Private investigator Spenser leaves Boston for summertime Cape Cod where he and his friend Susan Silverman find themselves involved with fools and villains whose concerns are extortion, robbery, and murder.

When Spenser accepts a job as a "bodyguard" for a beautiful young woman, he gets in way over his head.

TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood racketeering. Spenser's job is to keep Candy healthy until she breaks the biggest story of her career. But her star witness has just bowed out with three bullets in his chest, two tough guys have doubled up to test Spenser's skill with...

Everybody loves a winner, and the Rabbs are major league. Marty is the Red Sox star pitcher, Linda the loving wife. She loves everyone except the blackmailer out to wreck her life. Is Marty throwing fast balls or throwing games? It doesn't take long for Spenser to link Marty's performance with Linda's past ... or to find himself trapped between a crazed racketeer and an enforcer toting an M-16. America's favorite pastime has suddenly become a very...

After a fourteen-year-old boy from an affluent family disappears, Spenser begins to investigate and discovers a link between the missing boy and Vic Halloway, a bodybuilder with a vicious reputation.

Spenser is called in to investigate the murder of a reporter working on a story about the cocaine trade. Threats by the local police and a Columbian produce dealer lead Spenser to dig deeper.

Spenser is back on his home turf: a Boston of sleaze and surprises, dangerous days and deadly nights. A serial killer is on the loose in Beantown and the cops can't ctch him. called the "Red Rose Killer" because he leaves a long-stemmed red rose on each woman he slays, he's terrifying every female who has to go out after dark. But once Spenser joins the chase, the murder's trail turns toward home when a rose is left for Spenser's own Susan Silverman....

Ten years ago, Paul Giacomin's corrupt father and loose mother used the boys as a pawn in their violent race: only Spenser could call them off and straighten out the misled teen-almost getting killed in the process. Paul is now twenty-four and reconciled to his mother's wanton ways. But when Patty Giacomin vanishes, Paul begs Spenser to help him rescue her from the clutches of her boyfriend, a shady character he's sure coerced his mother into running....

Hawk wants Spenser to wage war on a street gang. Susan wants Spenser to move in with her. Either way, Spenser's out of his element. So why not risk both?

PI Spenser of Boston investigates a stalking, the victim of which is a theatre company director, a probe that leaves him cold until an actor is gunned down. At that he swings into action, clashing with the Chinese Mafia and narrowly missing being killed himself.