Robert B. Parker, the author of the Spenser novels, who revitalized the hard-boiled detective fiction genre, passed away yesterday.
Besides the Spenser series, he also created the adventures of Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone. Spenser was made into the ABC TV series "Spenser: For Hire" in the 1980s and even spawned a spin-off. He also finished Raymond Chandler's unfinished Philip Marlowe novel and even wrote a sequel to "The Big Sleep."
The prolific award-winning writer is said to have died at his desk, at work. The man and his legacy of work will be remembered for years to come. He'll be missed.
Been a fan of the character since the Robert Urich days; been a fan of the writer since picking up one of his books in the Rome airport to read on the flight home in 2000. Although he will be missed, take some comfort in the fact the the guy was such a prolific writer that apparently he had a number of books finished and others in various draft form when he died.
ReplyDeleteWhile I did like his books, I wasn't the huge fan that some were of his works. It seemed to me recently that while he was churning out more and more the quality had certainly dipped a long way from ever just a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt is going to be interesting to see if we ware ever told anything beyond the absolute basics of the fact that he died at his desk. Stroke? Heart attack? What exactly happened?
From what I have read elsewhere, while he was working on one manuscript and a couple more are with his agent and publisher, there won't be a vast trove of works rolling out after his death.