Review: ‘Slow Burn’ author breathes new life in old characters

There's definitely more meat on the bone when Ace Atkins is at the helm of a Spenser novel.

Atkins got the nod from the late Robert B. Parker's estate to continue the popular series about a Boston private detective, and the series is vastly improved because of it. There's much less choppy dialogue and much more nuance to the plots. And an honest number of words to the page as well.

In 'Slow Burn” (Putnam, $27, 304 pages), Atkins has fashioned a novel that is long on intricate storytelling while still staying true to Parker's characters without some of the excess Parker too often employed. Spenser is a more tolerable wise guy, and sidekick Hawk is not quite so over the top in his awesomeness. And Spenser's soul mate, Susan Silverman, remains a goddess but isn't perched quite as high as she was on Parker's pedestal.

'Slow Burn” is focused on a church arson followed by a prodigious series of arsons that has Boston doing, well, a slow burn. A curmudgeon of a fire captain isn't satisfied with the investigation into the church fire that killed three of his friends and asks Spenser to take a deeper look at things.

Spenser does so in the only way he knows how - asking questions and pretty much annoying the heck out of people. He pokes his nose into some places where it most definitely is not wanted and antagonizes people most folks wouldn't want to antagonize. But Spenser, of course, is unfazed in his pursuit of a solution.

With a powerful mobster looking to get even with Spenser, the private eye has Hawk keeping an eye on his back while he peels back the layers of the case.

The readers know who's setting the fires - and why - but it's exceedingly interesting watching the procedural unfold as Spenser catches up with the reader.

Atkins is dialing back on some characters and introducing new ones. He keeps the overall flavor of the series intact while infusing it with a freshness that I find appealing.

Parker introduced Spenser in 1973's 'The Godwulf Manuscript.” Atkins is only 45. There's no reason to think this series won't keep percolating along if we can just suspend time a bit and keep Spenser from getting too old for his escapades.