Some of Robert B. Parker's most distinctive novels over the years (God Save the Child, Early Autumn, Ceremony, etc.) have centered on young people in trouble, so his return to that theme in Melancholy Baby is hardly a surprise. What's more remarkable is how deftly he uses the case of an angry, confused college student searching for the facts about her family background as a means to pry open the hardly less troubled psyche of Boston private eye Sonya "Sunny" Randall, a character at serious risk of one day outshining Parker's better-known but less reflective gumshoe, Spenser.

Twenty-one-year-old trust-fund kid Sarah Markham suspects that her parents aren't really related to her at all. "They can't find my birth certificate," she tells Sunny in amazement. "They don’t remember which hospital I was born in." This isn't the sort of inquiry Sunny likes to take on, especially not now, when her ex-husband of five years, Richie Burke--whom she still hasn't given up loving--is marrying another woman. However, Sunny needs a distraction from self-pity, and she can see that "everything about Sarah and her parents seemed fraudulent ... like something that had been built on the cheap, with shoddy materials and no craft, to conceal something unhealthy and mean." As she tears at this façade, though, traveling to Illinois and New York City in order to expose secrets not only in Sarah's father's past but in the history of a holier-than-thou radio celeb, Sunny discovers that her client isn't the only person being kept in the dark. But is it worth destroying Sarah's sense of herself--not to mention attracting the malicious notice of well-armed thugs--to set the record straight? And can Sunny even accomplish this, while struggling (with help from Spenser's psychiatrist girlfriend, Susan Silverman) to understand why she's 37 years old and "just can’t be married"?

Any halfway-conscious reader will spot the solution to this story's mystery from miles off, and Parker's use of central-casting figures--the hypocritical moralizer, the oleaginous but natty shyster--should earn him free admission to a "How to Create Credible Characters" seminar. Still, it's hard not to be charmed by a novel that's as willing as Melancholy Baby is to knock the pins out from under its protagonist, and see where the angst falls. At Dr. Silverman's rates, Sunny had better figure her life out soon. --J. Kingston Pierce


From Publishers Weekly
The title refers to two characters: Boston college student Sarah Markham, convinced that her parents adopted her, and Boston PI Sunny Randall, hired by Sarah to certify her parentage. Sarah is melancholy because her parents refuse to take a DNA test to settle the issue and seem furtive; Sunny, because her ex-husband, Richie, has just remarried. In this excellent fourth Sunny Randall PI tale (after Shrink Rap), Sarah's sadness leads to murder, as Sunny's questioning of the parents results in one of their deaths at the hands of the person who would suffer most if the truth comes out. Sunny's own blues lead her to Dr. Susan Silverman and sessions on the couch that, however well observed, will have fans of Parker's PI Spenser who are terminally tired of Susan (Spenser's longtime girlfriend) gritting their teeth at her intrusion into another series. Still, Sunny's own regulars, particularly tough gay pal Spike, hold their own in the tale. There's little here that Parker hasn't done before, like his protagonist's side trip to New York and her tangling with venal lawyers and reptilian celebrities as well as Parker's sensitive exploration of the meaning of family and maturity and of the tension between self-reliance and love for another, but he does it so well here, with his impeccable prose and charismatic heroine, that fans will tremble with delight. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
A Boston private eye who is both tough and literate and very, very witty and who has both a female shrink and a really mean muscle guy in the background--if this were a parlor game, the answer would instantly appear to be "Spenser." But Parker has crafted a mystery series (this is the fourth installment) around a female Boston private eye who is the mirror image of Spenser. Both Spenser and new heroine Sunny Randall work virtually the same turf; they talk alike and think alike; Sunny even has a shrink, Dr. Silverman, who may very well be Susan Silverman, Spenser's longtime love. It's a mystery why Parker is fooling around with yin and yang here, and readers may rankle at a woman mouthing Spenserian wisecracks and striking tough-guy poses, but in spite of all that, this is still a fun series. In the latest, Sunny, upset over being upset about her divorced (at her instigation) husband's remarrying, seeks psychological help. At the same time, a confused 20-year-old who believes she is adopted seeks Sunny's help. The plot seems a little forced at first, with the conjunctions of screwed-up detective trying to solve another screwed-up person's problems feeling a bit strained, but Parker's gift for plot construction quickly comes to the fore, delivering a tantalizing mix of standard mystery fare (threats, murders, suspense) and some intriguing shards from the characters' pasts. Very odd, almost teasing, but riveting nonetheless. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Boston P.I. Sunny Randall-as conflicted as she is beautiful-helps a troubled young woman locate her birth parents only to uncover some dark truths of her own.

