The HBO series Bored To Death features a quirky New York detective named Jonathan Ames, a lead character totally different than those in the detective genre I enjoy reading. In a recent episode, Ames tracks down his grifter father, played by Stacy Keach. The casting for this show is brilliant, as Keach portrayed rugged detective Mike Hammer in a mid-1980s TV series that was based upon the character created by legendary pulp fiction novelist Mickey Spillane. After seeing Keach, I wanted to read some detective fiction and that meant Robert Parker. I picked up Love And Glory expecting gritty gumshoe Spenser. Instead, I got a male romance novel featuring a guy named Boone Adams. The story starts in 1950 at Colby College in Maine as freshman Boone falls in love. We then follow Boone over the next two decades as he serves a tour in Korea, followed by various jobs across the country including a stint at a Madison Avenue ad agency straight out of the TV series Mad Men. During this time, alcohol takes its tool on Boone, who eventually becomes homeless drifter. Boone finally turns his life around, returning to school, earning a degree and continuing the romance. Like Bored To Death, Love And Glory wasn’t at all what I intended, but I still enjoyed the diversion. With that being said, I still can’t wait to read Parker’s next Spenser novel.

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