New Release: Split Image
By Robert B. Parker
Putnam Adult | 288pgs
Release Date: February 23, 2010
A body found in a trunk sends police chief Jesse Stone on the trail of the mob in Split Image, the ninth installment of Robert B. Parker’s immensely popular series. When a lackey for “retired” crime boss Reggie Galen turns up dead, Stone initially believes the case to be a straight-forward mob hit. As a second body is found on Paradise Beach, this time that of a high-ranking mobster, the investigation becomes more complicated. Battling the pressures of the case, and his personal demons, Stone takes comfort in his friendship with PI Sunny Randall (star of Parker’s widely read series, Spare Change, etc.). Randall is in town to track down a young girl involved with a shady religious cult. As their cases unravel, and the investigators get closer to the truth, the pair learn they have much in common and form a deeper personal bond.
Parker suffered a sudden heart attack on January 18 of this year, and died in his home office in Cambridge, MA. The author was best known for his celebrated Spenser series, and was said to be working on a new Spenser novel at the time of his death. Parker had various novels in different stages of publication, and Split Image is one of several scheduled to be published posthumously. Blue-Eyed Devil, a western, is planned for release this May. Avid Spenser fans can also look forward to the continuation of this series. In an interview with USA Today, Chris Pepe, Parker’s editor at Putnam confirmed that there are more Spenser novels in the production pipeline. “We don’t have hard dates yet, but there are more on the way. You haven’t seen the last of him. That’s for sure.”
