EB: Talk to me a little bit about Susan Silverman and Spenser’s relationship, which leads to my broader question: is there any through-line that you see throughout the Spenser series? Is Spenser going to end up somewhere with Susan, and in general, or are you just kind of taking it as it goes?
RBP: Susan and Spenser will never part. You can count on that. And I plan on writing the series until I can’t. I don’t plan to kill him off. I don’t plan to write a book hidden away that would reveal that his first name is Bruce, and that he and Susan have a child. The last book will be the last book. And when I’m dead or can’t write another one for whatever reason, that’ll be the end of that. Maybe someone will finish one or write one for me. Who knows? But you can count on Susan and Spenser being together in the way that they are. Will they ever marry? I don’t know.
I’m 72-years-old, and the singular event in my life is my marriage to Joan Parker, whom I met 55 years ago, when we were both 17, at the Freshman dance at Colby College. And I swear I fell in love with her when I asked her to dance. She thought I was hideous, and it took her several years to get over that, but I prevailed.
So that relationship is the central one in my life, and I couldn’t really spend my life writing about a guy who had no such relationship. So in that sense, very loosely speaking, Susan is like Joan and I’m like Spenser. Joan is not Jewish and hasn’t been married before. Joan hasn’t children, Susan doesn’t. Joan is not a shrink, professionally – I present a heavy case load for her, but… you know, the superficial resemblances are not there. But Joan is beautiful, Joan is smart, and Joan is funny.
And we live an odd way which is like the way Susan Silverman and Spenser do. We live in the same house but she lives on the second floor and I live on the first. There’s no doors – we come back and forth.
On a talk show – or a chat show as they say in England – in London, a woman asked me once, “Well, are you intimate?”
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Very very nice. I'll read it fully, later.
So were you talking to him while he signed books or had you scheduled something ahead? In either case, I'll have to pay more attention to authors coming through Phoenix.
2 - Knittgirl
It's Spenser - not Spencer.
3 - Eric Berlin
Temple, I talked to him for 40 minutes, so I had it all set up ahead, worked out through the publisher. Look out for installments II and III on the interview later this week!
Knittgirl - Thanks, change now reflected.
4 - Scott Butki
I'm so jealous you got to interview Parker.
5 - Eric Berlin
Thanks Scott. It was a thrill to meet him in person.
6 - Phillip Winn
Wow. I remember this interview. And I'm sure that you, Eric, remember why I remember this interview. :-)
7 - Eric Berlin
Yes, it was indeed some of my finest work...
(heh.)
8 - Scott Butki
Hmm, now you've piqued my curiousity. Why was it memorable for Phillip?
9 - Eric Berlin
On a bright spring morning, I broke the site for a while. Robert B. Parker was unwittingly involved. Long story...
10 - s. Wahrenbrock
I just discovered Robert Baker. He is remarkable. Very spare and witty. Can't wait to read ALL of his stuff. Didn't know until this interview reading that he has a Ph.d, but as an English major,It was very logical that this guy knows his stuff. Keep up the good work, Mr. Parker.