I have returned

Some time ago my attempts to post on my blog failed miserably and I was left, in blog terms, voiceless. After a fearsome struggle with my arch enemy, CYBERSPACE, the forces of good have triumphed over the forces of evil and here I am again. Just in time to remind you that Spare Change was published on June 5 and you should make every attempt to buy it. More later but I just wished to announce my triumphal re-arrival.
rbp

Comments

[James H. Lavin]

I'm reading "Spare Change" and noticed on page 41 Quirk speaks about "brass" from the killer's revolver. A revolver does not eject spent brass. You've always been technically precise in the past when it comes to firearms, that it kind of shook me up to see such a basic error. I hope you're not letting someone else help you write your books. (like many authors do.) That's a scary thought!
Loyal Fan

[vroosh]

Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. A Chicago friend of mine was oft fond of saying that. It's appropriate to crack open that old chestnut when people get hung up on the details :-)

[Max Effort]

I wish more people were aware that revolvers do not eject brass cartridge casings. This is precisely why misguided legislation like that requiring the microstamping of cartridges won't work. Someone committing an illegal act could simply use a revolver instead of a semi-auto and leave no evidence behind.

[Wayne C. Rogers]

Glad you're back, Mr. Parker. I was beginning to worrying about your health.

I think the error with using the term revolver, instead of semi-automatic, was simply a mistake that wasn't caught. I feel assured that Robert Parker knows how both firearms work with regards to shell casings. Remember Mr. Parker doesn't proof-read his novel after it's written, so he wouldn't have caught the mistake. He's been writing so long that I doubt even his editor proof-reads the books.

[James A. Ritchie]

Maybe the brass was there because the killer ejected it, not because the revolver did? I've certainly seen brass from revolvers all over a crime scene.

[Mary Stella]

Welcome back! I just finished reading High Profile over the weekend and enjoyed it very much. Spare Change is next!

[Evan Lee]

WOW! I just finished High Profile, and all I can say is WOW! Another AWESOME read! But it leaves me a little sad that Jesse and Sunny ended it - they would have made an incredible couple. Woops! I hope I didn't ruin it for anybody just then! Anyway...I'm halfway thru Spare Change as we speak and I'm starting to like Sunny more than I do Spenser! Blasphemy, I know...but? Anyway...I just bought my two copies of Night Passage and Death In Paradise on DVD! YAY! I'm so glad they (whoever "THEY" is) decided to FINALLY release these two AWESOME movies. I bought Stone Cold just shortly after CBS aired it - why did it take these two so long to make it to DVD? Oh well...I've rambled enough...keep the faith Mr. Parker!

[Hal Simpkin]

Certainly a revolver doesn't "eject" brass but when reloading it is common practice to dump the empty brass onto the ground, floor or wherever. It would be found there.

Unless the shooter is a compulsive neat-nick with time to spend picking up.

(Might make a good clue, Mr. Parker. Spenser could ID that guy in a second.)

[Matt]

Just read Spare Change. Awsome. Your grasp on realistic and entertaining dialogue is as firm as ever. cant wait till your next book is published.

[Georgiann Kite]

Hi Mr. Parker,
I just read Edenville Owls and thought it was fantastic. My father read it too and said it took him back to the 40's. He was in WWII and was reminded of all the places he went.

Thank-you for another great read!!

Sincerely,
Georgiann Kite

[Jennifer Montgomery Burgess]

I just found your blog after talking with my Dad for Father's Day, and we'd spent some time discussing your latest publications which prompted me to head to your website. Dad is a very long-time fan of yours, and I've been a fan since I started reading his copies of your books when I was a teenager (and I am far from being a teen these days!). Other members of our family are also big fans - primarily of Spenser, but Dad and I also enjoy Sunny and Jesse - we're the sort of people who buy your books just about the second they're published. Anyway, I just wanted to post a comment thanking you for writing the sort of books you do, for providing a common thread of enjoyment within my family, and for helping bond a father and his daughter even more with your stories and characters over the years. You have huge fans in the Montgomery family.

[Max Effort]

"Change rhymes with strange."

I started reading "Spare Change" today and have finished the first 20 chapters.

Much of the book focuses on Sunny Randall's relationship with her father, Phil.

I am a 57-year-old man with a grown-up 30-year-old daughter.

Today is Father's Day.

Coincidence?

"Strange" rhymes with "change."

[Jerry]

Hey Mr. Parker,

I've thoroughly read all of the Jesse Stone series and am starting on Sunny now! Hope Jesse is coming again soon!! Keep up the great work! What are you going to do with Jenn?

Jerry

[Jane]

Just devoured High Profile this afternoon. Another excellent read; I enjoyed it very much. Was hoping for a different outcome on the romantic relationship front. Oh well, there's always the next book, or the one after that!

Need to hurry out and buy Spare Change now. Keep on writing!!

[Jacqueline]

I just found your website, thanks to Spare Change. At last I can say, thank you, thank you, thank you, for ALL your books. Spenser will always be my hero, but I am learning to love Jesse and Sunny too. I buy your books as soon as they are available. I don't just read them, but also re-read them, countless times. Yes, I have a job...I'm a nurse and I swear sometimes your books keep me sane! For which my family and patients are deeply grateful! You are the best.

