Robert B. Parker, who is best known as the author of the bestselling Spenser detective novels has died at the age of 77. He died unexpectedly at his home, where he was working on his next novel. USA Today reports:
"This is a man who had an enormous following," says Otto Penzler, owner of the Mysterious Bookshop in New York and a friend of the prolific writer for 30 years. "He was extremely successful. People just loved his books."
The Associated Press reported an ambulance was sent to Parker's Cambridge home Monday morning on a report of a sudden death. The death was of natural causes and was not considered suspicious, says Alexa Manocchio, spokeswoman for the Cambridge police department.
Parker will be sorely missed.
"People just loved Spenser," Penzler says. "They loved the other books, too, and they sold nearly as well as the Spensers. Let's face it. Sunny Randall (the lead character in six novels) sounded very much like Spenser, and so did Jesse Stone."
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"The Spenser character was a lot like Bob himself," Penzler says. "Very funny and smart-alecky. He had that kind of a mouth. He was honorable and loyal. Those are characteristics that are not as ubiquitous as we might like."
The Spenser novels were made into a tv show called Spenser: For Hire in 1985. The series starred Robert Urich as Spenser, and ran for three seasons.
Tom Selleck starred in several Jesse Stone novels which were made into tv film.
On February 23rd, Putnam will publish the ninth Jesse Stone novel, Split Image.
We send our condolences to his family and friends.
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