Robert B. Parker

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Robert B. Parker

Robert Brown Parker (born September 17, 1932 in Springfield , Massachusetts , † January 18, 2010 in Cambridge , Massachusetts) was an American writer. He became known for his crime figure Spenser, a Boston private detective in the literary tradition of the " hard-boiled " detectives by Chandler and Hammett .

biography

After earning a BA from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, Robert Brown Parker served two years in the Korean War before earning his MA in American literature from Northeastern University in Boston in 1957 . After five years of writing jobs in business and advertising, he returned to university. In 1971 he received his doctorate from Boston University with a dissertation on the "Black Series" in American crime fiction ( The Violent Hero, Wilderness Heritage and Urban Reality: A Study of the Private Eye in the Novels of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald ).

In 1973 he published his first own detective novel in the tradition of his literary models with the private detective Spenser (Spenser and the stolen manuscript) . In 1976 he became a full professor at Boston University, but gave up his activity three years later to devote himself only to writing. From 1973 until his death, a new Spenser novel was published almost every year. In addition to the 39 Spenser novels, a short story has also been published that illuminates an episode from Spenser's childhood, but is not one of the actual crime novels.

In 1997, parallel to the Spenser series, he began two series about the police officer Jesse Stone and the private detective Sunny Randall, which appeared alternately every year. Parker created the character of Sunny Randall at the request of actress Helen Hunt , who asked him about a character she could play.

In addition to his detective novels, Parker wrote several westerns, including Appaloosa , which was filmed in 2008.

Parker died of a heart attack at his Cambridge home at the age of 77. He died sitting at his desk while he was working on a new Spenser novel ( Silent Night ), which was completed by longtime agent Helen Brann and published posthumously in November 2013.

In April 2011, the Parker Estate - his widow Joan (1932-2013) and their sons Dan and David - agreed with Parker's publishing house to continue his book series. The Jesse Stone series of novels was continued by Parker's longtime friend and collaborator Michael Brandman , later by Reed Farrel Coleman, while journalist and author Ace Atkins is writing new novels for the Spenser series . Robert Knott continues the Virgil Cole series.

Awards

Spenser

Parker's hero Spenser is a former heavyweight professional boxer and can also look back on a brief police career. Since retiring from the police force, he has made his way as a private detective in Parker's hometown of Boston. Like his literary predecessors Philip Marlowe , Sam Spade and Lew Archer , Spenser is a lone fighter who, if necessary, can assert himself with great severity. Spenser is - as he is described by Parker - actually independent. His autonomy forms the basic literary motif of the series in addition to the relationships with the hit man Hawk, who helps him from time to time, and his great love Susan Silverman. Spenser's gentler side is his love of cooking and beautiful literature.

Portraying the relationship between Spenser, Hawk, and Silverman is Parker's primary concern. Aside from moral cliché, the "shooter" (contract killer, mercenary, professional thug, debt collector) is Hawk Spenser's truly best friend. The absolute, unconditional friendship between the two men is a central motif of the series. Through Susan Silverman, whom Spenser met and fell in love with in the second book in the series, Parker soon introduced motifs from psychoanalysis and psychotherapy into the series. Despite all seriousness, Spenser is humorous, quick-witted, sometimes fatalistic and never boring.

Between 1985 and 1988 the quite successful television series Spenser (original title: "Spenser - For Hire" ) with Robert Urich in the role of the private detective was created. The actor, who died in 2002, also played Spenser in four other television films in the 1990s. As an offshoot , the television series Hawk was created in 1989 (original title A Man Called Hawk ), in which Avery Brooks played the title hero. Parker wrote the scripts for all 13 episodes for this series. In 1999 Joe Mantegna as Spenser and Ernie Hudson as Hawk took over the investigations for three films. In 2020 Mark Wahlberg slipped into the title role for Spenser Confidential . Hawk was portrayed by Winston Duke .