[Frank S.]

"Spare Change" is the best Sunny Randall novel yet - comes close to some of the best Spensers. Way to go RBP! "High Profile" was good, too. To misquote something Spenser once said, "the worst RBP novel I've ever read was wonderful!" Thanks for writing and keeping us entertained all these years.

[Wayne C. Rogers]

CBS just aired a repeat of the TV movie, "Jesse Stone: Death In Paradise." I accidentally discovered it on while flipping through the channels. It was just as good as the first time I saw it a couple of years ago.

[Mark Vane]

Hey, I recently added a news widget from www.widgetmate.com to my blog. It shows the latest news, and just took a copy and paste to implement. Might interest you too.

Spare Change. Read it. Loved it. Do some more.

[Mark]

I am glad that you are back to blogging Dr Parker.

Brass might have just been a term used by an old school cop.

As a friend of mine says "You read it to be entertained" And as usual I am when I read a Robert Parker novel in 2 days.

Also here is a turn about. In "Sea Change" Reins Deli is mentioned , so Sea Change got a mention in the local paper. I kind of knew that where else could could one get a tongue sandwich but at the Famous Rein's Deli.

[mark]

I realized after I hit enter that it was not Sea Change but High Profile that the Reins quote was in .

This is what happens when you get up at 3 AM and are half asleep surfing the net

[Freddie Hinton]

I've seen most of the Jesse Stone movies. I like them, so far. The only problem that I have with them is that there seems to be elements introduced in the movies that were not in the books. And there are elements of the storylines that have been taken out of the movies. I know that with movies, especially televison movies, that you have to sacrifice a great deal to deal with time contrants. But as long as Dr. Parker is happy with the end result, I don't guess it matters.

[Hal Simpkin]

Does someone out there remember the time Spenser talked about the pink plastic eyeglasses the army dispensed back in the '50s?

Which book was that? I'd like to read that part again.

Tnx

[Wayne C. Rogers]

I just found out that Jesse Stone: Night Passage is being repeated tonight on CBS at 8:00PM. Well worth watching for those of you who are fans of the fiction series.

[MJ]

I just finished reading Spare Change. It was given to me by a mutual fan of yours from way, way back when, with a warning that I might want to throw it at a wall a couple of times. I couldn't pinpoint WHICH time she meant, there were a few. But she says it so much better than my groans.
When I got to the line, "Oh Daddy, he had a hard on." I was oh so tempted to throw the book away and never mention it to you or L [another fan]. The character he created in the first books would NEVER say that. I know it, and you know it, why the f*** didn't Parker. Actually the whole Daddy, Daddy s*** made my skin crawl from the get go. If Parker is trying to get in touch with his feminine side he should do it in a closet with his Barbie dolls. Far far away from a laptop or any writing device. And the closet should most definetly be locked - from the outside. If we both feel this way now, just imagine how we'd feel if we actually paid real money for it."

[MJ]

To be fair, I should post the email I sent to my friend first...

Boy...not only (in my opinion) did the Parker book devolve into something that sounded like a junior high kid trying to write like Parker, but what was worse was that I really had liked the Sunny character, everything about her. There was a nice subtle undercurrent in everything....her relationship with her father, the whole mother/sister thing, the Ritchie thing...and what a bitch she is to her friend (who was in this book, an ass). And the ending disappointed even more. Like...ok, dumb reader, let me point it all out to you in case you were too stupid to figure this whacko out with the ongoing explanations used over and over about his psyche. Either Parker has gotten so high above his readership he's got to play down to us, or he's doing it on purpose or he's lost his touch, which would be depressing. What will he do to Spencer or Jesse? Argh.
Has L read this yet? No worries, I'll be silent if not...well, maybe the teeth marks on the covers will be a giveaway...

[Baylink]

Ok, so I? Didn't think nearly that badly of SC as the couple posters above me...

In fact, I liked it quite a lot.

The "brass" thing threw me as well, *particularly* because a) it's a plot point and b) it's the sort of mistake I can't imagine you making... while you're still comptent to, y'know, actually write the books.

So, give, Parker: what happened? ;-)

[E. L. Flaherty]

My son & dau-in-law introduced me to the Parker novels which I've discovered are addictive. The plots are good, but what keeps me coming back are the people. Two characters in the stories are particularly lovable - Rosie & Pearl. Discovering Dr. Parker only recently, imagine how much fun I have ahead of me, going clear back to the first one! E.L.Flaherty

[Jim Armstrong]

The revolver and the "ejected brass" episode jumped off the page at me. There have been so many of these recently confusing the two types of weapon, I wonder if it is not a sort of in joke.
Besides this incident, there have been similar ones by Lawrence Block and Michael Connelly, where semi-automatics are fired without cocking or go "click, click, click" when empty; another mistake has been to put silencers on revolvers, where they don't work.
I think these guys may be pulling our legs.