Blue-Eyed Devil Large Print Edition By Robert B. Parker Wheeler Publishing (2010), 298 pages ISBN: 978-1410424501 Genre: Thriller

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - May 17, 2010

Robert B. Parker died on January 11, 2010 at age 77 after writing more than 50 novels. I read them all. They were that good. Blue-Eyed Devil, a reference to whites by Indians in this story, is the fourth Virgil Cole-Everett Hitch western that he wrote. Every one of his novels, whether they are about the private detective Spenser, or the police officer Jesse Stone, or the detective Sunny Randall, is a delight to read. Each has Parker's trademark crisp humorous, somewhat manly no-nonsense language. Each has references to prior books in the series, references that add dimension, but which readers who encounter the series for the first time, while missing this dimension, will still enjoy the story. Many, including this novel, have love and desertion by a spouse or loved-one with the remaining spouse still retaining the love.

In this volume, the two heroes, the fast-draw Virgil, who lacks a regular education, but understands reality, who occasionally misuses words, and his devoted follower Everett with his shot-gun and West Point education, return to Appaloosa, where they had served as law men, and find that the city has appointed a police chief who they immediately dislike. Characters from previous novels appear and help the duo in an interesting fashion when they tangle with the police chief and his army of gunmen. One of the principle characters hires a fast draw gunman to kill Virgil and the three have an unusual and unexpected relationship.

Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of fifteen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Rabbi Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House, www.gefenpublishing.com. The Orthodox Union (OU) publishes daily samples of the Targum books on www.ouradio.org.

• Rough Weather, by Robert B. Parker.
  A wedding is interrupted by a murder, and the kidnapping of the bride sets Spenser on the trail of the man responsible - his old nemesis, The Gray Man, a task that is complicated by the arrival of a hurricane.
  
  
• The Professional, by Robert B. Parker.
  A local lawyer comes to Spenser's office with an interesting story, and a problem. The lawyer, Elizabeth Shaw, has made friends with a number of wealthy women who all had affairs with the same man. Now they are being blackmailed and they want Shaw's help, and Shaw wants Spenser's help...