Lily Ellsworth-erect, firm, white-haired, and stylish-is the grand dame of Dowling, Massachusetts, and possesses an iron will and a bottomless purse. When she hires Spenser to investigate her grandson Jared Clark's alleged involvement in a school shooting, Spenser is led into an inquiry that grows more harrowing at every turn. Though seven people were killed in cold blood, and despite Jared's being named as a co-conspirator by the other shooter, Mrs. Ellsworth is convinced of her grandson's innocence. Jared's parents are resigned to his fate, and the boy himself doesn't seem to care whether he goes to prison for a crime he might not have committed.
Publisher Comments: The New York Timesabestselling authoras richly imagined work of historical fiction: a powerful tale of the Old West from the acknowledged master of crime fiction. I had an eight-gauge shotgun that Iad taken with me when I left Wells Fargo. It didnat take too long for things to develop. I sat in the tall lookout chair in the back of the saloon with the shotgun in my lap for two peaceful nights. On my third night it was different. I could almost smell trouble beginning to cook . . . .a After the bloody confrontation in Appaloosa, Everett Hitch heads into the afternoon sun and ends up in Resolution, an Old West town so new the dust has yet to settle. Itas the kind of town that doesnat have much in the way of commerce, except for a handful of saloons and some houses of ill repute. Hitch takes a job as lookout at Amos Wolfsonas Blackfoot Saloon and quickly establishes his position as protector of the ladies who work the backroomsaas well as a man unafraid to stand up to the enforcer sent down from the OaMalley copper mine. Though Hitch makes short work of hired gun Koy Wickman, tensions continue to mount, so that even the self-assured Hitch is relieved by the arrival in town of his friend Virgil Cole. When greedy mine owner Eamon OaMalley threatens the loose coalition of local ranchers and starts buying up Resolutionas few businesses, Hitch and Cole find themselves in the middle of a makeshift war between OaMalleyas men and the ranchers. In a place where law and order donat exist, Hitch and Cole must make their own, guided by their sense of duty, honor, and friendship.
When a simple case turns into a treacherous and politically charged investigation, Spenser faces his most difficult challenge yet-keeping his cool while his beloved Susan Silverman is in danger Spenser knows something's amiss the moment Dennis Doherty walks into his office The guy's aggressive yet wary, in the way men frightened for their marriages always are...
A girl has been found dead, seemingly strangled, in the hotel room of movie star Jumbo Nelson. Jumbo's lawyers want Spenser to find out whether Jumbo did it - not because they care either way, but because the knowledge will help them work out how to block his conviction. Jumbo is a sufficiently repulsive individual that Spenser finds it hard to contain his distaste. And then there is his bodyguard, Zebulon Sixkill, a Cree Indian who squandered his pro-football career thanks to an inability to control his temper, and turned his attentions to alcohol instead. Also involved in Jumbo's case for reasons that remain unclear is a cold-blooded assassin who just might be the most dangerous enemy Spenser has faced yet. But if he can persuade Sixkill to turn his life around, Spenser might just have the ally he needs...
When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch track down the woman who stole Virgil's heart, they find a dispirited prostitute rather than the innocent beauty she once was. Now they must save her, even if murder is the price of redemption. Available in a tall Premium Edition. Robert B Parker has contributed to Brimstone as an author. Robert B. Parket lives in Cambridge, MA.
A cheating husband and a wayward wife provide Spenser with an unconventional and dangerous surveillance job. The eagerly awaited latest Boston Private Eye Spenser novel.
