Taming a Sea-Horse (Spenser Series #13) » (Reissue)

Featuring rapid-fire dialogue and spicy characters, Robert B. Parker's books are top-shelf reading for fans of detective crime novels. His Spenser series is several titles strong and an established classic; lately Parker has raised the stakes with two additional series (one featuring private eye Sunny Randle, the other featuring police chief Jesse Stone) that may eventually rival his beloved Boston P.I.

Nice girls don't. But blond, beautiful April Kyle does. She's a hooker hooked on the wrong guy -- and she's on her way to trouble. So is Spenser.

Looking out for April has landed him in the crud of Times Square. It's not a long way to big-business boardrooms where blood money get laundered into long green, sex is a commodity, and young girls are the currency.

"Spenser's back and New York's got him...proficient with his gun and fists, not to mention his quick verbal shots." (Daily News)

Publishers Weekly

The TV series Spenser: For Hire is adding to the fame of Parker's Boston private eye, star of 12 book thrillers. The witty, tough, idealistic Spenser recounts his latest exploits in this 13th tale, starting when he meets April Kyle again. The young prostitute settled in a safe New York City bordello at the end of the novel Ceremony, April leaves to hook for Rambeaux. She refuses to believe the man who ``loves her'' is a pimp supported by sad girls Spenser finds walking the streets. One of these victims and Rambeaux himself are murdered. At the same time, April vanishes, involving the detective in a search that takes him to Maine (where the dead girl was first sold), to St. Thomas and finally to a playboy-type mansion in Boston. Spenser's lover Susan and their intrepid friend Hawke team up against a virtual army of hitmen ordered to protect the profits from prostitution, among other lucrative operations run by mobsters through hirelings fronting for them in legal enterprises. The suspense never slackens in the swift, eventful novel until its surprisingly touching close. Mystery Guild main selection; Literary Guild alternate; author tour. (June 6)