Potshot (Spenser) (Hardcover)

by Robert B. Parker (Author) "SHE WAS WEARING a straw hat, pulled down over her forehead, a short flowered dress, no stockings and white high heels..." (more)
Key Phrases: The Preacher, Mary Lou, Bobby Horse (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Maybe Spenser's driven all the bad guys out of Boston. Which is too bad because on his home ground, the tough and tender PI and Hawk, his trusty sidekick, don't need a gang of other guys to do their work. And the hired guns they round up to help them clean out a nest of ne'er-do-wells who have the desert town of Potshot, Arizona, terrified aren't nearly as amusing as, say, John Dortmunder's criminal colleagues in Donald Westlake's caper novels.

The thugs who populate the Dell, a scrubby little enclave just outside of town, have the locals in their pocket, which is why the pretty blonde who hires Spenser to find whoever killed her husband points him toward the Preacher, who rules the Dell and its denizens. But Spenser's not as certain as his client that Steve Buckman died at the Preacher's hands. As our hero and his ethnically diverse but politically incorrect henchmen (one gay shooter, one Latino, one black, one Native American--all that's missing is Annie Oakley) investigate, it turns out that Spenser's right, as usual. The action ranges from Las Vegas to L.A., Atlanta to New Mexico, but much of it is a humdrum travelogue as Spenser rounds up his gang from all over the country to take on the Preacher and his musclemen. While Potshot isn't one of Robert B. Parker's best, it's still not bad. The one or two lines devoted to introducing Spenser's backup buddies don't begin to do any of them justice, and there's a lot more description of the artillery the guys pack than usual. But they do fill up the white space, and when the action lags, there's always Susan's dirty talk, shopping jones, and dietary obsessions to divert the reader. There's a midlife crisis somewhere in this evergreen series that's just waiting to erupt. Whether it's Spenser's, Susan's, or Parker's, however, remains to be seen. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
HThe Spenser series remains fresh after 28 novels in about 30 years. How does Parker do it? Through recurring characters as alive as any in fiction, and through exceptionally clean, graceful prose that links the novels as surely as do the characters. The author also refreshes himself through other writings the Sunny Randall series, for example, or Gunman's Rhapsody, a tale about Wyatt Earp that Putnam will publish in June. So even when Parker resorts to a bit of gimmickry, as he does here, the vitality of his storytelling prevails. The manifest gimmickry is Boston P.I. Spenser's corralling of sidekicks from previous novels Hawk, of course, but also gay Tedy Sapp from Hugger Mugger, sharpshooter Chollo from Thin Air, Vinnie Morris (from several novels) and a few others to deal with trouble in the Arizona town of Potshot. Spenser is hired by a sexy blonde to look into the shooting death there of her husband, who tangled with an outlaw group known as the Dell, which for years has extorted the citizens of Potshot. There's an eventual shootout, of course (there are enough parallels between this tale and that of Wyatt Earp to guess that Parker's forthcoming Earp novel inspired this one), but not before Spenser digs into the town's secrets, uncovering the expected but in detail, always surprising domestic mayhem and corruption. Genuinely scary villains, sassy dialogue, a deliciously convoluted mystery with roots in the classic western and Parker's pristine way with words result in another memorable case. (Mar.)Forecast: A BOMC Main Selection, this novel will hit the charts, as Spenser novels do. The gimmick involving the many sidekicks should only help sales and may even draw back a few readers who have strayed from the series.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (March 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399147101
• ISBN-13: 978-0399147104
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #238,525 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 28 in The Spenser Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Potshot, June 23, 2001

By	Ricky C. Nelson (Commerce, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is always a pleasure to read a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. He has written another winner with his new novel, "Potshot". Mary Lou Buckman hires Spenser to find out who killed her husband, Steve. Spenser must go to Potshot, Arizona where the Buckmans lived and where the murder took place. As he investigates, he finds that many people believe that someone in the Dell killed him. The Dell is a group of thugs who collect "protection" money from businesses in Potshot. Their leader is known as The Preacher. Then a group of Potshot VIP's hire Spenser to rid Potshot of the Dell. Spenser can solve the murder alone, but will need a small army to take on the Dell. He hires Hawk and Vinnie Morris from Boston, Tedy Sapp, a bouncer from Georgia, 2 Los Angeles thugs, and Bernard J. Fortunato, a tough guy from Las Vegas. Things are never what they seem in Potshot. This is an excellent addition to a long-running series, one of the best in American crime fiction.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Different type of Spenser, May 20, 2001

By	"moreland98" (Vacaville, CA United States) - See all my reviews

As an avid Spenser fan for the past 15 years, I bought this book the day it came out. After devouring it in one sitting - my son went to bed early that night! - I am left with very mixed emotions.

