The last couple of Spenser novels written by Robert B. Parker focus on old issues that the private eye and author have stepped around for years. Now both are getting enmeshed in events that bring those old troubles and insecurities to the forefront, so that Spenser finally has to lay them to rest.

Last year’s Hundred Dollar Baby is the final tale in the April Kyle saga. She was the young prostitute Spenser saved, sort of, in the series’ ninth book, Ceremony. Fans, especially women readers, got split over the resolution in that novel.

This year’s offering, Now & Then, is going to unite all the fans and leave them waiting with baited breath for next year’s entry. Ah, but the good Dr. Parker has learned how to unleash the power of the soap opera endings. He’s doing the same in the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone series as well.

In the opening pages of Now & Then, Spenser is approached by, and eventually hired by, Dennis Doherty. Doherty is a cagy customer and doesn’t act like he really wants to know if his wife is cheating on him. Before he knows it, Spenser finds himself relating to Doherty because of the breakup he had with Susan Silverman all those years ago (Valediction and A Catskill Eagle for series purists).

It takes Spenser little time at all to confirm that Doherty’s wife is indeed cheating. Spenser enlists the help of Hawk, his darker side, to track down the answer. Hawk is the first to advance the notion that Spenser is getting too personally involved. It’s this interplay of these two characters that I’ve come to love so much. Getting to peer inside of male bonding at work is awesome, and no one does it better than Parker.

Spenser struggles over how much to tell Doherty. While dealing with that, he talks with Susan and it dredges up all the old hurts he’d covered over after she left him. He finally says that telling Doherty is the right thing to do. By that time, he’s also figured out that Doherty is an FBI agent, which is going to cause even more problems for his client.

Old readers are going to feel the resonance of this case to the pain Spenser was going through when Susan left him. We can see what bothers Spenser so much, and it’s great. I hadn’t thought of Parker dealing with this unresolved issue, but – all of a sudden – here it is.