Synopsis In his 20th appearance, P.I. Spenser is investigating a crime where the defendant has already been tried, convicted, and punished. So why do the defense attorney and the prosecutor both feel squeamish enough to hire Spenser to reinvestigate? Although Ellis Alves, the career criminal who was convicted of raping and killing Melissa Henderson, has committed many crimes, the murder of the college student may not be one of them. Alves may be taking the rap for someone desperate and ruthless enough to murder anyone who tries to dismantle a successful frame job, even our favorite cat-with-nine-lives private dick. Could Spenser have finally met his match? A "New York Times" Notable Book for 1997.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1997-03-01 | | Narrated by: | Burt Reynolds |
| Size | | Height: | 7.3 in | | Width: | 5.0 in | | Thickness: | 1.8 in | | Weight: | 12.8 oz |
Publisher's Note The bad kid from the 'hood has a long record, but did he really murder the white coed? Spenser and Hawk plumb the depths of the seamy side of life. In an ethical no-man's-land of twisted cops and spoiled rich kids with peculiar private proclivities, an assassin's bullets take Spenser down. Dead to the world, he plots to pursue justice in this suspenseful story that is also a meditation on morality and mortality.
Industry Reviews "`Small Vices' the 24th Spenser novel, is terrific....The action scenes here are some of the most suspenseful that Parker has ever written..." Washington Post Book World - Maureen Corrigan (04/20/1997)
"It's a tribute to Parker's professionalism that he takes a device as old as Sherlock Holmes--the death and rebirth of a detective--and infuses it with renewed urgency and moral weight, showing the thoroughbred form that put him and Boston on the p.i. map in the first place." Benet
"Mr. Parker has written a powerful piece about the defeat and reclamation of a hero, but I wouldn't say that Spenser's dance with death teaches the old knight to act his age." Wooster
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