Robert Parker Dies

Robert Parker, the writer died today.  He was 77 years old.  Apparently he died of a heart attack, at his desk working on a new book.

Parker was the creator of the private eye Spenser.  I was a big fan of Spenser for years, but have to admit that in recent years I haven't been following the character.  More recently Parker created Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall as series characters. 

Parker was a very influential writer in the mystery field and is credited with helping bring back the tough guy private eye when he debuted Spenser.  Reading that he died was a shock to me, even though I haven't been reading his books lately, I still admired him and always figured I'd go back to reading the books eventually.