Dear Robert B. Parker:
Let me start by saving that I love, love, love the early Spenser novels–up till about Catskill Eagle, say – and that more than a few of the ones up till, say, '98 are worth reading. And both your Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone books are good reads. Okay? This is a fan talking here, not an enemy.
STOP WRITING the damn Spenser stories, okay?
Two reasons. First, Spenser & Susan and Hawk were all late 30s/early 40s back in The Judas Goat. Remember that one? Set during the 1976 Olympics, thirty-two years ago? They have to be in their late 60s/early 70s now, so I seriously doubt Spenser & Hawk are still the two toughest mama-jamas in Boston now, and as for Susan still being an uber-babe, well, let’s not talk about that. Refusing to let them age is just annoying; it’s a glaring inconsistency that takes your readers out of the stories.
But more to the point, you are very obviously bored with this series. You’ve told the same stories too many times. The well has gone dry.
So please, as a fan, let me ask you to do 1 of two things. First, concentrate on your other series; no more Spenser stuff. Or, if your publisher won’t let you do that (which I suspect to be the case) resolve henceforth to set the Spenser stories no later than the early 80s.
But really, it’s okay to just stop. You and Spenser earned your place in the mystery writer canon with the Savage Place-Widening-Gyre-Valediction-Catskill Eagle series within a series. Let him retire, okay?