Sudden Mischief Book

"Parker's finest in years . . . one can't-put-it-down story. Again . . ." proclaimed San Francisco Chronicle of Robert B. Parker's most recent New York Times bestseller, Small Vices . And The Washington Post Book World agreed, "Small Vices deserves instant inclusion in the Spenser canon." In Sudden Mischief, Parker's stouthearted hero unwillingly takes a case that tests his sleuthing skills-and his commitment to the woman he loves. Brad Sterling-former Harvard football player, ne'er-do-well, and Susan Silverman's long out-of-touch ex-husband-is, by all appearances, a successful businessman. But when, in the course of running a vast fundraiser called Galapalooza, he is charged with sexual harassment, he turns to Susan for help. Though Brad denies the charge, he's desperate, behind in alimony and child-support payments to other exes, and on the verge of dissolution. When Spenser reluctantly agrees to take the case, however, Sterling claims everything is fine-he's free of debt and free of problems. While the harassment charge begins to look more and more specious, Spenser senses there is something wrong with Galapalooza, as leads to charities turn into dead ends. Susan, meanwhile, becomes steadily more problematic as she wrestles with demons reinvigorated by the resurrection of her ex-husband. As the questions mount, Brad disappears, a body is found, and clues to a shadowy mob connection begin to coalesce. Spenser finds himself fighting a two-front war: against some very bad men, on the one hand, and against an increasingly difficult Susan, on the other. Dark, contemplative, and morally complex, Sudden Mischief is a brilliant meditation on the meaning of justice, love, and passion.