Blue Screen (Sunny Randall Series #5), Sunny Randall Series, Robert B. Parker, Book

Synopsis

Sunny Randall, the Boston P.I. with a personal life as tangled as that of her clients, is hired on as a bodyguard to an up-and-coming starlet, and discovers some ugly truths behind her glossy façade.

Buddy Bollen is a C-list movie mogul who made his fortune producing films of questionable artistic merit. When Buddy hires Sunny Randall to protect his rising star and girlfriend, Erin Flint, Sunny knows from the start that the prickly, spoiled beauty won't make her job easy. And when Erin's sister, Misty, is found dead in the lavish home they share with sugar daddy Bollen, there doesn't seem to be a single lead worth pursuing.

But then Sunny meets Jesse Stone, chief of police in Paradise, Massachusetts, under whose jurisdiction the case falls.

Tracking Misty's murderer reveals a host of seedy complications behind Erin's glamorous lifestyle as well as Buddy Bollen's entertainment empire, made up of shady film deals and mobsters out for revenge. But in a world where there's little difference between the good guys and the bad, exposing the killer could prove to be Sunny's undoing.

Publishers Weekly

Parker's latest mystery brings two of his series characters, Boston PI Sunny Randall and Paradise, Mass., chief of police Jesse Stone together for the first time. Zillionaire Buddy Bollen hires Randall as bodyguard to his live-in girlfriend, the minimally talented but beautiful and athletic Erin Flint, who has starred in several movies Bollen's produced. As the owner of a baseball team, he wants Flint to be the first female major league player. Flint's fear of physical reprisal against her as she attempts to break the baseball gender barrier leads to the hiring of Randall. When Flint's assistant is found dead, Stone joins Randall, professionally and romantically, to solve the murder. Parker, as usual, delivers a fine novel, whose serviceable plot exists primarily to showcase his well-drawn characters. Although she may upon occasion lose track of whose voice is whose, Burton does an admirable job of delivering Parker's dialogue, which is as stylistically unique as a David Mamet play. Her first-person narration from Randall's point of view and expository passages are nicely performed, bringing just the right amount of world-weariness to her characterization. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, May 22). (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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Biography

Featuring rapid-fire dialogue and spicy characters, Robert B. Parker's books are top-shelf reading for fans of detective crime novels. His Spenser series is several titles strong and an established classic; lately Parker has raised the stakes with two additional series (one featuring private eye Sunny Randle, the other featuring police chief Jesse Stone) that may eventually rival his beloved Boston P.I.

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Customer Reviews

Number of Reviews: 10
Average Rating:
Write a Review

enjoyable
michelle, a writer from Missouri, 08/23/2006

Enjoyable, average Parker. The pairing of Sunny and Jesse, though, was the highlight.

Former Parker fan
Diddleydaddy, A reviewer, 08/14/2006

The Sunny Randall series started out fine but turned cartoonish with Sunny managing to jump into a strange bed in each novel - often without much good reason. In this one we get the recycled Hollywood lover once again and must suffer through the inane conversation of why he cannot spend the night after jumping Sunny's all too willing bones. It seems this woman does draw a line somewhere! Her ex Richie, wisely, has put a new wife between him and Sunny - and a little something else. I liked the Jesse Stone series but it looks like he is about to hit a bad patch now with Sunny's convoluted ways. Imagine poor Jesse after his wife's behavior having to watch Sunny dispense her favors (at least once per book). How much must one man stand? This is a by-the-numbers book and should be avoided.

Also recommended: The End of California

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Fact File

Name:
Robert B. Parker

Current Home:
Boston, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:
September 17, 1932

Place of Birth:
Springfield, Massachusetts

Education:
B.A. in English, Colby College, 1954; M.A., Ph. D. in English, Boston University, 1957, 1971

Awards:
Edgar Award for Promised Land, 1977; Grand Master Edgar from Mystery Writers of America, 2002

Biography

Robert B. Parker began as a student of hardboiled crime writers such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler; but when he became a crime writer himself, he was one of the rare contemporary authors to be considered on par with his predecessors. The Spenser series, featuring a Boston-based ex-boxer and ex-cop, has become one of the genre's most respected and popular fixtures since Parker began writing it in the early �70s.

Noted for their sharp dialogue and fine character development, the Parker books carry on a tradition while updating it, giving the hero two strong alter egos in Hawk, a black friend and right-hand man; and Susan Silverman, Spenser's psychologist love interest. Parker's inclusion of other races and sexual persuasions (several of his novels feature gay characters, a sensibility strengthened in Parker through his sons, both of whom are gay) have given a more modern feel to the cases coming into Spenser's office.

The Spenser series, which began with 1973's The Godwulf Manuscript, has an element of toughness that suits its Boston milieu; but it delves just as often into the complex relationship between Silverman and Spenser, and the interplay between the P.I. and Hawk. Parker's interest in exploring relationships, particularly Spenser's romantic life, earns varying responses depending on how much the critic prefers the old lone-wolf style of crime writing.

