Spare Change

Don’t get me wrong. I really like Robert B. Parker novels, but I don’t like everything about them. Spare Change features Sunny Randall, a female private eye and one of Parker’s three favorite characters (hereinafter referred to as “the troika”) who often cross one another’s paths in solving crimes in and around Boston. Sunny is the sometime (in this book, former) girlfriend of Jesse Stone, a second member of the troika. Sunny’s psychoanalyst is Dr. Susan Silverman, who is the girlfriend of Spenser, the mono-named private eye who is Parker’s most famous character and the third member of the troika.

Parker’s novels frequently feature conversations between the main crime solvers and their shrinks, which may just be a sly show more trope to explain the characters’ motivations. On the other hand, he seems to have a strong affection for psychoanalysts, if not for the process of psychoanalysis. In this book, Sunny Randall gives a great deal of credit to Dr. Silverman’s insight for helping her to understand herself and for helping to solve a series of murders. And yet, in the actual conversations, Silverman just seems to nod, grunt, or otherwise tacitly agree with Randall.

Silverman herself is my least favorite Parker character. She is too perfect (at least in Parker’s and Randall’s eyes). At one point Randall says:

"She was older than I, but it would be difficult to say just how one would know that. She was positively beautiful. Her body was graceful and strong. Even in her self-abnegating shrink mode, she reeked of womanhood. The force of her filled the room.”

Later, Randall suffuses:

"She seemed relaxed and focused. Her makeup was understated and flawless. Her hair was in place without any hint of hairspray. Her clothes fit her perfectly. They were expensive and subtle, suitable for psychotherapy. Appropriate. Like her. Always appropriate. Did she ever get a stomachache? Was she ever scared? Did she always know what was what?”

Pullease!

Parker’s novels are usually suspenseful, and always written in a taut, no nonsense style. All of his other crime novels that I have read feature witty repartee among the characters, a feature that provides a comedic riff to defuse the tension. But for some reason, Parker could not seem to work his usual verbal scintillation into this novel.

If this had been the first Parker novel I had read (it was one of the last he wrote), I doubt that I would have read 20 more. But it wasn’t, and I still think he is pretty darn good. Incidentally, even though he waxes a bit too eloquently about Dr. Silverman and isn’t up to his unusually high standard of snark, Parker’s Spare Change is still a pretty entertaining detective novel.

(JAB) show less

Spare Change by Robert Parker teams up Sunny Randall and her father in a case involving a serial killer who drops coins next to the bodies of his victims. Although Parker's dialogue is always razor sharp and his characters well delineated, there's a certain perfunctory quality about the plot that perhaps comes from writing too many crime dramas over the years. You won't be disappointed by this book, but you won't necessarily remember it as one of Parker's best, either. A good airport read. You'll enjoy yourself between the soft drinks and the on board movie.

This was my first book by Robert B. Parker and I enjoyed it for the most part. I made my father read it with me because it was definitely as if my father and I were Phil and Sunny Randall. They bantered like we do, sass like we do, and discuss life as we do. It felt sometimes as if Robert Parker was spying on us. I enjoyed the story and most of the characters. The mystery was good, but Sunny did spend a lot of time "knowing it all" (I'm not that bad. My dad might disagree though). My main complaint was all the "I said" then "Dad said" then "I said" then "Dad said" in the book. It made the writing very choppy. A thesaurus might have helped with that a little. But the plot and main characters sold me on the series. Dad and I will show more definitely read another one. show less

Sunny and her dad Phil attempt to close out a cold case he had before he left the Boston Police. The case had suddenly turned hot again as a new victim is discovered. The serial killer known as Spare Change (named so because he leaves a nickel, dime, and quarter behind at each murder scene) has struck again. Phil gets called out of retirement to advise on the case and he brings his private-eye daughter with him.

This book was okay, I know there are die-hard Robert Parker fans out there that eat up every word he writes, I have favorite authors like that also. "Spare Change" was my attempt to branch out my "Parker experience". I love the Jesse Stone series and I liked the movie that Sunny Randall appeared with Jesse. Don't a bad book, it's show more just not Jesse Stone. show less

it seems to me that the sunny randall books are more about the people than the crime, even tho parker does a nice job with that, too. as a very wise woman said, it was like settling in with old friends when i started this. i don't get how a man can write from a woman's perspective as well as parker does. loved the interaction between sunny and her dad, the vignettes with "Mother," not to mention Spike and Rosie, and last but not least, one of the creepiest serial killers in a while.

I think this is the last Sunny Randall. It's pretty standard serial killer stuff where the killer kind of gives himself away and then they just have to sneak around trying to catch him. Sunny's therapy sessions with Dr. Silverman feel a little on the nose for my taste, and her mother's revolting racism made me uncomfortable. Still, fun enough for an afternoon's distraction.

Sunny's back and this time she's working with her father to solve a serial killer case. We know the answer to who the killer is quite early in the book, so the tension comes from the search for enough evidence to arrest him and from Sunny's therapeutic quest for answers to her relationship problems. This time it's all about fathers and children in both the case and therapy. Another enjoyable outing although I'm pretty ready for Sunny's relationship with her ex-husband Richie to be resolved one way or the other.