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Summary
Summary
"Robert B. Parker has always been a master of razor-sharp and witty dialogue, hard-driving suspense and memorable characterization," says the Houston Chronicle. With both the classic Spenser series and the more recent Jesse Stone novels, Parker's spare prose and tight storytelling have earned him critical praise and popular success in equal measure. In Family Honor, he creates an entirely new character--young, smart, and, for the first time, female.Her name is Sunny Randall, a Boston P.I. and former cop, a college graduate, an aspiring painter, a divorcee, and the owner of a miniature bullterrier named Rosie. Hired by a wealthy family to locate their teenage daughter, Sunny is tested by the parents' preconceived notion of what a detective should be. With the help of underworld contacts she tracks down the runaway Millicent, who has turned to prostitution, rescues her from her pimp, and finds herself, at thirty-four, the unlikely custodian of a difficult teenager when the girl refuses to return to her family.But Millicent's problems are rooted in much larger crimes than running away, and Sunny, now playing the role of bodyguard, is caught in a shooting war with some very serious mobsters. She turns for help to her ex-husband, Richie, himself the son of a mob family, and to her dearest friend, Spike, a flamboyant and dangerous gay man. Heading this unlikely alliance, Sunny must solve at least one murder, resolve a criminal conspiracy that reaches to the top of state government, and bring Millicent back into functional young womanhood.
Author Notes
Robert Brown Parker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on September 17, 1932. He received a B.A. from Colby College in 1954, served in the U.S. Army in Korea, and then returned to receive a M. A. in English literature from Boston University in 1957. He received a Ph.D. in English literature from Boston University in 1971.
Before becoming a full-time writer in 1979, he taught at Lowell State College, Bridgewater State College and Northwestern University.
In 1971, Parker published The Godwuff Manuscript, as homage to Raymond Chandler. The character he created, Spencer, became his own detective and was featured in more than 30 novels. His Spencer character has been featured in six TV movies and the television series Spencer: For Hire that starred Robert Urich and ran from 1985 to 1988.
He is also the author of the Jesse Stone series, which has been made into a series of television movies for CBS, and the Sunny Randall series. His novel Appaloosa (2005) was made into a 2008 movie directed by and starring Ed Harris. He has received numerous awards for his work including an Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1977 for The Promised Land, Grand Master Edgar Award for his collective oeuvre in 2002, and the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. He died of a heart attack on January 18, 2010 at the age of 77.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
-Sunny Randall, Parker's new detective, bears little resemblance to Spenser, his more famous creation. She is petite, attractive, educated, and artistic, whereas he is burly, gruff, and blunt. They do, however, share a penchant for zinging one-liners and shrewd leaps of deduction. Sunny, the ex-wife of the noninvolved son and nephew of the remnants of the Boston Mafia, wants to strike out on her own. The fact that she still loves Richie and hesitates to form new alliances somewhat cramps her style, but does aid her detecting. With an endearing bull terrier named Rosie; a gourmet cook, body-builder sidekick who happens to be gay; and a girlfriend who is a psychiatric social worker, Sunny has as many compatriots as Spenser, and puts them to equally good use. She is hired by wealthy politician Brock Patton to find his runaway daughter. This task is quickly accomplished with the help of Richie's family; what is not so easily discovered is why someone tries to kill Millicent-and Sunny-or why the girl's parents are so reticent and Millicent so fearful. While not much of a mystery, this is an engrossing, quick read and Millicent is a quirky, captivating adolescent. Parker has come up with another winning team.-Susan H. Woodcock, Chantilly Regional Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
