Sunny Randall, former Boston cop turned private detective, has always been my least favorite of Robert B. Parker's series characters. It's not that she's a woman, it's that I've never found Parker's major female characters remotely convincing *as* women. Interesting, yes. Fun to read about, yes. Believable? Not even close. Parker writing a novel series *as* a woman (Sunny's adventures are told in the first person) is not a pretty sight.

Spenser, as fans of his adventures have long since realized, has no significant flaws. Jesse Stone has a couple: he's a recovering alcoholic, and he can't let go of his serially unfaithful ex-wife, Jen (why is anybody's guess . . . the woman is a walking, talking train wreck). Sunny has enough flaws for any two lead characters--maybe even three. Her mother is a full-blown alcoholic, her sister is a nitwit on the verge of marrying a pretentious jerk, her closest female friend is a basket case who makes Jesse Stone's ex look well-adjusted, and she can't let go of her divorced-and-remarried former husband, Richie. The most stable relationships in Sunny's life are (in no particular order) her gay best friend Spike, her dog Rosie, and her ex-husband's Uncle Felix . . . an amiable old guy even if he *is* a mob boss. One of the recurring problems with the "Sunny Randall" series is that her personal life keeps threatening to overwhelm her professional life, and the psychology keeps threatening to swamp the detection. Both happen here, with a vengeance.

The plot, on paper at least, is promising. Twenty years ago, a serial killer was terrorizing Boston, shooting his victims in public places and leaving a handful of small coins on their corpses. Sunny's father, a Boston cop, was the head of the task force that searched for him without result. Now, after a two-decade hiatus, the killings have begun again and Sunny's now-retired dad has been called on to consult. He asks her to help, and she (adoring him and eager for his approval) agrees.

In practice, it's all less interesting than it sounds. Solving the actual crimes takes roughly half the book, and feels like its stretched at that. Sunny does very little actual detecting, but she doesn't *need* to do much. The prime suspect practically marches into the story labelled SERIAL KILLER. What detection there is in the story is parcelled out in small doses tucked between long bouts of psychological analysis. Sunny analyzes her relationship with Richie. Sunny analyzes her relationship with Julie. Sunny analyzes her relationship with the suspect. Sunny analyzes her relationship with her father (but seems curiously oblivious to the rest of her family even when she's in the same room with them). Periodically, she discusses all this with her shrink, one Dr. Silverman, and (because the good doctor speaks to her patients like she was being charged by the word) this mostly involves Sunny talking some more. Worst of all, in the last chapter, we get to hear the killer Explain It All (just in case we haven't been paying attention). Feh.

There are, of course, some bright spots amid the torrent of talk and the dearth of detection:

The repertory company of cops that Parker had developed over the years turns out in force for this one, and are used to good advantage. It's especially nice to see Captain Quirk have more than a walk-on role. Richie is as blank as usual, but his relationship with Sunny takes an interesting turn and is actually engrossing for once. There are also a couple of nicely done scenes of escalating tension leading to violence, one relevant to the story and one not. They show that Parker hasn't lost his touch, but they leave you wishing he'd do it a bit more often. They also (weirdly) account for much of the story's humor (something else that I found myself wishing for more of).

Parker is nothing if not a capable craftsman, and on a line-by-line level the book reads well. It'll divert you for the day or two it'll take you to read it, and especially if you get it out of the library you'll still respect yourself in the morning. Parker has done better in this series, however, and *far* better in other series.