Widow's Walk by Robert B. Parker (2002 fiction)
This is one of many Boston P.I. Spenser’s cases. My first! I had read six short chapters before I realized that the dialogue alone was whisking me and plot development along. There was minimal but sufficient character description, words revealed people. And then there’s central character Mary Torricelli Smith, a truly dumb lady. Limned and limited by her Junior High vocabulary. “Mary was something else, dark skin, big dark eyes, big blond hair, a lot of blue eye makeup. She had a big chest . . . Her clothes were expensive but a little too small for her. And the jacket of her black suit rode up a little on her hips.” The plot is convoluted, with no less than six murders simplifying the cast. The pace is non-stop, with meals and clothing detailed, and Pearl, an aging mutt, supplying canine comfort. Local Boston knowledge would have helped me, but I hung on, accepting the zig-zag unfolding of an intricate plot, and concluded that Robert Parker has a unique and totally captivating style. I was impressed by weather descriptions such as “. . . the air was dense with the unculminated promise of heavy rain.” And a staff position: “acting second assistant junior auxiliary vice president.” No wonder Parker had written 70 best-selling books at the time of his death in 2011.
Reviewed by Martin Waldron
a