The godwulf manuscript series#

Spenser talks about not growing up on a farm. So this says Spense and his dad were in Boston by 1949, when Spenser was 13. Dixie Walker ended his career in 1949, Clint in 1952, Sibby in 1954 and Tommy in 1952. If Spenser was 37 in mid-November 1973, he was born in 1936. He talks about going to the Braves Field with his dad, to see Dixie Walker, Clint Hartung, Sibby Sisti and Tommy Holmes. He actually only came to Boston as a teenager, having grown up in Laramy, Wyoming. Spenser talks about going to games in Boston with his dad as a kid.

The godwulf manuscript series#

Those who follow Spenser through the series will note that Parker introduced a few ideas here which he later abandoned. He'd be glad to see me when I came home.' He says he had a dog when he was younger. He talks about wanting a dog = 'Maybe I should buy a dog, I thought. You do learn that Spenser is 37, that he's 6'1', 195 pounds. Spenser meets Brenda Loring, his first real girlfriend in the series. The plot was good, the people excellent, the descriptive scenery as always lovely. All the basic Spenser components are there, in a sort of rough form.

It was just too much! Oh, quite enjoyable, of course. Spenser drinks a lot, puts himself down, wisecracks a bit too much, and (this is the best part) sleeps with a mother AND her daughter within 24 hours. There's no Susan, no Hawk, no self-assured steadfastness. In many ways, Spenser is just beginning to develop his personality in this story. Wow, what a different 'Spenser' from the most recent books! Spenser has gone through a DRAMATIC transformation since this first rough-and-dirty portrayal. The final scene takes place at the Copley Plaza hotel.īuy The Godwulf Manuscript from A double murder at Jamaica Pond, a stay at the Boston City Hospital. Lots of talk about the drives between these places. We get the girl's parents on the hill in West Newton, the English Professor on the beach at Marblehead. The story is in 'a university' which is studiously unnamed, in Boston by Roxbury. We also meet Spenser's two favorite cops - Lt. The story brings our first look at Joe Broz, but Spenser kills off his only two 'muscle men' we meet. A student is killed, his girlfriend framed, and a tie to left-wing politics, drugs, and all the rest is involved. The plot: an illuminated manuscript is stolen. Robert Parker had obviously done his homework well - he wrote his doctoral thesis on the Private Eye genre of writing! An English Professor living in the Boston area, Parker was sure to write a story near and dear to his heart. This was the first book in the Spenser series, written in 1973.