| | Home
The Daily Dose/June 24, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: Pale Kings and Princes, By Robert B. Parker: We know. This book is not new. Sue us. Read the disclaimer: we sometimes review books that 1) are not new and 2) we have read before. Pale Kings and Princes is from 1987, and we read it shortly thereafter. It was one of the first Spenser novels we read.
Which gives us an interesting perspective. The first few Spenser novels were good fun, then you realize all Spenser novels generally follow the same pattern: Spenser takes a case, has no clue what's going on, ruffles a few feathers and then gets in a fight or two before solving the case in accordance with his own personal moral code.
This is all right though, because Parker was a pretty good writer, able to turn funny phrases regularly and to provide insights into the Human Experience that make you think.
Fly In The Ointment: Then he went through a period, roughly 1995-2005, when he mailed them in. The writing was average and the plots were paper thin, even for Spenser, which have never been known for the intricacy of their who-dunnits.
Brass Tacks: In Pale Kings and Princes Spenser takes a case from a small newspaper publisher after one of his reporters is killed in a fictional western Massachusetts town called Wheaton after he was sniffing around into who was behind the cocaine trade there.
Fly In The Ointment II: This really doesn't ring true. We've done some small town newspapering in our time, and most small town reporters are just starting out in the racket and to send them to get the lowdown on drug kingpins simply doesn't ring true. They don't have the skill or the experience to go fishing out vice peddlers, though my seminal, 25-part series on the brothels of Mexicali, Mexico stands as an exception to that rule.
Back On Message: So Spenser goes to Wheaton and starts asking questions and a couple of people die, which may not have happened if Spenser had not done a couple of things and some people try to kill Spenser but he shoots one of them and the cops and the drug lords both want him dead.
I Guess You're Wondering Why I Gathered You Here Today: As usual, Spenser seldom actually solves cases in the classic private eye tradition, but after nosing around a bit he finds out who did what and, also as usual, decides how to adjudicate this case himself, which may or may not be how the authorities would have liked to see it adjudicated.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Though Gaylon is fairly well read he is not Einstein for Pete's sake and is not a professional book reviewer. Reviews are based on his own personal tastes, are completely subjective and not measured against established literary standards. He has a habit of re-reading selected favorites and books that were published as early as the 20th century.
We Interrupt This Program For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Capsule Review Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. More or less worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Rating: GD. Not too bad. Not Spenser's best, but far from the worst. As usual, it was fun visiting with Spenser and Susan and Hawk again, which is really why we keep reading Spenser novels, though our personal fave Lt. Quirk wasn't needed in this book.
LONG LIVE THE PSYCHO KING: Henry VIII is crowned King of England on this date in 1503. His reign had actually begun in April following the death of his father, Henry VII and would reign until his death at age 55 in 1547.
Henry was not the original heir to the throne. His brother Arthur was, however Arthur died in 1502 and Henry, then 10, became Prince of Wales. His brother was only 15 when he died, but he had been married to Catherine of Aragon for a few months, and Catherine would later marry Henry VIII and was crowned Queen.
FunFact: Henry got right down to business. Two days after his coronation he arrested two of his father's key ministers and had them executed.
Henry's was not a dull reign. He would have six wives, build nearly four dozen palaces and oversaw England's break from the Catholic Church.
Oh Jesus H: I don't know if we've discussed this here before or not, but on this date last year John Isner of the United States defeated France's Nicholas Mahut in the longest tennis match in human history in the opening round at Wimbledon. The score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68!
70-68? You've Got To Be Kidding: No! We are not making that up! The match took 11 hours and five minutes and required 183 games, both records, making it the longest match in tennis history!
We Are Not Making This Up: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford returns to South Carolina after being gone for a week on this date in 2009. We are not making that up either. For a weekm nobody knew where the governor of one of the several states was. Not his staff, not his security detail, not his wife, though a member of his staff reported he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
No, Really, What Happened. Upon his return, Sanford revealed he had been in Argentina having an affair with a woman he knew there.
Sanford refused to resign, was not impeached though he was censured by the South Carolina legislature, and served the remainder of his term, through January of this year, though his family moved out of the Governor's Mansion in August, 2009.
Thought For The Day: If I hadn't been me I'd have wished I were. - Robert B. Parker, Playmates
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Babe Ruth's last major league game as a pitcher was on October 3, 1933, the last day of the regular season. Ruth went the distance in a 6-5 victory over the Red Sox. He gave up 12 hits and walked three.
Today's Stumper: The trivia question will return. Between Henry VIII and Isner/Mahut, we are, as you can imagine, having a bit of trivia overload here. Apologies are issued.
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
Home |
| |
