'Chesterfield Kings' - Jack Little was chain-smoking one of the classic cigarette brands.

People tended to be a bit more clean cut in those days.

'Whatever happened to Johnny Lindell?' - Johnny (1916-1985) played for the Yankees from 1941 to 1950.

Spenser mentioned The Summer Game one book back in God Save the Child. The second is by Roger Angell who wrote for the New Yorker and is a collection of ten years worth of columns. The first was written by Roger Kahn who worked for the New York Herald Tribune and deals with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

'The Boys of Summer, The Summer Game' - Two books about, obviously, baseball.

'Ah, wilderness.' - Hisao Tomihari noted the first appearance of this phrase.

'It was summertime, and the living was easy' - A reference to the song Summertime from the 1935 George and Ira Gershwin musical Porgy and Bess, in collaboration with DuBose Heywood and based on his 1925 novel Porgy.

From Robert Frost's 'Two Tramps in Mud Time' Literary References, or 'The Annotated Gumshoe' įor Heaven and the future's sakes. Then again, Spenser's beatings are pretty nasty, so maybe he just twitches hysterically whenever he hears Spenser's name.

Can we assume Bucky and Lester never troubled Spenser or Marty again? I would imagine Lester would be out for blood after the beating he took at the hands of Spenser.

We also meet Lennie Seltzer, a bookie who hangs out in the Yorktown Tavern all day.

This is probably the last time we see Spenser this, ah, promiscuous, as you'll see in the next novel.

However, we also run into Susan Silverman as well (cf.

The Godwulf Manuscript ), on a few dates with Spenser.

They'll be around as long as there's death and it's in Boston. Belson and Quirk put in an appearance.Patricia is the madam for a high-classed call house in Manhattan, with whom Spenser has later fealings (most notably in Ceremony and Taming a Sea Horse). Here we meet Patricia Utley for the first time.America's Favorite Pastime had suddenly become a very dangerous sport, and one wrong move meant strike three - Spenser's out of the game for good. or for Spenser to find himself trapped in a rundown between a crazed racketeer with a score to settle and a vicious enforcer toting an M 16. It didn't take long to find a link between Marty's performance and Linda's past.

Spenser's job was to find out if Marty was throwing fast balls or throwing games. She loved everything about her life except the blackmailer who was trying to wreck it. Linda loved her husband, her baby, her beautiful home, and the adulation of the fans.

Marty was the Boston Red Sox star pitcher. 'This too is for Joan, Daniel, and David.'

4 Literary References, or 'The Annotated Gumshoe'.

Mortal Stakes by Robert B. Parker