Valediction

Robert B. Parker

One of the best things that can be said about Valediction is that it sets up the events in one of the best Spenser novels to date, A Catskill Eagle. That alone is enough to make it worth reading. It's also a little heaver on The Continuing Saga of Spenser and Susan than many Spenser novels; judge as you will and buy accordingly. Somewhere beneath all that, there's a mystery waiting to happen. In this case, Spenser is hired by one of his foster child's dance instructors to find said instructor's girlfriend, whom he believes has been kidnapped by a sect of religious extremists. The story sounds wonky from the beginning, but what seems a little off at first ends up being stranger than anyone involved ever imagined.

The cast list reads rather like a Spenser's Greatest Hits novel. Almost everyone in here has popped up before in a Spenser novel, from kids to hoods. The framework of the characters is already set up, and the plot pretty much writes itself. It's empty calories, the kind of stuff you'd never catch the main character eating. However, this book is less about the mystery therein than it is about Spenser himself and how his changing relationship with Susan affects his own outlook on life. It sets the book apart somewhat, and that, combined with the events in the next book it sets up, makes this one a worthwhile addition to the canon.