After 33 novelsÄincluding more than two dozen Spenser mysteriesÄbackboned by heros concerned with distinctly male codes of behavior, Parker presents his first female protagonist. She's Sunny Randall, and she's a keeper. In some ways, Sunny is a female Spenser. Like him, she's a former cop, now a Boston PI, quick with a pistol and a quip. She teams with an odd sidekick, Spike, as Spenser teams with Hawk, and she has a significant other, an ex-husband to Spenser's Susan. But Sunny is female, and as she explains in this wonderfully involving and moving novel, that means that she can't rely on the compass of "Be a man" to orient toward life. How to live correctly is this novel's theme, as it is in the best Spenser novels, and to explore that theme Parker borrows situations from those novels. Sunny is hired by a powerful family to find their runaway daughter, Millicent, who, it transpires, is hooking and needs rescuingÄlike the girl in Taming a Sea-Horse. Once saved from the streets, Sunny trains Millicent in responsible adult waysÄcooking, exerciseÄas Spenser trained Paul in Early Autumn. But it's only a minor knock that Parker uses here elements honed in 30 years of writing, for he uses them with consummate skill. Millicent, it happens, witnessed a conspiracy to murder arising from her cold, ambitious parentsÄher father aims to be governorÄand the Italian mobsters who control them. The mobsters now want her dead, and Sunny, too, if need be. Sunny's fight to save Millicent and herself moves through a wide swath of Boston and its denizens, all etched in Parker's lean and exquisitely cadenced prose. The high suspense is equaled by the emotional power of Sunny's bonding with the damaged girl. A bravura performance, this novel launches what promises to be a series for the ages. BOMC main selection; film rights to Helen Hunt. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
What if Spenser were a woman? What if he were still by turns macho and sensitive, well-connected in both Boston's law community (because he was an ex-cop) and in Boston's underworld (because the ex-husband she'd walked out on were a mob scion who ran some legitimate saloons started with dirty money), great with weapons and wisecracks, but deep-down sententious and, yes, wise as ever? Chances are he'd be just as potent a fantasy as a woman, but more convincing than when he was a man'and chances are he'd walk and talk just like Sunny Randall, the painter/private eye politically connected banker Brock Patton and his well-groomed wife Betty call when their daughter Millicent, 15, runs away from home. Finding a runaway who must be turning tricks on Boston's streets to survive is no problem, Sunny soon realizes; the problem is figuring out what to do with a runaway who doesn't want to go home, identifying the people she's afraid of, and protecting her from them when every promising lead she gets about how to keep them away from Sunny turns up dead. Fans of Spenser (Hush Money, p. 108, etc.) will be happy to know that Sunny, who doesn't mind fighting back hard, takes her grievances all the way to the top en route to revelations that make her feel ``as if I'd spent my life in a convent and was just emerging.'' Come to think of it, Sunny's also just like Helen Hunt, who'll be playing her in the movie scheduled for shooting next year. Nice, huh? (Film rights to Helen Hunt, Book-of-the-Month Club main selection; author tour)
Booklist Review
Parker has ventured into new territory by custom designing a new character for the movies. Boston PI Sunny Randall, Parker's first female sleuth, was created expressly for actress Helen Hunt, who will play petite, blonde Sunny in the film version due out next year. A female in the lead role may sound like a radical departure for Parker, but sadly, once one penetrates the disguises, everything here looks all too familiar. If Sunny were big, beefy, and male, she'd be Spenser; Susan Silverman in the Spenser series has morphed into Julie, a suburban social worker; Rosie, a bull terrier, takes over for Pearl the Wonder Dog; and sidekick Hawk is now played by Spike, a tough-talking gay gourmet. The plot is pretty much a rerun from Parker's earlier books, too. Businessman Brock Patton hires Sunny to track down his missing teenage daughter Millicent. Sunny finds the kid but is reluctant to return her to her family, despite Millicent's bad attitude. Something is bothering the girl, and when two thugs show up at Sunny's loft with guns blazing, it's clear that Millicent is in deep trouble. Parker's quick quips, droll wit, and staccato dialogue are all on display here, so in spite of the tired plot and reworked characters, there's still plenty to enjoy. Besides, Parker remains one of the top sellers in the genre, and if he chooses to dress his hero up in drag, his fans will want to be first in line to admire the emperor's new clothes. --Emily Melton
Library Journal Review
Private investigator Sunny Randall has a full array of family and friends who help her in her new business. Her complex life becomes even more so when she locates the runaway teenager whom she has been hired to find, only to decide that the young girl's home is not a healthy place; so Sunny keeps her while she investigates her clients. Her inquiries reveal some seemingly unrelated murders, and soon she finds herself killing a man to protect young Millicent. Andrea Thompson is easy to listen to; her husky voice is believably one of a self-described "cute" thirty-something blond who can get tough when necessary. Men, too, are portrayed with panache, whether it be a pimp or Sunny's attractive and devoted ex-husband. Most listeners will be drawn into the story immediately. Recommended for popular collections.--Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Williamsburg, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.