I think I delayed reading Parker out of a rather snobbish bias. If it was
on television as a series, it could not be any good...

I was definitely wrong.

I started reading Parker earlier this year and was hooked very soon. The
books do indeed flow together in a delightful manner; I have become good
friends with Susan, Hawk and especially Pearl. It is always nice to find a
series that is new to you and start off. Sandford's "Prey" series,
remarkably similar in some ways, is also rather fun.

Drop me a line privately on that ex-libris copy, please Francis. I have
several ex-library of expensive first, including "Barn Blind", "Booked to
Die" and "Postmortem".

That raises a point. With my copy of "Barn Blind", the only indication it
is a library book is the first page, easily taken off and replaced. After
that, no one would even know. This raises tow questions"

1. Do you know of any good book restoration types who can do this type of
work, and

2. After repair, is the book described as "restored, former library" even
if it has never been read?

Willow
"Sam" wrote in message
oups.com...
Willow,
I've also been reading (and collecting) Parker for a few years. I
think that $1,000 for his first 3 was an asking price (didn't sell).
I'm sure you could buy all three for much less on ABE and maybe have
one of them signed (such as his signature is - that is my only
complaint about Parker, his colophonic sig).
Three Weeks in Spring is probably a "must have" for the true
collector and Spenser's Boston was an interesting read for me as I've
never been to Boston and it puts a nice "face" on his Spenser novels.
One cannot read these for their literary merit as they tend to
overlap each other (even with dialogue) but each new book is like
seeing an old friend and catching up with what's been going on.