Looking for Clues

Rick Henderson from the December 1994 issue

(Page 2 of 6)

As Spenser tries to identify the stalker, he runs afoul of the leader of the local Chinese mob. For assistance, Spenser brings in his longtime colleague Hawk. And they enlist Mei Ling, a Harvard student, to serve as interpreter.

Spenser and Mei Ling spend an icy, unproductive day trying to elicit information from reluctant merchants in Port City's Chinese community.

"'Most of these Chinese people,' Mei Ling said, 'have never before spoken to a white person.'

"She was shivering. I didn't think it was so cold, but I didn't weigh ninety pounds.

"'They call that speaking?' I said.

"Mei Ling smiled.

"'It is very Chinese to be reticent,' she said. 'For many centuries Chinese people got only trouble from talking. We find saying little and working hard to be a virtue.'

"'Novel idea,' I said.

"'And, of course, despite the fact that I explain to them otherwise, many of these Chinese people think you are from the government.'

"'And if I were?'

"Mei Ling hugged herself as she walked. I could see that it was will, only, which kept her teeth from chattering.

"'Then you would make them pay taxes, or find that they were here illegally and make them leave. Our history has not taught us to trust our government.'

"'Most histories don't,' I said."

Unfortunately, Walking Shadow and other recent Spenser novels have violated Chandler's first rule of hard-boiled storytelling: Make your detective a credible character. Spenser isn't anymore. He is a Korean War veteran working in the 1990s, which forces Parker to deal with a 60-something detective who's supposed to exude virility and youth.

The hard-boiled series writer faces a paradox: keeping the main character alive (or else the series must end) while also credibly placing him in harm's way. Without a sense of physical peril, the detective might as well be Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot, solving mysteries without ever taking off his smoking jacket or leaving his drawing room.