This post is about Tony Parsons and the main reason for posting about him is because his series of five novels and a couple of novellas about DC Max Wolfe are terrific and fit extremely well into what the blog is all about. So, I could just give you a little bit of background and a strong recommendation and send you on your way to start reading them. Alternatively, if you’ve tried them already, I could just ask you to let me know what you thought of them. However, this is Tony Parsons we’re talking about and, while I may think that the Max Wolfe series is the best thing he has ever done, there is so much more to say about him that I really couldn’t just leave it at that. Apart from anything else, it is really what I already knew about Tony Parsons that drew me to Max Wolfe in the first place!
So, if you are someone of my generation with the interests I have, in the mid to late 1970s, you knew about Tony Parsons. That was especially if you were interested in contemporary music and if you were aware of and read the New Musical Express. He wrote about all the big names, especially from the growing punk scene and he wrote the first cover story on the Clash, one of my favourite bands of all time. In addition, though, he, and his then wife Julie Burchill, were all over the media in the newspapers and on TV and radio. He was everywhere with lots of forthright and, in many cases, controversial commentaries and articles about almost everything. However, over the years, he gradually moved back to where he started, as a novelist, having had his first book ‘The Kids’ published in 1976.
I first read one of his books when I picked up ‘Man and Boy’, probably around 2000 and I really enjoyed it and the principal character, the hapless Harry Silver. However, while I think I went on to read a couple more of his books, it was only when the first in the Max Wolfe series ‘The Murder Bag’ came out that I became really hooked and, of course, as I said, this was his first foray into detective fiction. Since then, I have gobbled them up pretty much on publication and they are first class and highly recommended. I used the word ‘hapless’ about Harry Winter a moment ago and it also applies to Max, to an extent, other than that he knows exactly where he is in life and he has been quite well described as a ‘tough man with a soft heart who will stop at nothing to get justice and protect the ones he loves’. I can’t help but believe that, to a large extent, when we are reading about Max Wolfe, we are also reading about Tony Parsons.
As with so many of the principal characters in the books we love, he doesn’t have the easiest domestic life with an estranged wife in a new relationship while he has custody of his young daughter, Scout, with whom he lives along with their dog. Fortunately, he is helped out by an elderly neighbour who takes the pressure of him and his unsocial working hours. The stories are good, although, as with so many of the genre, while well written and compelling, are pretty much forgettable once you move on to the next one. The trick for me is that, while that might be the case with the plots, it is not so with the characters and, of course, that’s why you can’t wait for the next one. Tony Parsons and Max Wolfe are exactly like that and that’s why I’m about to order his most recent novel called ‘Your Neighbour’s Wife’. It’s not a Max Wolfe and I’ve seen it written that it ‘bears comparison with ‘Man and Boy’’ but, because it’s Tony Parsons, I’m going to give it a go and I’ll let you know how I get on. In the meantime, if you haven’t done so already, please try Max Wolfe and, as ever, I would suggest starting with the first one ‘The Murder Bag’. It’s not essential but I think it helps you to get to know the character and work your way through the stories as ‘inside their head and personality’ as possible. Let me know what you think of them or, If you’re already a reader, what’s your verdict on them.
Finally, if you want to hear from the man himself about how he got to where he is just now, have a look at this article in a recent issue of ‘The Independent’. It’s quite a good insight into him.