Bruce Zimmerman

I just finished the first two Quinn Parker books by Bruce Zimmerman, and I loved them. They're now on my wish list to own. I had been looking for a worthy successor to my beloved Travis McGee, and I just may have found one in Zimmerman's Quinn Parker.

Quinn Parker is a more down-to-earth and believable Travis McGee, and if his adventures are a little less hair-raising than that boat bum's, they are also a little more realistic. Like McGee, Quinn Parker has feelings, and is both intelligent and reflective -- but, thank goodness, without that self-conscious streak of darkness that ruins most major characters for me. There's none of this "I'm so tormented because of my dark, unspeakable past" garbage about Quinn. He's an ordinary guy with a wonderful set of friends -- who seem like very real people to me -- folks without the deliberate and so-artificial quirkiness that some other authors infuse into their supporting casts. That already puts them one up on Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series. Parker's friends seem like people I'd like to meet, who I'd enjoy hanging out with; folks who live in the same world I do -- the world of kids, and diapers, and mortgage payments, and leaky roofs.

It certainly doesn't hurt that Zimmerman is a master wordsmith. The man can write - fluently, articulately, and easily. His words just flow -- there are no strained metaphors, no awkward figures of speech, no overuse of hackneyed cliches.

I also love that Parker does not tackle world-ending problems -- there are no bioterrorist plots with super agents battling the forces of darkness with paper clips and rubber bands. No rabbits pulled out of hats, either. When Quinn or his friends get beaten up, it actually takes them days or weeks to recover. I love that.

This book, the second in the series, involves an awesome piece of luck for Quinn's struggling friends Hank and Carol. An acquaintance has died and left a gorgeous piece of ocean-front property to them. But when Hank and Quinn fly to Jamaica to sign the legal papers, it becomes apparent that this windfall may be more of an albatross than a lucky charm. A cast of truly interesting characters adds to the intrigue.

Zimmerman's plots are not labyrinthine, and the experienced mystery reader may see the solution well before the end of the book. But as so many philosophers tell us, it's not the destination, but the journey that counts. And I find Zimmerman's books a most enjoyable journey indeed.… (altro)

A fellow LTer recommended this series, and now I have another favorite author to add to my list. This is the first book in Bruce Zimmerman's series about Quinn Parker, who is, in his own words, a "former three-piece-suiter" who came into a bit of money and took early retirement. Now he works as a phobia counselor, and in between stints of helping people confront and conquer their deepest fears, he lends a helping hand to friends in trouble. In this book, Parker finds a former lover and good friend dead in horrific circumstances, and has to convince the police that he didn't kill her. There's much more to the story, of course, but half the joy of the book is in watching Parker puzzle out the various clues.

If this all sounds a bit like the late John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, you're right. But Parker is more down-to-earth than McGee, less bloodthirsty, perhaps, and certainly less hedonistic. Parker seems more like the in-shape guy who works in the next cubicle, who likes a ball game or three, goes out drinking with his buddies, and just happens to get drawn into some difficult situations when he tries to help out a friend.

That's what makes him so darned likable. Quinn Parker is no superhero -- no iron man with thews of steel. When Parker is beaten up, he stays down, and it actually takes him the normal number of days to recover. His friends are no world-beaters either -- just ordinary, pleasant people with lives as regular as lives get in the San Francisco Bay area. People I wish I knew and could hang out with.

And Zimmerman is a master wordsmith. There are no awkward metaphors, no ridiculously strained figures of speech. His prose flows as naturally as his dialogue -- and every character speaks with her or his own voice. His plots are engaging, but without the end-of-the-world scenarios that so many authors feel it necessary to include in their books these days. Mind you, Zimmerman's plots are not in any way "cozy mysteries" involving pots of tea, and cats, and a body or two in the library. There's a realistic amount of blood and death in these books, but Zimmerman avoids both the excesses of true noir and the banality of most domestic mysteries.

Best of all, for me as a female reader, is that not every woman in these books is a drop-dead gorgeous, sensuous beauty. The women are just as real as the men -- and in today's crime fiction, that's a great compliment.

There's sex and violence in these books, but neither are very graphic -- Zimmerman doesn't dwell with gruesome relish on every drop of blood and every fleshy move. In this, the resemblance to the McGee series is quite noticeable, in that acknowledgment is given to the fact that we're all adults here, and adults engage in physical relationships, but as adults, we don't need to dwell on every pornographic detail.

And I guess that's what I like so much about these books -- they're adult books in that the author assumes that his readers are mature enough to fill in some of the blanks for themselves. Very highly recommended.… (altro)

Quinn Parker is a good friend. He flies to Jamaica to help his buddy with his fear of flying. His buddy has inherited a multi-million dollar estate there. Problem is, the owner was brutally murdered. Things just go from bad to worse as Quinn tries to figure out the tangle involved with his friend's new inheritance.

This was enjoyable. Quinn is an interesting man and he has some great friends. People I would like to know. The fact that it takes place in San Francisco is a big plus for me, I love descriptions of that city. The mystery was a good one, though I'm not sure but what the villain fizzled a little at the end. There was more sexual activity than I'm comfortable with, but not to the point of detailed description. Also some language issues, but not to excess.… (altro)