I used to read and love every new Spenser novel Robert B. Parker turned out--you remember Spenser, the characters and general mileau were the basis of the Robert Urich TV series Spenser: For Hire--but after about 20 Parker seemed to get stuck in a going through the motions rut and I stopped reading. He finally realized it himself I think and decided to create two other characters so he'd have to keep the muscles stretching.
The tactic must have worked because Bad Business (2004) is definitely a return to form. This story throws our favorite PI into the middle of an Enron/WorldCom situation when the widow of a murdered top exec comes for help clearing her name. Turns out the books aren't the only thing cooking at Kinergy: there's also a free love party hosted by a radio love doctor to confuse the motives.
Parker makes a couple of glaring continuity errors but they were easy to forgive since I read these novels for the wordplay, especially the clash of Spenser's literary verbal style against expectations generated by his appearance and background. Also, his completely wonderful devotion to life partner Dr. Susan Silverman. Spenser gets the bad guy at the end, of course, but the ride there was fun.
This morning I had to stop at the bank and take out a loan so I could fill up the car's gas tank (ba da boom).
Can you understand how the Italian police could not catch the top man in the Sicilian mafia for 40 years, until yesterday? No matter how careful Provenzano was, he was still running the biggest criminal gang in the country, actively, for the last dozen years and had to communicate and keep in touch somehow.
There is much unhappiness in the ex-Sun camp, exemplified by former VP John Shoemaker's blast at the company. I certainly agree that the board should have done whatever was necessary to keep Ed Zander and his results since taking over Motorola are good evidence. I spoke with Ed a few times when NetDynamics was acquired; he came by to meet the troops, something Scott McNealy did not do, and showed a strong understanding of why NetD was good for Sun.
The New York Times has a decent article about how not all blogs are being written by youngsters or even the middle aged such as me though I think the phrase they coined to refer to the group, elderbloggers, is pretty terrible. I wonder if I can get my Dad to start writing because he really knows how to tell a story.
John Gruber may, like Robert X Cringely, not always be right--though he is often funny--but reading his occasional essays such as today's analysis of why Boot Camp does not presage the availability of OS X for non-Apple hardware nor does it mean that Apple will be competing (any more directly than they already do) with Microsoft. Personally, that the new Intel-based laptops can boot into Windows or run it in a VM layer is giving me thoughts of spending some cash on one this summer, after the second wave of machines are released.