James Baquet

I occasionally go on a binge, reading (for example) all the James Bond novels and stories by Sir Ian Fleming, or all the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

A few years ago, one of these consisted of all the novels by American author Robert B. Parker featuring his fictional detective: Spenser (with no first name).

Spenser was special to me for a couple of reasons. For one, the author, Parker, was a professor of literature, so he managed to work in lots of literary references.

Spenser, for example, used to explain that his name was “Spenser with an S, like the poet” — not the more usual Spencer. Sir Edmund Spenser was one of the best-known of the Renaissance English poets.

But Spenser was no namby-pamby poetic type. He was a man’s man, driving hot cars and dating beautiful woman. And this brings me to the second reason I loved the book series. The character of Spenser was portrayed in 65 episodes of a TV show by a dear friend, actor Robert Urich, who embodied much of Spenser’s macho. (Robert died of cancer in 2002 at age 55. I miss him still.) The show was called “Spenser: For Hire.”

So during one summer break at Shenzhen Polytechnic, I read all 40 of Parker’s Spenser novels, in order, plus the 11 penned posthumously by other authors after Parker’s death.

Spenser’s TV world is peopled by colorful characters, largely based on creations from Parker’s books.

Foremost is his long-time girlfriend, Susan Silverman. Her job as a psychologist brings a certain depth to their conversations, and she sometimes helps him see the motivations of the people — good and bad — he has to deal with. Later in the TV series (but never in the books) Susan leaves, and Spenser takes up with an assistant district attorney, Rita Fiore.

As you would expect of a private detective, Spenser has a number of law enforcement officers in his professional circle — and a number of shady types. One of these latter is Hawk, an “enforcer” for hire whose ethics walk the edge of the law, but Spenser comes to trust his personal code. After “Spenser: For Hire” was cancelled, Hawk had his own series, “A Man Called Hawk.”

I highly recommend both the “Spenser” books and the TV series as entertaining and educational.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. a strong-man, thug

2. questionable

3. overly manly

4. written

5. moral behavior

6. period of over-indulgence

7. reasons for acting a certain way

8. soft, effeminate

9. populated, filled with

10. after someone’s death