"MELANCHOLY BABY" by Robert B. Parker (A)

Robert B. Parker is one of those talented authors who can weave the whole cloth of a most interesting story out of the simplest threads of a plot line. Here the ordinary concept of a girl's search for her biological parents quickly becomes complicated, much quirkier, and far more dangerous. Apparently a lot of money has been spent to bury this information and more will be spent to make sure that it stays buried.

Parker is nothing if not prolific with dozens of mystery novels starring Spenser, the Boston PI, Jesse Stone, the Paradise Chief of Police, and Sunny Randall, a female gumshoe from Andover. A former cop herself and the daughter of a highly respected retired detective, Sunny has lots of personal issues that have to be dealt with to the point where she spends almost as much time with her shrink as she does on the case.

It's all in good fun, and I highly recommend this book for being a most entertaining and enjoyable read. With Parker's short chapters and light, breezy writing style, I found myself racing through this book at breakneck speed. When it came time to where I should have put the book down, I usually found myself flipping forward to see what was coming next. Far too often I succumbed to temptation and read the next chapter or two, and isn't that the very definition of a good read?

This fourth outing in the Sunny Randall mystery series by Parker finds our Sunny not quite so sunny at all. Her ex-husband, Richie, is finally getting married and Sunny takes perverse delight in fantasizing about killing his new bride. It's not that she wants to be married to Richie again, mind you, for she doesn't. She can't live with him and she can't live without him. Or anyone else, for that matter. Sunny values having her own space more than she does the institution of marriage.

She loves at a distance but she also wants to have the security of knowing that Richie will always love her more than anyone else. Now he tells her that he can't go through life alone. His decision to remarry has left Sunny in a very melancholy state, for she hates the thought that he has found someone else to love.

Why is that? Well, Sunny has been going to see Dr. Copeland, her shrink, for years to help her figure this out, and now he has the temerity to tell her that he is retiring. How inconvenient! Dumped by another man in her life! Why can't these men love her unreservedly for who she is and always be there for her like her beloved dad?

What Sunny needs to get back to being sunny is a new shrink and a new client, and both show up at about the same time. Dr. Copeland refers her to Dr. Silverman, a sharply dressed woman who proves to be very astute and very good at pulling Sunny out of her shell.

Then Andover lawyer Barbara Stein calls Sunny up to tell her that she has a new client for her. The four meet together for lunch at Spike's Place, which is Sunny's favorite haunt. I say "four," for Sunny's beloved Bull Terrier, Rosie, usually accompanies her to dine off table scraps. Even though dogs aren't supposed to be allowed in the restaurant, Spike always makes an exception for Rosie. Spike is a giant of a man and Sunny often hires him to be her "muscle" when the situation demands it.

Sarah Markham, her potential new client, is a mess and looks "hideous" as Sunny sizes her up with her body piercings, black hair, and Gothic mode of dress. 20 years old, and a college senior at Taft University, she does not make a good first impression or even a decent second impression. In fact, she is distinctly unlikable and proves to be very unhelpful as a client, particularly since she doesn't like to answer personal questions.

Sarah wants to know who her real biological parents are. Yes, her mom and her dad claim to be her biological parents, but they both refuse to take a DNA test to prove it. She doesn't look like either of them, and Sarah remembers fights when she was younger where her mother, who has never been warm or motherly towards her, claimed that she was not her child. Sarah doesn't have a birth certificate, and her parents can't recall the name of the hospital or any other pertinent information about their daughter's birth.

This lack of family connectedness has been an issue, either consciously or subconsciously, all of her life and it has left her one messed up girl. Now Sarah wants to face her past, whatever it may be, by hiring Sunny to find it. Sunny interviews her parents and finds a dad who loves his daughter and a mother who makes it obvious that she doesn't, a situation which is mirrored in her own family. It seems that this will be a case of one "melancholy baby" helping out another. 2004, G. Putnam's Sons, 296 pages.