Thin Air (Spenser Series #22)

by Robert B. Parker

Overview

Her name is Lisa St. Claire. Her husband's a cop. Her whereabouts are unknown. Spenser thought he could help a friend find his missing wife. Until he learned the nasty truth about Lisa St. Claire. For starters, it's not her real name...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425152904
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/1996
Series:	Spenser Series , #22
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	352,519
Product dimensions:	6.74(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.82(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring police chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole–Everett Hitch westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.

Date of Birth:

September 17, 1932

Date of Death:

January 18, 2010

Place of Birth:

Springfield, Massachusetts

Place of Death:

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Education:

B.A. in English, Colby College, 1954; M.A., Ph. D. in English, Boston University, 1957, 1971

Website:

http://robertbparker.net/

Editorial Reviews

In the famed Boston PI's 22nd case, an oddly sympathetic villain and a resolute heroine draw Spenser into a barrio enclave in a depressed Massachusetts factory town. Readers know that Lisa St. Clair, a radio deejay newly married to a Boston police detective, has been kidnapped and imprisoned in a Proctor, Mass. tenement by Rico, her former lover. The cop, who knows only that his wife has disappeared, is shot and seriously injured just after he asks Spenser to investigate. Chapters alternate between the room where Lisa is kept under guard and constantly running video cameras and Spenser's gradual assembling of clues. The PI discovers Lisa's former name and occupation; he thinks up a way to penetrate Proctor's divided and desperate Hispanic community, ruled by Rico and a rival. Lots of atmosphere and even suspense-Will Lisa resist Rico's demands? Can Spenser discover a way to rescue her?-are built up in short sentences and one-line paragraphs. Spenser's pal Hawk is away (his place taken briefly by the sharp L.A. crook, Chollo), and his lover, Susan, and dog Pearl are kept mostly backstage during a slightly stretched out story that, nevertheless, packs a lot of punch. Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild alternate. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Spenser, Parker's most popular creation, here searches for a mysterious woman.

Library Journal