Oct 10, 2010.. Painted Ladies starts off with a bang – literally. The art professor Spenser agrees to bodyguard during a buyback from art thieves gets blown to ..
Painted Ladies (Spenser, #38) 3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 5,796 ratings · 409 reviews The brilliant new Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times-bestselling author Robert B. Parker. Called upon by The Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange-money for a stolen painting. The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and the valuable pai The brilliant new Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times-bestselling author Robert B. Parker. Called upon by The Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange-money for a stolen painting. The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and the valuable painting remains stolen. Convinced that Ashton Prince played a bigger role than just ransom delivery boy, Spenser enters into a daring game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. But this is a game he might not come out of alive... Completed the year before he passed away, Painted Ladies is Spenser and Robert B. Parker at their electrifying best. ...more For many years, I've been a fan of Robert B. Parker's Spenser series, and even though many of the later books in the series do not measure up to the standards that Parker set earlier, I've still enjoyed most of them. Parker died a couple of years ago, and I've been reluctant to read Painted Ladies and Sixkill, which are the last two book in the series, because it's like saying goodbye to an old friend. But I finally pulled Painted Ladies off the shelf and read it this week. Like many of the later For many years, I've been a fan of Robert B. Parker's Spenser series, and even though many of the later books in the series do not measure up to the standards that Parker set earlier, I've still enjoyed most of them. Parker died a couple of years ago, and I've been reluctant to read Painted Ladies and Sixkill, which are the last two book in the series, because it's like saying goodbye to an old friend. But I finally pulled Painted Ladies off the shelf and read it this week. Like many of the later entries in the series, the plot is fairly thin and serves mostly as a framework for a lot of witty banter between Spenser and the other characters. Sadly, Spenser's long-time sidekick, Hawk, is again MIA. Even more sadly, Spenser's long-time lover, Susan Silverman is not. The story opens when an art historian with the improbable name of Ashton Prince approaches Spenser asking for protection. Prince has been selected as the go-between in the return of a priceless painting that has been stolen and is being ransomed back by the museum to which it belongs. Prince wants Spenser to accompany him to the exchange. Things do not go well and, through no fault of Spenser's, his client is killed. Though Spenser has fulfilled his end of the bargain and no longer has a client, the PI's code demands that he avenge Prince's death and bring the bad guys to justice. His investigation leads him into a world of art theft and fraud, and it quickly becomes apparent that Spenser's client might not have been quite what he claimed, which of course the reader knew well would be the case when Prince first walked through Spenser's door. As things progress, Spenser's own life is threatened--something that has happened pretty routinely in each of the thirty-eight books that preceded this one. As always, Spenser is unfazed by this and will deal with the bad guys as they come. In and around the investigation, Spenser will cook a good number of meals and share way too many tender, icky moments with Susan, a woman only Spenser could love. All it's a quick, fun read and those who have followed this series from the beginning will know exactly what to expect. Those who have not and who are thinking about dipping into this series for the first time, would be much better advised to read one of the earlier books like The Godwulf Manuscript or Early Autumn. ...more Robert B. Parker died almost a year ago, but from what I’ve read Painted Ladies is the first of two unpublished Spenser novels that he had completed. Plus, considering Parker’s output, who knows how many books from his other three series may come out? It seems like Parker’s literary ghost will be with us for some time to come. Considering how much bitching I’ve done about his later work, I was a bit conflicted over whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. However, I was pleasantly surprised Robert B. Parker died almost a year ago, but from what I’ve read Painted Ladies is the first of two unpublished Spenser novels that he had completed. Plus, considering Parker’s output, who knows how many books from his other three series may come out? It seems like Parker’s literary ghost will be with us for some time to come. Considering how much bitching I’ve done about his later work, I was a bit conflicted over whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. However, I was pleasantly surprised that Painted Ladies is one of the better Spenser novels to come out in years. Ashton Prince is an art expert who has been hired by a museum to help arrange the return of a