Robert B. Parker - Ceremony

Spenser is Bostons answer to James Bond. With a little Sam Spade and Nero Wolfe thrown in . Irreverent, witty, and worldly. His first-person recital of his detective work makes for fast, amusing reading. Parker dishes up an adventure story that is spicy and sizzling enough to keep most readers glued to the book until the last page. The Pittsburg Press

The toughest, funniest, wisest private eye in the field these days. The Houston Post

Spenser and Susan make the wittiest man-woman talk since Nick and Nora Charles. Newsweek

One of the most engaging characters in contemporary American fiction. Parker writes exciting, genuinely witty stories populated by wacky characters. Delightful. The Grand Rapids Press

Pick of the crop, this one. A genuinely involving plot. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

For those who have caught the fever, all a reviewer need do is say Spenser is back. The action is still as violent, the dialogue still as fresh, and the quest for personal integrity still as fascinating as they were in The Godwulf Manuscript, the first Spenser novel eight years ago. It is most reassuring that Mr. Parker has not been content to let Spenser remain static. Each novel has picked up bits and pieces of life and added them to the next so that the sequence has a marvelous sense of resonance: the adventures take place not in a vacuum, but in a world of rich and well-wrought detail. The Kansas City Star

Spenser has the shortsighted, large-fisted, punch-now-pay-later philosophy of all our private eyes. The difference is a literacy and panache the others lack. B. Dalton Merchandise Bulletin

Plenty of hard-bitten action plus intelligent writing and an unconventional, typically Spenserian solution. Library Journal

Books by Robert B. Parker from Dell

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

CRIMSON JOY

PALE KINGS AND PRINCES

TAMING A SEA-HORSE

A CATSKILL EAGLE

VALEDICTION

LOVE AND GLORY

THE WIDENING GYRE

CEREMONY

A SAVAGE PLACE

EARLY AUTUMN

LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE

WILDERNESS

THE JUDAS GOAT

PROMISED LAND

MORTAL STAKES

GOD SAVE THE CHILD

THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT

To Joan, for whom the sun
does in fact rise and set
or would if she told it to.

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.

from The Second Coming,
by William Butler Yeats

Shes a goddamned whore, Harry Kyle said. And I dont want her in this house again.

For Gods sake, Harry, youre talking about your own daughter, his wife said.

Shes a goddamned whore, Harry said.

You dont know that, Mr. Kyle, Susan said.

The hell I dont. I saw her in there hanging all over some guy older than me. I saw what she was doing and she can keep right on doing it, because she aint coming back here.

That doesnt make her a whore, Mr. Kyle.

Dont tell me what it makes and doesnt make, lady. I dont need some goddamned goody two-shoes coming around and giving me a lot of that bleeding-heart mumbo jumbo they teach nowadays.

Harry, I said.

Susan looked at me. The look said shut up. A lot of people looked at me like that, but to Susan I paid attention. We were standing in the perfect living room of a perfect house in a perfect development in Smithfield. The upholstery was all in powder blue and the rug and walls and drapes all coordinated with it. The furniture was massive Mediterranean oak, probablydark stained. You could tell theyd bought it all at once. It was a set, a living room set. I was willing to bet my new blackjack that there was a dining room set in the dining room and at least four bedroom sets upstairs. The cellar probably had a cellar set, all coordinated with the furnace.

Kyle was tall and fat with an unhealthy flush to his face and fleshy neck that spilled over his shirt collar. Hed made a lot of money selling insurance, Susan had told me. And he looked like hed spent half of it on clothes. He wasnt wearing his suit jacket, but the vest and pants were enough to say that the suit had been made for him and probably cost $750. Fat as he was, there was no gap between the vest and the pants.

I gave that kid every chance, Kyle said. And she threw it in my face.

His wife said, Please, Harry.

I worked my ass off, to get us where we are. And she pulls this, after all shes gotten? She pulls this on me? No thanks. I dont have a daughter anymore, you understand?

His wife said, Maybe it was somebody else, Harry. She was thin with a dark face and wiry black hair cut short. Her features were thin and her face was narrow. She was wearing a pink blouse and pants, and pink shoes. Her eyes were red. I assumed shed been crying. I didnt blame her. Harry made me feel a little teary myself.

Mr. Kyle, Susan said. Talk to Spenser. Hes an excellent detective. He can find April, bring her home. You cant reject a child simply because she doesnt please you. Let us try.

Listen to her, Harry, his wife said. Your own daughter.

Kyle looked at me. Okay, lets hear your pitch, he said.

I got no pitch, I said. I just swung by for a charm fix.

Whats that supposed to mean? Kyle said.

Mr. Kyle, Susan said, April could be in serious trouble. If it really was she you saw in the Combat Zone with an older man, it is important to get her out of there. She looked at me even harder than she had before.

So what are you crying to me about? Kyle said. Youre worried about her, you go get her.

Because I need a home to bring her back to, Mr. Kyle.

Yeah, you dont mind bringing her back, but you dont want to take her in, do you?

Mr. Kyle, shes not my daughter. Whether I wish to take her in, whats more important is that you wish to take her in. Cant you understand that?

Hey, Kyle said, I sold nearly two million dollars in life insurance last year, honey. I can understand a lot of things.

How much you got on yourself? I said.

Whats that got to do with anything? Kyle said.

If you call Mrs. Silverman honey again, itll be relevant.

What are you, some kind of tough guy? Kyle said. But he didnt say it with very much starch.

Yes, I said. Susan put her hand on my arm and squeezed.

Mrs. Kyle, Susan said, do you want your daughter back?

Yes. She looked at her husband. Yes, but Harry I Could I get you some coffee? And some cake? And we could sit down and try to She made a flutter with her right hand and stopped talking.

For crissake, Bunni, nobody wants any goddamn cake.

Harry, I just asked, Mrs. Kyle said.

Just shut up, will you, and let me handle this.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. I looked at Susan. I could see the anger tightening her face, pinching small commas at the corners of her mouth.

Kyle turned to us, an in-charge guy, and tossed his chin at me. How much you charge? he said.

To work for you?

Yes.

Two hundred billion dollars a day.

Kyle frowned. For a moment hed felt comfortable, talking price. He knew about price. You being a wise guy?

Yes, I said.

You want the job or not? Kyle said.

I would rather spend the rest of my life at a Barry Manilow concert, I said.

Kyle looked at Susan, I dont know what the hell hes talking about, he said.