No case is ever easy for Boston private detective
Spenser. Wealthy socialite Marlene Rowley hires Spenser to find
evidence that her husband Trent, the CEO of Kinergy (an energy
trading business), is cheating on her. He tails Trent and quickly
learns he is having an affair with Ellen Eisen and that another
sleuth is following Ellen, whose husband Bernard also works at
Kinergy.
Spenser's case becomes ludicrous when he realizes
that a third private detective is following Marlene. On only
Spenser's second day of surveillance, Trent is murdered in his
office during working hours and nobody saw a thing. Marlene wants
Spenser to find out who made her a widow, which leads Spenser into
a cesspool containing sexual predators, financial finagling and
serial killers.
It has been three decades since Robert B. Parker
write the first Spenser novel and the series is as fresh,
innovative and appealing today as it was then. The sublime but
well written story line is fun to follow as private sleuthing
seems like a lucrative business at least in the Boston area.
Told in the first person from Spenser's point of view, BAD
BUSINESS is a work of humorous prose and fantastic
characterizations.
Spenser is always a delight, March 11, 2004 
