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Robert B Parker's series featuring private investigator Sunny Randall returns for a fourth outing in the aptly-titled MELANCHOLY BABY. Nothing much has changed in Sunny's life. She still has a partiality for dogs, painting and even more sadly her ex-husband Ritchie who is about to marry a woman that she loathes. Her client is a college student who believes that the people that brought her up haven't told her the truth about her true birth parents. She wants some answers and asks Sunny to find out the truth. Her investigation on behalf of her client not only takes her to Chicago where she delves into the past lives of a number of radio presenters but also makes Sunny herself sit back and reflect as to what she is doing with her own life and her relationship with her ex-husband. She finds herself seeing a psychiatrist. For those of you who are fans of Parker's other series featuring private investigator Spenser you will recognise the psychiatrist as his main squeeze and muse Susan Silverman. This is a bonus for fans of Spenser as we get to see Silverman at work. As she undertakes her enquiry on behalf of her client, Randall appears to have stirred up a hornet's nest with her digging and things go from bad to worse when her client is beaten up and advised to drop the investigation. MELANCHOLY BABY is a smoothly-written PI novel with Parker's well-known snappy dialogue. Character-driven and intense, this is a novel that is as heart-rending as it is tough, as is watching Sunny deal with her demons as she opens herself up to Silverman. As usual Sunny gets help from all manner of people including her father, a retired cop and her gay friend and bar owner Spike. And as usual Parker is able to take the reader on a more than routine ride. MELANCHOLY BABY is certainly worth reading if only to appreciate how good Spenser's muse is at her job.
Reviewed by Ayo Onatade, October 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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