ROBERT B. PARKER’S BOOKED

5 stars out of 5

Sunny Randall has been around the block more than a few times – this is the 13^th in the series (the third, I believe, by this author) – and I’ve read most of them. For sure this one is on my list of favorites.The plot involves books and murder, so for an avid reader of murder mysteries like me, what’s not to like?

Sunny, a private detective based in Boston, has a lot on her plate right now. For openers, she’s re-engaged to be re-married to her ex, Richie Burke, the son of long-time and mostly likable mobster Dominick Burke. Richie lives and works in New Jersey, though, not that far from Boston but far from Sunny’s favorite place to be. So, she’s dragging her feet a bit on planning wedding details. She’s also a long-time friend of wildly popular author Melanie Joan Hall, who has a new book coming out in a few months (her memoir, a bit off her usual genre).

Problem is, a top online book reviewer/influencer who’s identity remains secret just gave Melanie’s book one star (out of a high of 5), and Melanie is devastated. In a drunken state after she saw it, she fired off a truly nasty response – which, along with the lousy review, went viral. Distraught over her fans turning on her and worried that her publisher will dump her, Melanie wants to set things straight. So, she contacts her friend Sunny with a plea for help; find out who the reviewer, code name Book Babe, really is so she can deliver an in-person apology.

With help from her competent assistant Blake James and best friend Spike, Sunny manages to uncover Book Babe’s identity – and in the process learns there’s more to her relationship with Melanie than Melanie revealed. No surprise, then, when Book Babe turns up dead, Melanie turns into a prime suspect.

Now, Sunny has an even bigger task at hand: finding evidence that proves Melanie didn’t do more than just kindle a grudge against the reviewer. The situation becomes so tense that Sunny is forced to hire hot-shot attorney Rita Fiore, who coincidentally is currently dating former Sunny love interest Jesse Stone, the Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief who happens to have a book series all his own.

For the rest of the details, how the investigation works its way to the truth and how it all ends, you’ll have to read it for yourself – I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else. It’s well worth the effort, IMHO, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to get in on the action by way of a pre-release copy.

Robert B. Parker’s Booked by Alison Gaylin (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, May 2026); 320 pp.