In this 30th entry in one of mystery fiction's longest-running and best-loved series, Spenser--the tough yet sensitive Boston private eye with no first name--takes on an unsolved murder nearly three decades old. The client, an actress, is a friend of Paul Giacomin, Spenser's surrogate son (who first appeared in 1981's Early Autumn). Her mother was slain by leftist radicals at a bank holdup in 1974, and now she wants to know who fired the shot. As Spenser digs into the past, he soon learns that powerful people on both sides of the law want the case left alone--badly enough to kill.

These death threats provide a fine excuse for Hawk, Spenser's extremely scary (yet sensitive) bad-guy pal, to tag along in nearly every scene as bodyguard. The interaction of the two friends is one of this series's familiar pleasures, as is the presence of Susan Silverman, Spenser's longtime love interest. Another pleasure is Parker's stripped-down prose, a marvel of craftsmanship as smooth as 18-year-old Scotch. (Plus we get the first meeting between Spenser and Jesse Stone, hero of another Parker series.) Alas, the whole enterprise feels a little tired. The plot never generates much sustained suspense, and the author's adoration for his central characters renders them at times almost cartoonesque. Still, Back Story is excellently prepared comfort food, even if it isn't five-star cuisine. --Nicholas H. Allison

From Publishers Weekly
Spenser's respectable 30th outing (he debuted 30 years ago in The Godwulf Manuscript) finds the veteran Boston PI teaming briefly with Jesse Stone, the cop hero of a newer Parker series (Death in Paradise, etc.). The move works because Parker plays it low-key, presenting Stone as just one of many characters who cross Spenser's path as the PI-hired by a friend of his adoptive son, Paul, for the princely sum of six Krispy Kremes-digs into the 28-year-old murder of a woman during a bank robbery; the friend is the slain woman's daughter and wants closure. Before Spenser bumps into Stone, the top cop in Paradise, Mass., he connects the killing to the daughter of big time Boston mobster Sonny Karnofsky, an old foe. When Spenser won't back off, Karnofsky threatens Spenser's girlfriend, Susan, then orders a hit on the PI. Enter as protection longtime sidekick Hawk; other series vets make appearances too on Spenser's behalf, including cops Belsen and Quirk and shooter Vinnie Morris. An interesting new character, a Jewish FBI agent, also helps out. The repartee between Spenser and Hawk is fast and funny; the sentiment between Spenser and Susan and the musings about Spenser's code are only occasionally cloying; and there's a scattering of remarkable action scenes including a tense shootout in Harvard Stadium. Series fans will enjoy this mix of old and new, but the title kind of says it all: this series, probably the finest and most influential PI series since Chandler, could use some forward momentum. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Spenser's back to help a friend of his prot‚g‚, Paul, track down the men who killed her mother years ago in a holdup.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
When a young woman asks Spenser to find out who killed her mother during a bank holdup 28 years earlier, Spenser and Hawk plunge head-first into a world of revolutionary politics, FBI cover-ups, and Mob connections. Actor Joe Mantegna has a delightful voice for crime, but when he reads, his characters--with the exception of Spenser's criminal sidekick, Hawk--all sound like Joe Mantegna, making dialogue sometimes difficult to follow. Nevertheless, this abridgment flows smoothly, and the story cruises at a fast clip, providing an enjoyable listening experience for Spenser fans old and new. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Spenser, the highly literate, street-smart private eye, has had a 30-year run through the criminal byways of Boston since the publication of The Godwulf Manuscript. His latest adventure, the twenty-ninth, showcases the strengths of the series: well-developed characters, a deftly constructed plot, dialogue that is witty and crisp without sounding pretentious, evocative settings, and that Parker extra, a clearly defined and beautifully executed moral code. Paul Giacomon, the throwaway kid that Spenser rescued and raised, is now an actor in his thirties. He asks Spenser to investigate a really cold case, the murder of a friend's mother 28 years before in a 1970s revolutionary raid on a Boston bank. Reflecting both his terse wit and well-muscled ethics, Spenser replies, "How enticing," when he's informed that his remuneration for this case will be a carton of Krispy Kremes. Part of the pleasure of this Spenser is watching him gumshoe his way through a series of offices (including the Boston Police Department and the FBI) and homes (ranging from Beantown apartments to an old hippie crib in San Diego), skewering the inhabitants of each with his dead-on perceptions. This Spenser moves. Once he launches his investigation, he discovers that both the FBI and the Mob want the case to remain unsolved, and he's regularly assailed by threats and physical violence. A chase scene through the woods and a hair-raising climax in an Ivy League football stadium are trademark Parker in their well-choreographed creepiness. A terrific addition to the Spenser canon. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

People
Spencer is still the top dog.

