After many bestselling authors pass away, they still continue to produce a large number of titles anyway. Spouses often wind up finding "hidden" manuscripts in a desk drawer, behind the refrigerator, in the garage, etc. Some even have mediums who transcribe the deceased author's dictation. Far be it for me to suggest they are having someone ghostwrite these books, but it is refreshing to see that Joan, the widow of Robert Parker, simply went out and hired Ace Atkins, a well-known mystery writer in his own right, to continue Parker's Spenser series. I read the first Spenser book, Lullaby, and thought it was pretty damn good. Even better than some of the 40 Spenser books Parker wrote himself. When I saw that Atkins had written a new Spenser mystery - Wonderland - I checked the online reviews and saw that many had panned it. I ordered the book from the library anyway, and was happy to see that it was just as good as Atkins first. It is a mystery novel, after all, not the Great American Novel, and Atkins captures Parker's style pretty well. As an old television commercial once proclaimed, "try it, you'll like it."
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