Spenser --- I just love the way he uses words!

Robert B. Parker has created a fascinating persona for his private detective, Spenser. Nobody knows, by the way, what his first name is because everyone, including Susan, calls him Spenser!

But although he is clearly a tough character—ex-cop, ex-professional boxer, all round tough guy—he is also highly educated and intellectual. Susan is a PhD, and he is intellectually her equal. He often quotes Shakespeare's plays and other classics, and always in a way that fits the situation, so it never feels forced.

But it's the way he expresses just simple ideas that makes me chuckle. Here are a couple of quotes from "Bad Business".

Talking about a new female client: "She shifted a little in the chair. she was wearing yellow sling-back heels and no stockings. Her legs were tan. It was May. I suspected artifice."

After a stiff workout in the gym: "At four in the afternoon, sound of muscle and pure of mind, with a tall can of Budweiser to replenish my electrolytes, I drove back to Kinergy and waited for Rowley to come out."

And one more, in a conversation with his friend Healy, the policy officer: "I gave him my big charming smile. 'Better late than never', I said. 'Yeah,' Healy said, 'sure.' My big charming smile generally worked better with women."

It's not laugh-out-loud funny, but it makes me chuckle, and it makes the Spenser books even more fun to read.

What do you think?