 The first edition of School Days. | |
| Author | Robert B. Parker |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Spenser |
| Genre | Detective novel |
| Publisher | Putnam Adult |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 304 pp. (first edition) |
| ISBN | 0-399-15323-3 |
| OCLC | 59401204 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3566.A686 S36 2005 |
| Preceded by | Cold Service |
| Followed by | Hundred-Dollar Baby |
School Days (2005) is a work of detective fiction by American author Robert B. Parker, the 33rd in his acclaimed Spenser series.
Following a high school shooting in which seven people were killed by two masked students, one of the perpetrators, Wendell Grant, gives himself up, and police believe that shady peer Jared Clarke was his accomplice. However, his grandmother Lily Ellsworth, the grand dame of Dowling, Massachusetts, believes otherwise and hires P.I Spenser to prove the young man's innocence. As he investigates, the detective finds himself drawn into an increasingly tangled web of deception, blackmail and insanity, which isn't at all helped by Jared's curious apathy regarding his fate.
Months after a school shooting at an elitist prep school in small-town Massachusetts leaves fifteen students and faculty dead, Spenser is hired by the grandmother of one of the alleged killers, a rich old lady who firmly believes in her grandson's innocence: she is convinced that he is not the one of the two shooters who never lifted his ski mask in front of their victims and who somehow managed to disappear in the crowd without being identified. Both suspects are now in custody but unwilling to talk to anyone.
Wherever Spenser turns, people are reluctant to co-operate with him, if not outright hostile. The local police chief considers the case closed as both perpetrators are under arrest, awaiting trial and have already confessed to the crime. The head of the school is concerned with the school's reputation, bans Spenser from the school premises, and prohibits students to talk to him should he accost them anywhere in town. Even the boys' parents and their respective lawyers do not wish to throw any more light on the matter. For Spenser, however, three decisive questions have not been answered yet: where the two youngsters got the weapons from and how they were able to pay for them; where and from whom they learned to shoot; and why they planned and carried out the massacre in the first place.
The pupils Spenser meets at one of their hangouts, however, are thrilled to disobey their head teacher and collaborate with a private eye. This is how Spenser learns where the less fortunate youngsters in town who attend the local public school usually meet, that a young man of mixed ethnicity supplies them with drugs, and that he might also have sold weapons to the shooters. Spenser is soon able to answer his first two questions, but for the time being he sees no way to find a good reason why two 17-year-olds with no criminal record should go ahead and cause a bloodbath. Gradually, however, he realizes that the motive is more to do with parents and teachers than anyone is prepared to admit.
In School Days, Spenser's close friend Hawk does not appear but is mentioned. Susan Silverman is away at a conference and only returns at the end of the novel to celebrate the successful conclusion of the case. Pearl, however, having been left behind by her mistress, is constantly present.
Spenser calls himself a "poetic devil," but he does not always quote correctly or verbatim. In School Days, references to various works of literature and popular culture are made. This is an incomplete list of quotations:
The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting and attempted bombing that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth grade (senior) students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. Ten students were killed in the school library, where the pair subsequently committed suicide. Twenty-one additional people were injured by gunshots, and gunfire was also exchanged with the police. Another three people were injured trying to escape. At the time, it was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. The crime has inspired several copycats, including many deadlier shootings across the world, and "Columbine" has become a byword for school shootings.
A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, or university, involving the use of firearms. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple casualties. The phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school-related shootings, but school shootings have taken place in many countries across the world.
Spenser: For Hire is an American crime drama series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder and starring Robert Urich, was broadcast on ABC from September 20, 1985 until May 7, 1988.
The Red Lake shootings were a spree killing that occurred on March 21, 2005, in two places on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota, United States. That morning, 16-year-old Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend at their home. After taking his grandfather's police weapons and bulletproof vest, Weise drove his grandfather's police vehicle to Red Lake Senior High School, where he had been a student some months before.
Cat Among the Pigeons is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 2 November 1959, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1960 with a copyright date of 1959. The UK edition retailed at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6), and the US edition at $2.95.
The Frontier Middle School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on February 2, 1996, at Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, Washington, United States. The gunman, 14-year-old Barry Dale Loukaitis, killed his algebra teacher and two students, and held his classmates hostage before a gym coach subdued him.
A Murder of Quality is the second novel by John le Carré, published in 1962. It features George Smiley, the most famous of le Carré's recurring characters, in his only book set outside the espionage community.
The Children's Hour is a 1961 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes is based on the 1934 play of the same title by Lillian Hellman. The film stars Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner and Fay Bainter.
The Winter Queen is the first novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels, written by Russian author Boris Akunin. It was subtitled конспирологический детектив.
The Godwulf Manuscript is the debut crime novel by Robert B. Parker
God Save The Child is the second book in Robert B. Parker's Spenser series and first published in 1974. In this tale, Spenser is hired to find Kevin Bartlett, a missing 15-year-old boy, by the child's parents. This novel introduces the detective's longtime love interest, Susan Silverman, and his friend Lieutenant Healy.
Mortal Stakes is the third Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1975. The story centers on the Boston private eye being hired by the Red Sox to find out if their lead pitcher, Marty Rabb, is on the take. The investigation quickly takes him into a deeper, and more dangerous, blackmail plot involving pimps, a high class madam, and a vicious shylock.
Potshot is the 28th Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The story follows the fictional Boston-based PI Spenser as he tries to identify the killer of a widow's husband. As is often the case, Spenser's probing uncovers much more than just a simple—or single—murder.
Early Autumn is a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. It is the seventh novel in the Spenser series.
The Westside School shooting was a school shooting on March 24, 1998, at Westside Middle School in unincorporated Craighead County, Arkansas near the city of Jonesboro. Perpetrators Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, fatally shot four students and a teacher with multiple weapons, and both were arrested when they attempted to flee the scene. Ten others were wounded. Golden and Johnson were convicted of five murders and ten assaults, and were imprisoned until each turned 21 years of age. After the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in Stockton, California, the massacre was the second deadliest non-college school shooting in contemporary U.S. history until the April 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
Ceremony is the ninth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in 1982. It is the first of three Spenser novels involving the character April Kyle, who returns in Taming a Sea-Horse and Hundred-Dollar Baby.
Stone Cold is a crime novel by Robert B. Parker, the fourth in his Jesse Stone series.
Come Dance with Me! is a 1959 French-Italian drama film directed by Michel Boisrond and starring Brigitte Bardot. The film is based on the novel The Blonde Died Dancing by Kelley Roos.
Aku no Kyōten, known in English as Lesson of the Evil, is a 2012 Japanese horror film directed by Takashi Miike starring Hideaki Itō. It is an adaptation of Yusuke Kishi's 2010 novel of the same name. A seinen manga under the same name, illustrated by Eiji Karasuyama, was also released in 2012 by Kodansha in Good! Afternoon magazine. The story contains many references to German culture, such as mention of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther and a vinyl record playing "Mack the Knife" by Bertolt Brecht.
Fade Away is a novel by author Harlan Coben. It is the third novel in his series of a crime solver and sports agent named Myron Bolitar.
