Robert B. Parker prolific author of the Spenser for Hire mystery series meets grim reaper at 77.
A hard boiled novelist who wrote 37 novels featuring the detective with no first name Spenser, a tough as nails Boston PI.
Spenser For Hire was a TV series staring Robert (Vegas) Urich during th 1980s.
Parker openly worshipped Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep) and Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon) and helped bring back their cool, clipped style in the first "Spenser" novel, The Godwulf Manuscript in 1973.
Parker’s other books included a novel inspired by Jackie Robinson, Double Play; the Westerns Appaloosa, Resolution and Brimstone; and Perchance to Dream, a sequel to Chandler’s The Big Sleep.
Parker won two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America and a Grand Master Edgar in 2002 for lifetime achievement. So long, tough guy.
