The Professional

Amazon.com Review Sue Grafton and Robert B. Parker: Author One-on-One In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together blockbuster authors New York Times -bestselling author of the beloved Grafton : During your career, you've generally worked as a solo writer. Aside from your collaboration with Raymond Chandler (quite dead), how did you enjoy the experience of writing with your wife, Joan? I notice a long break between Parker : Joan is an idea person more than a writer. She has done a lot of uncredited thinking for me. But Three Weeks in Spring , about her first bout with breast cancer, was a special case. And A Year at the Races , also nonfiction, was about our initiation into the world of thoroughbred racing. I have found it wise for me to write and Joan to think (egad, what if it were the other way?), but I have also found it wise not to speak for her. I liked working with her. In fact, I like pretty much everything with her. Grafton : I notice in your bibliography that you wrote a nonfiction book called Parker : Parker on Writing is a collection of random items loosely about writing that Herb Yellin at Lord John Press collected into a finely manufactured limited edition. Herb is a friend, and given what he paid, I can convincingly say it was affection not money that captured me. I feel fine about a reprint. If I have an extra I will send you one, but I'll have to lookits quite possible that I don't. Grafton : I'm curious about your experience in writing Parker : My publisher, agent, and wife all wanted me to try a YA novel. I did three, culminating, at my publisher's request, with Chasing the Bear . Since I knew a great deal about Spenser's adulthood, it was mostly a matter of jacking up the adulthood and sliding a consistent childhood under it. YA novels are hard because you know a great deal that you can't use. Grafton : I saw the movie Parker : Ive written two sequels to Grafton : How do you spend your time when you're not writing? Hobbies? Leisure activities? I'm not very good at having fun, but I'm hoping you are. Please advise. Parker : My friend John Marsh once remarked, "I hate fun." I concur. Mostly, I just live my life, which turns out to be fun. I work out, box with a trainer, watch ball games, go out to dinner with Joan. You've met Joan. Weve been married fifty-three years. Now that's fun. From Publishers Weekly Bestseller Parker makes producing snappy banter look easy in his 37th Spenser novel (after Rough Weather ). He also manages to draw new readers into the Boston PI's major personal relationshipswith love interest Susan Silverman and friend/ally/bodyguard Hawkwithout shoveling on the backstory. Spenser agrees to help a quartet of married women fend off extortion demands from stud Gary Eisenhower, with whom each has had an affair. Meanwhile, the husband of one of the women under blackmail threat hires some thugs to deal with the matter. The action takes its time getting to a dead body, but, as usual, the smooth, entertaining prose more than compensates for any deficiencies of plot. The absence of major personal developments for Spenser or his associates marks this as a less memorable entry than others in this iconic series, but it remains a solid, enjoyable contemporary detective novel. (Oct.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ϡ쯦랠