Back Story

In 1974, a revolutionary group calling itself The Dread Scott Brigade held up the Old Shawnut Bank in Boston's Audubon Circle.

Money was stolen. And a woman named Emily Gordon, a visitor in town cashing traveller's cheques, was shot and killed.

No one saw who shot her. Despite security camera photos and a letter from the group claiming responsibility, the perpetrators have remained at large for nearly three decades.

Enter Paul Giacomin, the closest thing Spenser has to a son.

Twice before, Spenser's come to the young man's assistance, and now Paul is 37, his troubled past behind him.

But when Paul's friend Daryl Gordon - daughter of the long-gone Emily - decides she needs closure regarding her mother's death, it's Spenser they turn to.

The lack of clues and a missing FBI intelligence report force Spenser to reach out in every direction - to Daryl's estranged, hippie father, to Vinnie Morris and the mob, to the mysterious Ives - testing his resourcefulness and his courage.

Taut, tense and expertly crafted, this is Robert B. Parker at his storytelling best.