priceless painting that was stolen. Prince has set up a ransom exchange to get the painting back and hires Spenser for protection during the meeting. As with most of his clients, Spenser doesn’t like Prince much and thinks something smells rotten about the whole set-up, but he takes the job. When the exchange goes badly, Spenser feels responsible and tries to untangle a mystery that involves stolen art that goes back to World War II. While I long ago accepted that Parker would never match his earlier books in the Spenser series in terms of quality, this one marks a vast improvement over the later books that had gotten repetitive and bogged down with the dreaded S+S=S (Spenser+Susan=Smug) factor that had dominated the stories for years. Parker had shown signs of trying to mix things up with the last couple of Spenser books, but hadn’t entirely gotten free of his bad habits. In this one, with an interesting mystery and worthy adversaries that take the tension level up a notch, Spenser breaks out of the rut he’d been stuck in . There’s still a bit too much of the cutsie-pie Susan stuff, but this finally felt like Spenser was really engaged in a case instead of just going through the motions until he could meet her for dinner. Sadly, Hawk doesn’t make an appearance in this one since he’s up to some kind of mischief in Central Asia, but his absence doesn’t hurt the overall story at all. Hopefully, Parker kept this trend going for the final book and fans will get to end the series on a high note. Next up: Robert B. Parker writes his last Spenser story in Sixkill. ...more There was a time when I religiously sought every book by Robert B. Parker. I looked forward to each new book he published (and he seemed to publish one every month, so it was like Christmas every time I went to the bookstore), and I loved the fact that he had written so many books that it would take me several years to catch up to the backlog of other novels. I especially loved the Spenser series. I remember watching the short-lived TV series when I was a kid (it was the reason I became a Parker There was a time when I religiously sought every book by Robert B. Parker. I looked forward to each new book he published (and he seemed to publish one every month, so it was like Christmas every time I went to the bookstore), and I loved the fact that he had written so many books that it would take me several years to catch up to the backlog of other novels. I especially loved the Spenser series. I remember watching the short-lived TV series when I was a kid (it was the reason I became a Parker fan in the first place), and Robert Urich became my mental image of Spenser with each new book I read. At some point around 10 years ago, I stopped reading Parker. Not because I started disliking Parker for any reason. I just got caught up in other interests. My tastes were developing. I was discovering new authors, some of whom were authors that Parker himself acknowledged as his own inspirations: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Jim Thompson, James Cain, Ross MacDonald. From there I leapfrogged to other writers taking the noir genre into fascinating new directions: Andrew Vachss, James Ellroy, James Lee Burke, Lee Child. I still had a place for Parker in my heart, but he, not to put too fine a point on it, kind of got left behind. My bad. The world is short one great writer now ever since Parker died, and I'm ashamed to say that I never went to the funeral. I guess I listened to too many people saying that Parker was old hat. Spenser was too "Old School" among the modern-day detectives. Hell, he wasn't even a drunk. There were rumors that Parker's last few Spenser books weren't that great anyway, that he was "phoning it in". Whatever. The truth is, Parker left a treasure trove of great detective stories, and Spenser will always be one of my favorites. "Painted Ladies" is, I think, the thirty-eighth book in the Spenser series, and it was one of the books published shortly before his death. I'm putting to rest the rumors that Parker was "phoning it in" near the end. It's a bullshit rumor. Everything Parker fans adored about Spenser is still there: wise-cracking, tough-guy antics, sensitive and charming to women but loyally faithful to Susan, the love of his life, smarter than he lets on. The story: Spenser is hired by Dr. Ashton Prince, a well-known art scholar, to protect him during a meet in which art thieves who have stolen a priceless Dutch painting will exchange it for money. Spenser expects things to go smoothly, and everything does until Prince, with painting in hand, explodes in a fiery mess. Spenser's pissed. He doesn't like it when the man who hired him for protection ends up dead, even if it wasn't his fault. The meet was a set-up. Prince was marked for death from the beginning, but why? This wasn't just a simple case of a stolen painting, as he soon finds out. When professional assassins try two unsuccessful attempts to kill Spenser, he really gets mad. Reading "Painted Ladies" was, I have to admit, kind of like coming home again. I missed Parker. I'm glad I've become reunited. ...more I've read one other Robert B. Parker book, Appaloosa, and I greatly enjoyed that. Painted Ladies? Not so much. It's main attribute is that