The story itself is good, but not great. Mary Lou Buckman hires Spenser to find out what happened to her husband in the half tourist trap/half backwater town of Potshot, AZ. As always, the beautiful blonde client is honesty-challenged, the wife of the local real estate broker is after him, and the head cop is involved (think Walking Shadow). This is not one of his better plot lines - see Sudden Mischief or Ceremony for a true mystery/whodunnit type book.

Reading Parker, however, always involves much more than the plot. His clean, elegant writing style and story pacing is without par, and no one delivers the dry humor the way Parker does. If Potshot were simply another in the Spenser series, I would be inclined to rate it three stars and chalk it up as a solid but not terrificaly distinguished entry.

I have read some of the other reviews of this book, and a few people seemed to catch on to the fact that something is changing in the world of Spenser. This book has the feel of a farewell, and speaking as someone who has read this series since my teen years, that really bothers me. The clues are there: Spenser rounded up EVERYONE of distinction from his previous novels (he even included a brief reference to Mei Ling, the Chinese student who served as a translator and Hawk's girlfriend in Walking Shadow), he mentions that the beloved Pearl is getting old, and even Susan contributes to the feeling by giving up shopping (!) to take a long drive with Spenser. Minor details, I realize, but it definitely gives the book a different flavor from all the previous entries.

If you are new to Spenser, I'd really recommend that you start with a different book. The Godwulf Manuscript is the first, but if you aren't interested in starting that early (the time frame is early 70's), try starting at Ceremony or Valediction. These offer great writing without the angst of Susan's midlife crisis, which is interesting but better understood if you are a Parker fan. Even Hugger Mugger - the book just prior to Potshot - would introduce you to standard Parker stories.

If you are a fan, get ready to start mourning the loss of Spenser. While he may do one more Spenser book, Parker has expanded his writings, and the new series seems to be replacing Spenser (although retaining a few of the same characters).

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Magnificent Seven, March 28, 2001

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

When Spencer first talks to Mary Lou Buckman about investigating the death of her husband he knew it would be a tough job. After all, the suspects were a gang of 40 ne'er-do-wells living in the hills around Potshot, Arizona. These western gangsters had recently been organized by a sociopath known as 'The Preacher,' and were terrorizing the town.

A visit to Potshot Spencer that there is something rotten going one. The town, nestled in the mountains was a Mecca for those suffering from urban flight syndrome. Aside from the Preacher and his 40 thieves Potshot's resident population includes a suspiciously inactive police force, a non-productive film producer and a real estate salesman with a way oversexed wife. Spencer quickly discovers that it isn't just Bebe the real estate women who is oversexed. It's seems that almost all the cast has had some history with each other.

Realizing this was far more than a one-man job Spencer heads back to Boston to assemble a militia of tough guys that reads like the Robert B. Parker hall of fame. Naturally Hawk is included, and Vinnie, another Boston professional, Tedy Sapp from Georgia, Bernard J. Fortunato, and finally Chollo and Bobby Horse from Los Angeles. This adds up to seven, and if you are getting the feeling that Parker is parodying The Magnificent Seven a bit, you might not be wrong.

In addition, while investigating Mary Lou in Los Angeles Spencer is menaced by two employees of Morris Tannenbaum, one of the big West Coast gangster chiefs. It's pretty clear that all is not what it seems, but Spencer is unable to resolve his suspicions. Before he does so, we will be treated to star-crossed lovers, a menacing cartel, and, lest we forget, the gunfight at the not-quite-OK Corral

Parker specializes in terse, pithy dialogue and plenty of often violent action. Spencer, whose heritage includes Marlowe and Travis McGee, is at his best as the in-your-face, wisecracking detective who is also perfectly capable of quoting poetry and maintaining a tender relationship with Susan, his psychologist girlfriend.

In "Potshot" the continuous by-play between the seven heroes adds sparkle to an already exceptional story. I've read all of Parker's Spencer novels, and this will rank as one of the most memorable. Certainly it's one of the most entertaining. Parker has again managed to write a rich and compelling novel in a genre noted more for its excesses than its quality of writing.