Profile: A Jesse Stone Novel
Sea Change
Stone Cold
Death in Paradise
Trouble in Paradise
Night Passage

Other Books
Brimstone
Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel
The Boxer and the Spy
Resolution
Edenville Owls
Appaloosa
Double Play
Gunman’s Rhapsody
All Our Yesterdays
Perchance to Dream
Poodle Springs
Love and Glory
Wilderness

About Robert Parker