Parker and Chandler

Robert Parker was not only a successor to Raymond Chandler in terms of the genre , he also continued his work "officially" (authorized by Chandler's estate administrator): In 1989 he made the novel from Chandler's notes on an incomplete Philip Marlowe story Lonely class (English Poodle Springs). And the 1991 novel Don't dream of the dead was a sequel to the Chandler classic The Big Sleep (filmed as: Dead sleep tight ).

Works

The Spenser crime novels

tape Original title Publishing year German title German year of publication translator
01 The Godwulf Manuscript 1973 Snout of justice / Spenser and the stolen manuscript / The stolen manuscript 1976 Angelika Haug
02 God Save the Child 1974 Kevin's Path to Another Life / Kevin Bartlett has disappeared 1976 Eike Arnold
03 Mortal stakes 1975 Endgame against death / betting against death 1976 Ursula Goldschmidt
04 Promised Land 1977 Easy prey for professionals / On your own account / Loot for professionals 1977 Martin Lewitt
05 The Judas Goat 1978 Head price for nine murderers / nine murderers 1980 Monika Wittek
06 Looking for Rachel Wallace 1980 Bodyguard for a bomb / bodyguard for Rachel Wallace 1981 Ute Tanner
07 Early autumn 1981 Final in autumn / Spenser and the final in autumn 1981 Malte Krutzsch
08 A Savage Place 1981 Light on dark men / Candy Sloan and the dark men 1983 Sigrid Keller
09 Ceremony 1982 A dollar for innocence / where is April Kyle? 1983 Ute Tanner
10 The widening gyre 1983 Spenser and the candidate / Spenser protects the candidate 1984 Klaus Kamberger
11 Valediction 1984 Spenser's farewell / Spenser takes his farewell 1985 Klaus Kamberger
12 A catskill eagle 1985 Spenser on the run 1986 Klaus Kamberger
13 Taming a Sea Horse 1986 Who is taming April Kyle? 1987 Klaus Kamberger
14th Pale Kings and Princes 1987 Pale shadows in the snow 1988 Klaus Kamberger
15th Crimson Joy 1988 Deadly red 1988 Klaus Kamberger
16 Playmates 1989 Cronies 1988 Hans. M. Duke
17th Stardust 1990 Starry airs 1991 Götz Pommer
18th Pastime 1991 No closed season for Spenser 1992 Hans H. Harbort
19th Double deuce 1992 Hot patch 1997 Klaus Kamberger
20th Paper doll 1993 Cuddly doll 1996 Michael Nagula
21st Walking shadow 1994 The invisible killers 1995 Jürgen Bürger
22nd Thin Air 1995 Brutal Truth / Spenser and the Brutal Truth 1996 Alan Posener
23 chance 1996 Last chance in Las Vegas 1997 Heidi Zerning
24 Small vices 1997 The gray man / Spenser and the gray man 1998 Heidi Zerning
25th Sudden Mischief 1998 Dirty affairs / dispensers and the dirty affairs 1999 Robert Brack
26th Hush money 1999 The price of silence / Spenser and the price of silence 2000 Robert Brack
27 Hugger Mugger 2000
28 Potshot 2001
29 Widow's Walk 2002 The blonde widow 2008 Emanuel Bergmann and Tanja Mushenko
30th Back story 2003 Old wounds 2010 Emanuel Bergmann
31 Bad business 2004 Lousy business 2013 Marcel Keller
32 Cold service 2005 Three balls for hawk 2015 Emanuel Bergmann
33 School Days 2006 The silent student 2008 Frank Boehmert
34 Hundred dollar baby 2006 Hundred dollars baby 2009 Emanuel Bergmann
35 Now and Then 2007 The good terrorist 2008 Frank Boehmert
36 Rough Weather 2008 Rough weather 2018 Marcel Keller
37 The Professional 2009 Bitter end 2012 Emanuel Bergmann
38 Painted ladies 2010 Deceptive picture 2011 Frank Boehmert
39 Sixkill 2011 Spenser and the Cree Indians 2017 Marcel Keller
40 Silent Night 2013

Volumes 39 and 40 were published posthumously, with Helen Brann completing the latter.