My ex-husband was getting married to a woman I wanted to kill. I didn't actually know her, and killing her would only make matters worse. But I got as much pleasure out of the idea as I could before I had to let go of it.

And so begins Melancholy Baby, the fourth novel in the bestselling series featuring Sunny Randall who now faces the unthinkable: the marriage of her ex-husband, Richie, to someone else. Despite the formality of divorce, Sunny and Richie's relationship had continued, in its own headstrong way, until Richie's desire for marriage overtook Sunny's need for freedom. So when college student Sarah Markham comes asking for help in finding her birth parents, Sunny realizes she must take the case, if only to distract her from her personal life.

But life and work have a curious-and dangerous-way of intersecting. Before the investigation has a chance to take off, two key players are dead, and Sunny is back on a psychiatrist's couch, probing her own past for clues. What she discovers has the potential to shatter Sarah Markham's family and destroy her sense of self, while Sunny's own beliefs are put to the ultimate test.

Emotionally complex and rich with insight, this is the Grand Master at his storytelling best.


About the Author
Robert B. Parker is the author of almost fifty books.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Robert B. Parker never fails to deliver highly charged plots and engaging characters in all of his bestselling mystery series. This fourth novel featuring bright, beautiful Boston P.I. Sunny Randall is another complex, captivating conundrum.

Contentious college student Sarah Markham has hired Sunny to delve into her family background, a task that proves daunting for the feisty detective, who soon finds that facts about Sarah's parents are surprisingly difficult and dangerous to pin down. Meanwhile, Sunny's life is complicated by the fact that she's facing a genuine personal crisis of her own. As her ex-husband -- a man she loved but couldn't live with -- makes plans to remarry, she can no longer deny her disastrously mixed feelings about relationships. But, even as she decides to confront her own chaotic emotions through therapy and personal experimentation, the passionate P.I. puts her life on the line to answer troubled Sarah's questions about where and how family and identity intersect￯﾿ﾽand who is willing to kill to conceal the truth. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Boston P.I. Sunny Randall-as conflicted as she is beautiful-helps a troubled young woman locate her birth parents only to uncover some dark truths of her own.

My ex-husband was getting married to a woman I wanted to kill. I didn't actually know her, and killing her would only make matters worse. But I got as much pleasure out of the idea as I could before I had to let go of it.

And so begins Melancholy Baby, the fourth novel in the bestselling series featuring Sunny Randall who now faces the unthinkable: the marriage of her ex-husband, Richie, to someone else. Despite the formality of divorce, Sunny and Richie's relationship had continued, in its own headstrong way, until Richie's desire for marriage overtook Sunny's need for freedom. So when college student Sarah Markham comes asking for help in finding her birth parents, Sunny realizes she must take the case, if only to distract her from her personal life.

But life and work have a curious-and dangerous-way of intersecting. Before the investigation has a chance to take off, two key players are dead, and Sunny is back on a psychiatrist's couch, probing her own past for clues. What she discovers has the potential to shatter Sarah Markham's family and destroy her sense of self, while Sunny's own beliefs are put to the ultimate test.

Emotionally complex and rich with insight, this is the Grand Master at his storytelling best.

Author Biography: Robert B. Parker is the author of almost fifty books.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The title refers to two characters: Boston college student Sarah Markham, convinced that her parents adopted her, and Boston PI Sunny Randall, hired by Sarah to certify her parentage. Sarah is melancholy because her parents refuse to take a DNA test to settle the issue and seem furtive; Sunny, because her ex-husband, Richie, has just remarried. In this excellent fourth Sunny Randall PI tale (after Shrink Rap), Sarah's sadness leads to murder, as Sunny's questioning of the parents results in one of their deaths at the hands of the person who would suffer most if the truth comes out. Sunny's own blues lead her to Dr. Susan Silverman and sessions on the couch that, however well observed, will have fans of Parker's PI Spenser who are terminally tired of Susan (Spenser's longtime girlfriend) gritting their teeth at her intrusion into another series. Still, Sunny's own regulars, particularly tough gay pal Spike, hold their own in the tale. There's little here that Parker hasn't done before, like his protagonist's side trip to New York and her tangling with venal lawyers and reptilian celebrities as well as Parker's sensitive exploration of the meaning of family and maturity and of the tension between self-reliance and love for another, but he does it so well here, with his impeccable prose and charismatic heroine, that fans will tremble with delight. Agent, Helen Brann. (Sept. 27) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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