Angel Eyes by Ace Atkins

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on November 19, 2019

Angel Eyes was written by Ace Atkins, by far the most capable worker in the Robert B. Parker factory. The full title is Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes, but since Parker is dead, the novel isn’t Parker’s, even if Spenser belongs to his estate. At least Atkins' name isn't dwarfed by Parker's, although Parker's is still displayed in a larger font.

Spenser is hired to find Gabby Leggett, who has gone missing in California. Spenser is Boston-based but LA is a prime setting for noir fiction, given the darkness associated with glitz and glamour and Hollywood money. It is a place Spenser visited when Parker was still penning his adventures.

Gabby hoped to turn her good looks into an acting career. She worked her social media and hired an agent before she dropped out of sight. The agent dated her for a while and became jealous when she moved on, making him a suspect when she disappeared. And then there’s an older movie executive named Jimmy Yamashiro, whose dalliance with Gabby might also have provided a motive for foul play.

Spenser quickly finds other suspects. Gabby didn’t care much for her parents. She did care for a cult leader named Joseph Haldorn, who founded an organization called HELIOS that describes itself as an “executive success program that seeks to free their participants from the shackles of self-doubt and confusion.” It empowers women by freeing them from their money. HELIOS bills itself as a lifestyle while followers view Haldorn as Christlike. He can’t turn water into wine, but one of the characters notes that “he can turn bullshit into money.”

In addition to sorting out all the people who might be responsible for Gabby's disappearance, Spenser encounters trouble with a fellow named Sarkisov, a thug who is affiliated with a gang of thugs called Armenian Power. Sarkisov also has an interest in finding Gabby and is rather impolite when he invites Spenser to return to Boston.

Spenser’s intimate friend Susan Silverman plays a key role in the novel, making use of her skills as a psychotherapist. Other returning characters are Chollo (whose underworld connections and shooting skills are invaluable), Zebulon Sixkill (who is now a PI in LA and views Spenser as a mentor), and Bobby Horse (who teamed with Chollo in Potshot). Sixkill describes Spenser and his three LA friends as “the Three Amigos plus a white guy,” although two of the amigos are Native Americans. Throw hacker Kim Yoon into the mix and Spenser is plainly a fan of workplace diversity.

Ace Atkins has greater opportunity to stretch his creative legs in his excellent Quinn Colson series. When he writes Spenser novels, he is confined to the environment and characterizations that Parker created. He nevertheless does a creditable job of channeling Parker, employing snarky dialog, treating the reader to a good bit of gunplay, and tempering Spenser’s hard-boiled personality with tender feelings for the innocent and abused (as well as Susan).

The plot blends mystery with action and the cast of potential wrongdoers is sufficient to keep the reader guessing. A good chunk of the novel remains after the mystery is solved. Atkins fills it with enough mayhem that Spenser, if a real person, would be permanently banned from California. Yeah, he only shoots bad guys, but he shoots so many of them that one might expect the police to be more wary of his presence, even if he does clean up the dirt that otherwise darkens the City of Angels. That again is true to the Spenser tradition, making Angel Eyes further evidence that Atkins is the right author to keep Spenser alive after his creator’s demise.

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