Robert B. Parker

Robert B. Parker died last month. I didn't know until today.

If you haven't read Parker's Spenser novels, 1980's Early Autumn is a good place to start.

Parker wrote detective fiction. But the heart of his stories was his characters and their relationships, their love and loyalty and honor.

Heart is what set Parker's books apart, why he's the only writer of crime fiction I've read regularly for twenty-five years. Define heart anyway you like: Parker had it, understood it, made it central to his work.

I've never read another writer like Robert B. Parker. God bless his wife and sons and all who loved him. I miss him already.