First edition | |
| Author | Robert B. Parker |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Spenser |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press |
Publication date | June 1987 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0-385-29538-3 |
| OCLC | 14818248 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3566.A686 P3 1987 |
| Preceded by | Taming a Sea Horse |
| Followed by | Crimson Joy |
Pale Kings and Princes is a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. The title is taken from John Keats's poem La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad . Following the murder of a reporter, Spenser is hired by a newspaper to investigate drug smuggling around the area of Wheaton, Massachusetts. There he encounters many troubles, including the death of a policeman and his son. Spenser, with the help of his friend, Hawk, eventually secures the downfall of the local cartel.
Spenser—his first name is never officially revealed—is a fictional character in a series of detective novels initially by the American mystery writer Robert B. Parker and later by Ace Atkins. He is also featured in a television series and a series of TV movies based on the novels.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer of fiction, primarily of the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies based on the character were also produced. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited by critics and bestselling authors such as Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane as not only influencing their own work but reviving and changing the detective genre. Parker also wrote two other series based on an individual character: He wrote nine novels based on the character Jesse Stone and six novels based on the character Sunny Randall. Mr. Parker wrote four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first, Appaloosa, was made into a film with Ed Harris.
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.
An adaptation of the novel was released as a made-for-TV movie in 1994. [1]
