Tall Girls Have Short Memories

First I would just like to express my deep sadness regarding the death of Robert B. Parker. I love his writing and he will be deeply missed.That being said, I was reading this book when I learned that he had passed away, which I thought was a bit weird.I liked this one a lot more than "Chasing the Bear." A lot more.I wish there had been more Hawk in this one. The women who hire Spencer did not feel very distinct from each other- I had a hard time remembering who was who. I also felt like I didn't have enough of Beth to really believe that she would be willing and able to kill all those people to get what she wanted.I loved that Spenser had a low tolerance for their bullshit. He looked into the matter, found a solution to the problem and they didn't want to take it. He washed his hands of them and moved on (mostly) which was awesome. This one felt a lot more noir-ish than his books had been feeling for a while. It did have that Raymond Chandler feel, to a certain extent, especially as the mystery turned from something that Spenser understood into a mystery where nothing really seemed to make sense.The choice that Spenser made at the end of the novel- his delay in reporting Boo, his willingness to let Boo's killer walk away because he did what needed to be done- felt very much like the bad choices left to a Sam Spade kind of character. I do feel like the ending was a bit out of place and a bit hurried. I still have a hard time understanding Beth and why she would do what she did. I think I give Parker and Spenser a lot of slack because I love the characters and the world so much and I know that I can go back to read some of the really great novels later. Like all Parker novels, this was a fast read. I finished in less than 24 hours. The story moved at a fast clip, even if it didn’t always make the most sense. There weren't as many great dialogue exchanges here, which is one of the reasons that I love Parker's work, and as I mentioned above, not nearly enough Hawk.I could have done with less Susan, to be honest. In the end, it's was a fun, fast read. Not one of the best but if you are a Spenser completist, it is a fun ride.