What do you say when one of your heroes dies? Robert B. Parker passed away today. He went out in true writer fashion, at his desk. Writing.
Other than Agatha Christie I'd never read much in the mystery genre until I stumbled upon Parker's Spencer novels at our local library. The man blew me away. Every book a sit-down-and-read-until-its-done experience. In my first attempts at writing crime fiction I channeled Parker's wonderful dialogue, going for the humorous come-back lines that I loved in his books.
Through his books I came to love the genre and search out other crime writers. Through his books I learned how to write crime fiction, to realize that it can be more than just solving a crime. His books were full of wise-cracks, but you could see the love he had for his characters and them for each other. It doesn't get any better than that.
Rest in peace, Mr. Parker, you'll be greatly missed.
For more - http://www.sarahweinman.com/confessions/2010/01/robert-b-parker-is-dead.html
4 comments:
Oh that's too bad!
Hard to convey what those first five or six books were like at the time. Outstanding.
I'm reading where a few books are still on the way (one is Spenser) and another Tom Selleck Jesse Stone film. He was definitely prolific.
I can't wait for the new Jesse Stone film, David. Selleck really captures the way I see Stone in the books.
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