it's relatively short. About PI Spencer, Painted Ladies follows Spencer as he is hired by a second rate art professor to protect him while he pays some art thieves for a priceless painting they stole. Spencer and the professor go to make the swap, and Spencer sits in the car while the art professor and the priceless painting are blown to kingdom come. Spencer, I've read one other Robert B. Parker book, Appaloosa, and I greatly enjoyed that. Painted Ladies? Not so much. It's main attribute is that it's relatively short. About PI Spencer, Painted Ladies follows Spencer as he is hired by a second rate art professor to protect him while he pays some art thieves for a priceless painting they stole. Spencer and the professor go to make the swap, and Spencer sits in the car while the art professor and the priceless painting are blown to kingdom come. Spencer, feeling sort of bad about all this, decides to solve the professor's murder despite not being a real cop or being, in anyway, paid to do this. The book just gets better from there. Spencer proceeds to while away your time by drinking coffee and having sex with his Harvard educated girlfriend. Parker also writes in a ton of scenes involving Spencer's girlfriend's dog, Pearl, and her new doggie friend, Otto. I love dogs. I hated hearing how cutesy Spencer and his girlfriend where with their dog. I couldn't take it. It was like drinking melted down My Little Ponies. The cute factor was so cloying it was sickening. Another thing Spencer does is spend a lot of his time making nauseating remarks about his charm to any woman who doesn't want to talk to him. How good looking is Spencer? Apparently he is God's gift to female kind because the entire book is filled with him giving his best smiles to women and then telling them how good looking or charming he is, and then them ultimately tell him what he wants. I get that that ploy might have worked once, but seriously, it's Spencer's only move. It got tedious after a while. The book continues and there are some attempts on Spencer's life, he shoots some people, beats some people up and in the end solves the case and saves some women. Overall, I'd have to say there are much more interesting and engaging books to read out there. I don't recommend this book. ...more This is the last Spenser novel. So the feeling throughout is kinda like an Irish wake -- sad but full of joyful memories. It is disappointing that Hawk only makes an appearance by reference, but all of the other players -- Susan, Quirk, Rita, etc. -- get a pleasant final turn. Parker was so prolific that I'm not sure he knew that this was his last Spenser excursion. If he did (or even considered it), then Spenser's reflection, starting on page 205, of why he does what he does, how it gives meani This is the last Spenser novel. So the feeling throughout is kinda like an Irish wake -- sad but full of joyful memories. It is disappointing that Hawk only makes an appearance by reference, but all of the other players -- Susan, Quirk, Rita, etc. -- get a pleasant final turn. Parker was so prolific that I'm not sure he knew that this was his last Spenser excursion. If he did (or even considered it), then Spenser's reflection, starting on page 205, of why he does what he does, how it gives meaning to his life and his professional values and norms could have just as easily been the author talking directly to us. As I've said in my previous reviews of the late Robert B. Parker's work, "succinct" doesn't begin to describe how concise/precise Parker's writing is. Here is an excerpt from the NY Times obit from last January: "Mr. Parker wrote the Spenser novels in the first person, employing the blunt, masculine prose style that is often described as Hemingwayesque. But his writing also seems self-aware, even tongue-in-cheek, as though he recognized how well worn such a path was. And his dialogue was especially arch, giving Spenser an air of someone who takes very few things seriously and raises an eyebrow at everything else. Mr. Parker’s regular readers became familiar with the things that provoke Spenser’s suspicion: showy glamour, ostentatious wealth, self-aggrandizement, fern bars, fancy sports clubs and any kind of haughtiness or presumption." It is that familiarity that brings the catch-in-the-throat reality to the wake: this is the last ride with Spenser. So sad. A thank you in five stars! ...more
Aug 16, 2010.. At the start of the lackluster 38th Spenser novel from late MWA Grand Master Parker, the iconic Boston PI agrees to protect art historian Ashton ..
Oct 5, 2010.. Painted Ladies has 5789 ratings and 409 reviews. Jeff said: Hey kids, you can write a Spenser novel just like Robert B. Parker. Here's how.
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Dec 17, 2010.. It was a huge loss to the world of fiction when Robert Parker died in.. “Painted Ladies” is Parker and Spenser in top form, and readers can look ..
Jul 15, 2010.. Only after several more people have died does he realize how tenaciously the painted lady's provenance is entangled in the Holocaust, so that ..
Available in: NOOK Book (eBook), Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook. Spenser had a simple job-protect an art scholar during a ransom exchange for a stolen ..