Boston Globe
This is superior Parker.

New York Daily News
Spenser's back, just the way we like him.

Book Description
In Robert B. Parker's most popular series, an unsolved thirty-year-old-murder draws the victim's daughter out of the shadows for overdue justice--and lures Spenser into his own past, old crimes, and dangerous lives.

Download Description
"In 1974, a revolutionary group calling itself The Dread Scott Brigade held up the Old Shawmut Bank in Boston's Audubon Circle. Money was stolen. And a woman named Emily Gordon, a visitor in town cashing traveler's checks, was shot and killed. No one saw who shot her. Despite security-camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, the perpetrators have remained at large for nearly three decades. Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing to a son Spenser has. Twice before, Spenser's come to the young man's assistance; and now Paul is thirty-seven, his troubled past behind him. When Paul's friend Daryl Gordon-daughter of the long-gone Emily-decides she needs closure regarding her mother's death, it's Spenser she turns to. The lack of clues and a missing FBI intelligence report force Spenser to reach out in every direction-to Daryl's estranged, hippie father, to Vinnie Morris and the mob, to the mysterious Ives-testing his resourcefulness and his courage. Taut, tense, and expertly crafted, this is Robert B. Parker at his storytelling best."

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
A cold case leads to chills and thrills in this adventure of Robert B. Parker's tough, Boston-based private eye, Spenser. Over the years, Spenser has built up an impressive web of connections on both sides of the law. But he's going to need more than just connections to meet the challenges of his latest investigation, digging into the facts behind the death of a bystander named Emily Gordon during a still-unsolved bank robbery that took place 28t years ago. At the time, a band of revolutionaries calling themselves the Dread Scott Brigade claimed responsibility for the crime￯﾿ﾽbut the authorities were never able to bring the criminals to justice. Any detective can tell you that answers are hard to come by even 28 hours after a crime. When hours turn to years, the difficulty level soars. Even a big fat fee wouldn't persuade Spenser to touch this case, if anyone but Paul Giacomin had brought him the case. But Paul is practically family, and he was asking Spenser to help his friend Daryl, the dead woman's daughter, to find the answers she needs to lay the past to rest. Soon Spenser is on the case, and up to his neck in everything from FBI cover-ups to Mob machinations. It doesn't take an old pro like Spenser long to realize that bringing to light the back story behind this decades-old crime involves uncovering public and private secrets that are still as deadly as ever. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Robert B. Parker's most popular series, an unsolved thirty-year-old-murder draws the victim's daughter out of the shadows for overdue justice—and lures Spenser into his own past, old crimes, and dangerous lives.

FROM THE CRITICS

Richard Dyer

[W]hat makes this superior Parker is the moral dilemma. Spenser is pursuing a case that no one wants him to pursue, including the person who had asked him to in the first place, and six Krispy Kremes is not a good enough reason.

''I did this work because I could. And maybe because I couldn't do any other. I'd never been good at working for someone. At least this work let me live life on my terms . . . and if you are going to live life on your own terms, there need to be terms, and somehow you need to live up to them. What was that line from Hemingway? `What's right is what feels good after?' That didn't help. I took a long drink of Scotch and soda. There was that line from who, Auden? `Malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.' I could see my face reflected in the window glass. It was the face of a guy who used to box -- the nose especially, and a little scarring around the eyes.''

Genre writing doesn't get any better than that.—The Boston Globe

The Los Angeles Times

Back Story wends and jerks its switchback way through geological layers of back stories, deceptions and lies evoked by an actress' wish to see more clearly into her own past, into who killed her mother and why: a bad idea that sets off mines in the present. But it is the book's genial mood, saucy tone and ripping action that discourage all attempts to put it down. — Eugen Weber

People

Spencer is still the top dog.

New York Daily News

Spenser's back, just the way we like him.

Boston Globe