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The Ex Files Add Drama To Novel

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By AL HUTCHISON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 1, 2009

"Night And Day," by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $26)

Is there any contemporary author as prolific as Robert B. Parker? Besides three dozen of his popular Boston-based "Spenser" novels, he has written more than 20 others by himself (including, notably, two fine novels of the Old West, "Appaloosa" and its sequel, "Resolution") and a handful in collaboration with other authors.

In "Night And Day," he returns to Paradise, a fictional town near Boston, the subject of half a dozen books featuring Police Chief Jesse Stone, a former major league baseball prospect sidelined by injury, and a supporting cast that includes Stone's ex-wife, his sometimes girlfriend (the central figure in another Parker series) and even - indirectly - Spenser's gifted main squeeze, Susan Silverman.

If there's a formula for cranking out extremely readable stories in a variety of settings, Parker has mastered it. He offers crisp, snappy dialog, an abundance of wit and a somewhat simplified good-versus-evil plot. It all generates that much-coveted feeling that the reader can't wait for the author's next novel.

"Night And Day" is typical. It pits the good guys, led by Stone (although he drinks far too much), against an arrogant foe or two including, this time, a man who confesses in letters to the police chief that he is burdened by an obsessive need to make women take off their clothes. In his highly literate letters, he challenges Stone to identify and capture him.

Naturally, the story ends with Stone enjoying another triumph in his role as a police chief and also, importantly, a victory in his quest to finally shed his dependence on his ex-wife. But can she shed her dependence on him?

Al Hutchison of Citrus County is a freelance writer.

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