Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief (UK 2014)

From the Publisher:
When Susan's ex-husband, Brad, appears after a decades-long absence, nearly broke and the object of a sexual-harassment suit, Spenser reluctantly agrees to help. As he investigates the circumstances surrounding the suit, he discovers that fund-raiser Brad is swimming in very deep water: mobsters, who were using his fund-raising campaigns to launder money, have discovered he was cooking the already cooked books and aren't at all pleased. The deeper Spenser digs, the more bodies he uncovers and the more culpable Brad appears to be.

Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief. A Spenser Novel. No Exit Press, ISBN: 9781843444312 (November, 2014), 304 p., £8.99, eBook £5.81.

Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief (UK 2002)

From the Publisher:
In the first British publication of this classic thriller from Parker's highly acclaimed Spenser crime series, things take an unnexpected and thrilling turn for this dashing detective. When Spenser comes to the aid of his long-time love Susan, in her efforts to help her ex-husband Brad Sterling, he finds himself caught up in a twisted battle against some very bad men, shadowy mob connections, and a woman tormented by her past.

Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief. A Spenser Novel. No Exit Press, ISBN: 1842430580 (January, 2002), 297 p., £6.99.

Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
Susan Silverman's ex doesn't call himself "Silverman" anymore -- he's changed his name to "Sterling." And that's not the only thing that's phony about him. A do-gooding charity fundraiser, he's been accused of sexual harassment by no less than four different women. And not long after Spenser starts investigating, Sterling is wanted for a bigger charge: murder...

Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief. Berkley Publishing Group, ISBN: 042516828X (May 1999), 306 p., $7.99.

Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
"Parker's finest in years ...one can't-put-it-down story. Again ..." proclaimed San Francisco Chronicle of Robert B. Parker's most recent New York Times bestseller, Small Vices. And The Washington Post Book World agreed, "Small Vices deserves instant inclusion in the Spenser canon." In Sudden Mischief, Parker's stouthearted hero unwillingly takes a case that tests his sleuthing skills-and his commitment to the woman he loves.

Brad Sterling-former Harvard football player, ne'er-do-well, and Susan Silverman's long out-of-touch ex-husband-is, by all appearances, a successful businessman. But when, in the course of running a vast fundraiser called Galapalooza, he is charged with sexual harassment, he turns to Susan for help. Though Brad denies the charge, he's desperate, behind in alimony and child-support payments to other exes, and on the verge of dissolution. When Spenser reluctantly agrees to take the case, however, Sterling claims everything is fine-he's free of debt and free of problems.

While the harassment charge begins to look more and more specious, Spenser senses there is something wrong with Galapalooza, as leads to charities turn into dead ends. Susan, meanwhile, becomes steadily more problematic as she wrestles with demons reinvigorated by the resurrection of her ex-husband. As the questions mount, Brad disappears, a body is found, and clues to a shadowy mob connection begin to coalesce. Spenser finds himself fighting a two-front war: against some very bad men, on the one hand, and against an increasingly difficult Susan, on the other.

Dark, contemplative, and morally complex, Sudden Mischief is a brilliant meditation on the meaning of justice, love, and passion.

Robert B. Parker: Sudden Mischief. A Spenser Novel. Putnam's, ISBN: 039914370X (May 1998), 288 p., $22.95.