"Spenser"
No case is ever easy for Boston private detective
Spenser. Wealthy socialite Marlene Rowley hires Spenser
to find evidence that her husband Trent, the CEO of
Kinergy (an energy trading business), is cheating on her.
He tails Trent and quickly learns he is having an affair
with Ellen Eisen and that another sleuth is following
Ellen, whose husband Bernard also works at Kinergy. Spenser's case becomes ludicrous when he realizes that a
third private detective is following Marlene. On only
Spenser's second day of surveillance, Trent is murdered in
his office during working hours and nobody saw a thing.
Marlene wants Spenser to find out who made her a widow,
which leads Spenser into a cesspool containing sexual
predators, financial finagling and serial killers. It has been three decades since Robert B. Parker write the
first Spenser novel and the series is as fresh, innovative
and appealing today as it was then. The sublime but well
written story line is fun to follow as private sleuthing
seems like a lucrative business at least in the Boston
area. Told in the first person from Spenser's point of
view, BAD BUSINESS is a work of humorous prose and
fantastic characterizations. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted February 22, 2004
SummaryA cheating husband and a wayward wife provide Spenser with
an unconventional and dangerous surveillance job.
When Marlene Cowley hires Spenser to see if her husband,
Trent, is cheating on her, he encounters more than he
bargained for: Not only does he find a two-timing husband,
but a second investigator as well, hired by the husband to
look after his wife. As a result of their joint efforts,
Spenser soon finds himself investigating both individual
depravity and corporate corruption.
It seems the folks in the Cowley's circle have become
enamored of radio talk-show host Darrin O'Mara, whose views
on Courtly Love are clouding some already fuzzy minds with
the notion of cross-connubial relationships. O'Mara's brand
of sex therapy is unconventional at best, unlawful-and
deadly-at worst. Then a murder at Kinergy, where Trent
Cowley is CFO, sends Spenser in yet another direction.
Apparently, the unfettered pursuit of profit has a price.
With razor-sharp characterizations and finely honed prose,
this is Parker writing at the height of his powers.
|
