Melancholy Baby (Sunny Randall Novel) (Paperback)

Robert B. Parker takes a fresh look at both questions in this wry and ironical novel.

PI Sunny Randall finds the ground swept out from under her feet when her ex-husband, Richie, announces he will remarry. Sunny cannot live with or without Richie, and she finds herself needing to find out what her true motivations are. Why cannot she be married to the man she loves?

At the same time, Sunny takes on a new client, Sarah Markham, a troubled young woman who wants to know who her birth parents are. Sunny doesn't much like the client, but sympathizes with her troubled self-image while being something of a role model to Sarah.

Sunny soon decides that there's something wrong in the Markham family. Neither parent will submit to DNA testing, and their reasons don't make much sense. The "parents" are vague about everything else. What are they hiding? Matters quickly become more dangerous when Sarah and her boyfriend are roughed up, and the same goons come looking for Sunny. But did they count on Spike?

While the case proceeds, Sunny starts twice-a-week therapy sessions with a new therapist, Dr. Susan Silverman, who will fascinate you in her cool professional role.

The mystery in this book isn't really much of a mystery. It's more of an investigative procedural.

The developing identity story is a fascinating one, and the book is riveting when Mr. Parker turns his attention into that arena.

The book's major flaw is that Mr. Parker cannot quite take himself seriously. He puts little jokes into the book that distract from the story and take you away from being inside story with the characters. A good example is having Sunny endlessly fantasizing about what kind of a Harvard professor Susan hangs out with. Really!

As usual, the dialogue sparkles like perfectly polished diamonds do on a sunny day. The therapy session dialogues are quite remarkable.

The other thing that helps Sunny get her head straight is going to see a shrink, and not just any shrink but Susan Silverman (who else?). Part of the humor of their sessions is to see Spenser's lady love through the eyes of a different character (and a female one as well). The other part is that Susan does unto Sunny as Sunny does to the people she questions throughout the novel. The big difference is that Susan elicits Sunny's self-analysis more through a series of pupil dilations and slight head movements than actual verbal sentences. One of the nice things about this novel is that Sunny makes as much progress in the sessions with Susan as she does out on the streets with Sarah's case. Figuring out whodunit in this one is not that hard, but proving it and, more importantly, doing something about it is what is more important in a Parker novel.

Long time readers of those novels will recognize the return to one of Parker's stronger themes, that of helping a child to grow up (which goes all the way back to "God Save the Child"). The difference when the mentor is Sunny instead of Spenser is that she is still trying to get a handle on being an adult, but she certainly uses that to her advantage in dealing with Sarah. What will be familiar to readers is the key to such persuasion, which is giving the kid the information and letting them make an informed choice without being judgmental. It would be interesting to see what one of Parker's characters would do raising a kid from the start instead of having to intervene during the tumultuous teenage years, but I do not see that really being a future Parker novel.

Robert B. Parker takes a fresh look at both questions in this wry and ironical novel.

PI Sunny Randall finds the ground swept out from under her feet when her ex-husband, Richie, announces he will remarry. Sunny cannot live with or without Richie, and she finds herself needing to find out what her true motivations are. Why cannot she be married to the man she loves?

At the same time, Sunny takes on a new client, Sarah Markham, a troubled young woman who wants to know who her birth parents are. Sunny doesn't much like the client, but sympathizes with her troubled self-image while being something of a role model to Sarah.

Sunny soon decides that there's something wrong in the Markham family. Neither parent will submit to DNA testing, and their reasons don't make much sense. The "parents" are vague about everything else. What are they hiding? Matters quickly become more dangerous when Sarah and her boyfriend are roughed up, and the same goons come looking for Sunny. But did they count on Spike?

While the case proceeds, Sunny starts twice-a-week therapy sessions with a new therapist, Dr. Susan Silverman, who will fascinate you in her cool professional role.

The mystery in this book isn't really much of a mystery. It's more of an investigative procedural.

The developing identity story is a fascinating one, and the book is riveting when Mr. Parker turns his attention into that arena.

The book's major flaw is that Mr. Parker cannot quite take himself seriously. He puts little jokes into the book that distract from the story and take you away from being inside story with the characters. A good example is having Sunny endlessly fantasizing about what kind of a Harvard professor Susan hangs out with. Really!

As usual, the dialogue sparkles like perfectly polished diamonds do on a sunny day. The therapy session dialogues are quite remarkable.