By the late �80s, Parker had acquired such a reputation that the agent for Raymond Chandler's estate tapped him to finish the legend's last book, Poodle Springs. It was a thankless mission bound to earn criticism, but Parker carried off the task well, thanks to his gift for to-the-point writing and deft plotting. "Parker isn't, even here, the writer Chandler was, but he's not a sentimentalist, and he darkens and deepens Marlowe," the Atlantic concluded. In 1991, Parker took a second crack at Chandler with the Big Sleep sequel Perchance to Dream.

Parker has taken detours from Spenser in the last few years, creating new series. In 1999, Family Honor introduced a female Boston private eye that Parker created with actress Helen Hunt in mind, Sunny Randall. Two years earlier, he introduced L.A.-to-New England cop transplant Jesse Stone in Night Passage. He is also the author of several stand-alone novels that have been well-received by his many fans.

Good to Know

Parker's thesis in graduate school was a study of the private eye in literature that centered on Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Ross MacDonald. Critics would later put him in the same category as those authors.

Parker's main hero is named for Edmund Spenser, the 16th-century author of The Faerie Queene.

Parker had a hand in writing the scripts for some television adaptations of Spenser books starring Robert Urich, who also played Spenser in the ABC series from 1985-88. Urich suffered a battle with cancer and passed away in 2002, but adaptations continue to be made for A&E, starring Joe Mantegna. Parker approved of the new actor, telling the New York Times: ''I looked at Joe and I saw Spenser."

According to a profile in the New York Times, Parker met his wife Joan when the two were toddlers at a birthday party. The two reconnected as freshmen at Colby College and eventually had two sons. They credit the survival of their marriage to a house split into separate living spaces, so that the two can enjoy more independent lives than your average husband and wife.

Parker told fans in a 1999 Barnes & Noble.com chat that he thought his non-series historical novel All Our Yesterdays was "the best thing I've ever written."

Parker had a small speaking part in the 1997 A&E adaptation of Small Vices. How does he have time to write his Spenser books, plus the other series and the adaptation stuff? "Keep in mind, it takes me four or five months to write a novel, which leaves me a lot of time the rest of the year," he told Book magazine. "I don't like to hang around."

From Barnes & Noble

Private eye Sunny Randall and police chief Jesse Stone mesh skills to track down a killer in this rippling new Robert B. Parker thriller. Sunny has been hired to babysit Erin Flint, a sexy budding starlet whose rampant ego far exceeds her worth. The assignment takes a tragic turn for worse when Erin's sister, Misty, is found dead in their imperial digs. Investigations by new informal partners Randall and Stone turn up more dirty laundry than you'll find in an NFL locker room. Sorting it all out could get somebody killed.

From the Publisher

Sunny Randall, the Boston P.I. with a personal life as tangled as that of her clients, is hired on as a bodyguard to an up-and-coming starlet, and discovers some ugly truths behind her glossy façade.

Buddy Bollen is a C-list movie mogul who made his fortune producing films of questionable artistic merit. When Buddy hires Sunny Randall to protect his rising star and girlfriend, Erin Flint, Sunny knows from the start that the prickly, spoiled beauty won't make her job easy. And when Erin's sister, Misty, is found dead in the lavish home they share with sugar daddy Bollen, there doesn't seem to be a single lead worth pursuing.

But then Sunny meets Jesse Stone, chief of police in Paradise, Massachusetts, under whose jurisdiction the case falls.

Tracking Misty's murderer reveals a host of seedy complications behind Erin's glamorous lifestyle as well as Buddy Bollen's entertainment empire, made up of shady film deals and mobsters out for revenge. But in a world where there's little difference between the good guys and the bad, exposing the killer could prove to be Sunny's undoing.

