The Godwulf Manuscript

Robert B. Parker

9/28/1998

This novel introduces Spenser, Parker's private investigator that sparked the television show in the 80's. Spenser is a smart mouth, but usually not rude, ex-boxer, but not pugilish unless needed, determined person. He stays with a job or a cause until he feels it is done.

A university in Boston hires him because a rare English document, The Godwulf Manuscript, has been stolen. They want him to recover it. As he begins his investigation, a student is killed in what appears to be a mob hit and his girlfirend is framed. The girlfriend's rich father also hires him to find the truth.

Spenser starts stepping on toes. Even once the manuscript is anonymously returned, he does not drop the investigation. There is still the college girl framed for murder that bothers him. He needs to discover the complete story.

This is the first Spenser novel, and introduces a gumshoe we tend to expect. Spenser is determined, a annoyance to police, the mob, and his employes, and gets the job done. He is a womanizer and a drinker, but does not let either deter him from discovering the truth he is hired to find.

This novel had a secondary appeal to me because of it's time frame. It was published in the early 1970's, and is about university campus life at the time. Spenser has to deal with revolutionary groups, the drugs of the time, the standards of the times, and the lingo of the times. I remember much of the era and was able to both identify with and laugh at the college scene as well.

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The Godwulf Manuscript
God Save the Child
Mortal Stakes
Promised Land
The Judas Goat
Looking for Rachel Wallace
Early Autumn
A Savage Place
Ceremony
The Widening Gyre
Valediction
A Catskill Eagle
Taming a Sea-Horse
Pale Kings and Princes
Crimson Joy
Playmates
Stardust
Pastime
Double Deuce
Paper Doll
Walking Shadow
Thin Air
Chance
Small Vices
Sudden Mischief
Hush Money
Hugger Mugger
Potshot
Widow's Walk
Back Story
Bad Business
Cold Business
School Days
Hundred-Dollar Baby
Now and Then