The Jesse Stone novels

  • Night passage. 1997. ( The dark paradise. German by Robert Brack. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1998, ISBN 3-499-43318-4 )
  • Trouble in Paradise. 1998. ( Terror on Stiles Island. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-86532-356-9 )
  • Death in Paradise. 2001. ( Die Tote in Paradise. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-86532-369-9 )
  • Stone cold. 2003. ( Eiskalt. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-86532-391-0 )
  • Sea change. 2006 ( Death in the harbor. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-86532-416-0 )
  • High profile. 2007. ( Murder in Showbiz. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2015, ISBN 978-3-86532-447-4 )
  • Stranger In Paradise. 2008. ( The killer returns. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2015, ISBN 978-3-86532-448-1 )
  • Night and Day. 2009. ( Pursued in Paradise. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-86532-525-9 )
  • Split image. 2010. ( Double game. German by Bernd Gockel. Pendragon, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-86532-549-5 )

The Sunny Randall novels

  • Family Honor. 1999. ( Matter of honor. German from Tatjana Kruse. Ullstein, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-548-25312-1 )
  • Perish Twice. 2000. ( Double treason. German by Tatjana Kruse. Ullstein, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-548-25550-7 )
  • Shrink rap. 2002. ( Defenseless. German by Tatjana Kruse. Ullstein, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-548-25807-7 )
  • Melancholy baby. 2004.
  • Blue screen. 2006.
  • Spare change. 2007.

The Philip Marlowe novels

  • Poodle Springs. 1989. ( Lonely class. German by Sven Böttcher. Knaus, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-8135-2297-0 )
  • Perchance to Dream. 1991. (The dead do not dream. (Authorized continuation of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep ), German by Wulf Bergner . Knaus, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-8135-1144-8 )

The Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch Novels

  • Appaloosa. 2005. ( Appaloosa. German by Emanuel Bergmann. Europe, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-905811-60-5 )
  • Resolution. 2008. ( Resolution. German by Emanuel Bergmann. Europe, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-905811-74-2 )
  • Brimstone. 2009. ( Brimstone. German by Emanuel Bergmann. Europe, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-906272-29-0 )
  • Blue-Eyed Devil. 2010.

Other novels

  • Wilderness. 1979. ( Wilderness. German by Ute Tanner. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-548-10275-1 )
  • Love and Glory. 1980. ( A kind of request. German by Klaus Kamberger. Goldmann, Munich 1995 1980, ISBN 3-442-41423-7 )
  • All Our Yesterdays. 1994.
  • Gunman's Rhapsody. 2001.
  • Double play. 2004.
  • Edenville Owls. 2007. (Youth novel about a basketball team)
  • The Boxer and the Spy. 2008.
  • Chasing the Bear. A Young Spenser Novel. 2009.

Non-fiction

  • with John R. Marsh: Sports Illustrated Training with Weights. 1974.
  • with Joan H. Parker: Three Weeks in Spring. 1982.
  • with Joan H. Parker: A Year At The Races. 1990.

See also: List of crime fiction authors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bryan Marquard: Mystery novelist Robert Parker dies at 77. In: The Boston Globe . Archived from the original on January 22, 2010 ; Retrieved January 19, 2010 .
  2. ↑ Spenser - For Hire: Author Robert B. Parker has died . from serienjunkies.de, accessed on January 24, 2010.
  3. ^ Estate of Robert B. Parker: The Putnam Press Release. April 27, 2011, accessed October 18, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Mark Shanahan, Meredith Goldstein: Parker's series live on. In: The Boston Globe. April 28, 2011, accessed October 18, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Staff of series A Man Called Hawk on the Internet Movie Database , accessed on April 30 of 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Parker, Robert B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Parker, Robert Brown (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American crime novelist
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Springfield, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 2010
Place of death Cambridge, Massachusetts