Publishers Weekly

Parker's latest mystery brings two of his series characters, Boston PI Sunny Randall and Paradise, Mass., chief of police Jesse Stone together for the first time. Zillionaire Buddy Bollen hires Randall as bodyguard to his live-in girlfriend, the minimally talented but beautiful and athletic Erin Flint, who has starred in several movies Bollen's produced. As the owner of a baseball team, he wants Flint to be the first female major league player. Flint's fear of physical reprisal against her as she attempts to break the baseball gender barrier leads to the hiring of Randall. When Flint's assistant is found dead, Stone joins Randall, professionally and romantically, to solve the murder. Parker, as usual, delivers a fine novel, whose serviceable plot exists primarily to showcase his well-drawn characters. Although she may upon occasion lose track of whose voice is whose, Burton does an admirable job of delivering Parker's dialogue, which is as stylistically unique as a David Mamet play. Her first-person narration from Randall's point of view and expository passages are nicely performed, bringing just the right amount of world-weariness to her characterization. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, May 22). (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In the fifth title in Parker's Sunny Randall series, Sunny is hired as bodyguard for Erin Flint, star of "woman warrior" films. When one of Erin's retinue is murdered, Erin changes Sunny's status to investigating detective. However, Erin and her sleazy boyfriend are angry when Sunny investigates them and learns about their unsavory pasts. Characters from other Parker series appear: Jesse Stone, chief of police in Paradise, MA, where the murder occurs, is also on the case; and Susan Silverman is Sunny's shrink and helps her understand her developing romantic relationship with Jesse. The plot twists and multiple characters are entertaining and expressively read by talented actress Kate Burton. She individualizes each character with her remarkable range of accents and her variety of voices. Recommended.-Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Colonial Williamsburg Fdn., VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Boston shamus Sunny Randall's fifth case takes her out to Hollywood, but her most fateful meeting is a lot closer to home. Trillionaire producer Buddy Bollen, of Paradise, Mass., may be a mogul of doubtful tastes, but the five popcorn movies he's made with Amazonian star Erin Flint have netted him a handsome profit. Now he sees a way to parlay his ownership of an underperforming baseball team into major synergy with his most recognizable property. Under intensive tutelage, he's grooming Erin to become the first female major-leaguer-if only he can protect her from unnamed hostile interests and the possibility of her own missteps. That's where Sunny (Shrink Rap, 2002, etc.) comes in-as bodyguard, watchdog and role model. It's a mystery why Sunny signs on for the gig. Maybe she knows that she'll be pulled off guard duty and assigned to detecting seconds after Misty Tyler, Erin's longtime personal trainer, is found dead of a broken neck. In truth, Sunny isn't much better at sleuthing than Erin is at acting. But fans will hardly notice the slack mystery-mongering here because they'll be agog when Sunny hooks up with Paradise police chief Jesse Stone (Sea Change, 2006, etc.), and their professional partnership quickly develops an undercover dimension. Does Spenser's creator plan to tie up both his second- and third-string series in a single knot of domestic bliss? The riddle is one more reminder that his heroes have always been more important than their cases.

Customer Reviews

Number of Reviews: 10
Average Rating:
Write a Review

Showing 1-5 Next

enjoyable
michelle, a writer from Missouri, 08/23/2006

Enjoyable, average Parker. The pairing of Sunny and Jesse, though, was the highlight.

Former Parker fan
Diddleydaddy, A reviewer, 08/14/2006

The Sunny Randall series started out fine but turned cartoonish with Sunny managing to jump into a strange bed in each novel - often without much good reason. In this one we get the recycled Hollywood lover once again and must suffer through the inane conversation of why he cannot spend the night after jumping Sunny's all too willing bones. It seems this woman does draw a line somewhere! Her ex Richie, wisely, has put a new wife between him and Sunny - and a little something else. I liked the Jesse Stone series but it looks like he is about to hit a bad patch now with Sunny's convoluted ways. Imagine poor Jesse after his wife's behavior having to watch Sunny dispense her favors (at least once per book). How much must one man stand? This is a by-the-numbers book and should be avoided.

Also recommended:�The End of California

This Parker fan loved it!
Beth, A reviewer, 07/29/2006

I've read and re-read almost all of Parkers books. This one I couln't put down. It was fresh and fun. Loved the combination of Sunny and Jesse. Can't wait to see what they'll be doing in the next book!

Also recommended:�Searching for Rachel Wallace

SUPER AS ALWAYS!!!
Scarlett, reader!, 07/28/2006

Wow I see a lot of difference in these reviews! RBP has always been a favorite of mine -- read and re-read and LOVED all the Spenser novels -- I personally think teaming Sunny and Jesse was absolutely a brilliant idea and hope to see more of them together! OK Robert -- more novels soon -- and more Spenser also!!

Also recommended:�All of Sidney Sheldons books are a must read!!

Another story without a solution
A reviewer, A reviewer, 07/19/2006

I have read everything Robert Parker has written but not anymore. Like his last couple of books - this one ends with a whimper. His books used to build up intensity until the climactic ending - not anymore. If you buy this - stop reading 3/4 of the way through. The ending is so unsatisfying that you will thank me for sparing you. Also, why did he bring Sunny and Jesse together? The last Jesse Stone novel had he and Weather working things out and now they are done? It seems that Mr. Parker is seeing a lot of psychiatrists because now everyone of his characters is frequently on the couch getting simple relationship and self help ideas. This is the last of his novels I will purchase - this is not even worth a paperback price.

Showing 1-5 Next

Product Details

ISBN: 0641873247
ISBN-13: 9780641873249
Format: Hardcover, 320pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date: June 2006
Edition Description: Bargain
Sales Rank: 1,828
Series: Sunny Randall Series, #5

Blue Screen (Sunny Randall Series #5) by Robert B. Parker

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Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

Biography

Customer Reviews

Fact File

Biography

Good to Know

From Barnes & Noble

From the Publisher

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews

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