Widow's Walk (Spenser)
by Robert B. Parker
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert B. ParkerEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-03-04
ISBN: 042518904X
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780425189047
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Widow's Walk (Spenser)
Book Review: Do Dim Bulbs Mean Dim Sum? Thumbnail Conclusions of Style Evolution.
Summary: 5 Stars
Characters' repulsion to Mary Smith's bimbo mode provided effervescent entertainment. The widow's bulb was dimmed to such a degree, I was surprised she wasn't irritating to me. Instead, she was such a spot-on portrayal of similar women I've observed (especially with the "I really, really" speech pattern) that when she entered a discussion, chuckles emerged from too vivid recalls of "been there" with personal periodic dips into the low wattage of exhaustion. As Parker had intended, I was baited into the complex plot by continuing to question if Mary's "act" was an act, or face-value of her unadulterated self.
For my tastes, Parker mastered several techniques of the novel and of P.I. genre expectations in WIDOW'S WALK, # 29 in this series. The plot was intriguingly complex, and multiple unusual arrangements (and murders) in this novel worked, with dues to realism paid on accounts. In particular, I enjoyed the empathetic scenes with Race Witherspoon in his art studio and gay bar connections (Nellie's in Bay Village).
An overview of the evolution of Parker's writing style seemed to crystalize somewhat with the reading of WIDOW, as I began noticing a few cracks forming in a conclusion I'd been solidifying through reviews of 31 Spenser novels (see my Listmania). Surprisingly, this observation delighted me, because it meant that Parker's skill was more intriguingly complicated than I had thought. Of course I'm glad I caught the error in my "headings" prior to pontificating them here. My other reviews' observations still read accurately from my current conclusions, since each review focused on the immediate book, and sometimes a few around it in sequence.
As I read onward in WIDOW, a light bulb swung into my path and bopped me between the eyes. "Oh!" (To use a British term from Christie's Miss Marple series.) As the bulb bopped, I saw that this series does not precisely evolve in progressive increments from a denser style narrated by a solitary P.I. into a lighter, sparser, team-playing home-stretch, as I had hypothesized when contrasting the earlier books to POTSHOT (the first novel I read in the series) and a few of the later offerings. Parker's talent is too rich and quirky for a simple, incremental, no-back-tracking progression.
As soon as my previous reviews had identified a shift in the series style-continuum, I'd read the next offering and see that the "shift" had returned to an earlier mode, with a new flair or flavor. Sometimes the shift went from teaming with Hawk or Susan (which I thought had become a new approach), back to the solitary Spenser, lonely-street, melancholy P.I. of the earlier novels. The only accurate style-shifting synopsis might be to conclude that honing and paring of every asset in this series has been primely accomplished.
A few chapters into WIDOW, I had paused to thumb through the book, checking the balance of pages of dialogue clips, to pages of longer paragraphs of solitary contemplations, descriptions of setting and weather, etc. That quick thumb gave a false conclusion that THIS was the line of demarcation for a dramatic increase in the jazzy "talking head" rhythm, and a decrease in action, and density of setting/narrative.
Even though I reveled in the earlier density, I felt (still do) that Parker was one of the few authors able to rivet readers into abundances of sequential pages of dialogue, with the repartee having such a rich rhythm as to feel like plot motion as much as skull-cracking-action does. Yes, dialogue flared well in WIDOW. Yet, pared-down weather descriptions, scenery enhancements, and mood reports were woven whimsically around repartee. Thankfully, here is where I caught myself wrongly assuming that this would become forevermore the "New Deal."
A variety of literary pizzazz and style panache has been sporadically alternated in this series, creating a collection of upwardly spiraling, "new and improved" machinations in no discernible pattern of progression, other than possibly from denser to more effervescent, though both styles work. As noted above, Parker appears to be alone in having the repartee ramble down with enough spark-padded-with-spit-of-sensual-observation to carry a novel without a plethora of heavy-action-backup (though action has continued to abide in good pace throughout the series).
What caused the shifts in style in this series? Might Parker's editor have astutely isolated patterns of reader response which indicated a regular appeal or repel? About Parker's dialogue, other than the use of "he said/she said" (which delights me in seeming to be a rebellious signature), I've read mostly raves reported with rhapsodic rhetoric.
Complaints have surfaced about other literary assets, and supposed liabilities. Praise has clashed with complaints, with both seeming to relate to personal preference. Possibly Parker, in the vein of many authors of fiction, rides with the series more than micro-designing or reining it. A few of Parker's early blog entries on Amazon briefly mention means of choosing of particular characters, themes, or styles.
Whatever impacted this series as it moved through its courses, it is a prime offering in culturally significant literary contributions, all the more so in its guise of being formulaic, simple entertainment. Don't be slighted by a smooth flow of style and a degree of genre adherence ... or do be!
Thumbs up to Parker's entertainingly erratic evolution of style,
Linda Shelnutt
Author of several Kindle books and Amazon Shorts, including:
Molasses Moon
Summary of Widow's Walk (Spenser)
One of Boston?s elite has been murdered. The accused is his new wife. She?s blonde, beautiful, and young. The jury?s going to hate her. With next-to-no alibi, and multi-million reasons to kill her husband, she needs the best defense money can buy. His name is Spenser, and he?d give anything to believe her.
It's good to see private eye Spenser back in Boston, after his ludicrous imitation of a frontier lawman in Robert B. Parker's Potshot. But he's getting nowhere investigating the gunshot murder of banker Nathan Smith in Widow's Walk. The cops figure Smith's ingenuous but unfaithful young wife, Mary, pulled the trigger. She denies it. Spenser, hired by former prosecutor Rita Fiore to help build Mary Smith the best defense her money can buy, isn't sure either way, and the more time he spends on this case (dense with business and sexual deceptions), the more perplexed he becomes.
Of course, our poetry-spouting hero finally catches a break by linking Smith's demise to a convoluted real-estate scam. The rest of the novel offers plenty of Parker's characteristically witty dialogue, the slayings of several informants that you know from the get-go are toast, and ample opportunities for Spenser and his robustly menacing sidekick, Hawk, to intimidate lesser thugs. Unfortunately, the author isn't as attentive to the needs of other series regulars, including Spenser inamorata Susan Silverman, whose restrained jealousy toward lawyer Fiore ("Rita is sexually rapacious and perfectly amoral about it. I'm merely acknowledging that") and self-flagellation over a gay client's suicide somehow add no new depth to her character.
Parker has a propulsive prose style and can still concoct engrossing stories; his 2001 standalone Western, Gunman's Rhapsody, is a fine example. Widow's Walk doesn't quite meet that standard. Though entertaining, it's an unsatisfying chapter in a series that's become too predictable. --J. Kingston Pierce
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