Free Republic

‘Spenser’ novelist Robert Parker dies at age 77 Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - Updated 60m ago Robert B. Parker, the blunt and beloved crime novelist who helped revive and modernize the hard-boiled genre and branded a tough guy of his own through his "Spenser" series, has died. He was 77. An ambulance was sent to Parker’s home in Cambridge on Monday morning for reports of a sudden death, said Alexa Manocchio, spokeswoman for the Cambridge police department.

BOSTON — Robert B. Parker, the blunt and beloved crime novelist who helped revive the hard-boiled genre and branded a tough guy of his own through his "Spenser" series, has died. He was 77. An ambulance was sent to Parker’s home in Cambridge on Monday morning for reports of a sudden death, said Alexa Manocchio, spokeswoman for the Cambridge police department. The death was of natural causes and was not considered suspicious, Manocchio said.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton remains in a strong position in her bid for re-election this year with almost six in 10 New York voters saying they will vote for the former first lady, a statewide poll reported Monday. The poll from Siena College's Research Institute found Clinton leading the current front-runner for the Republican nomination, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, 58 percent to 31 percent. A November poll from Siena had Clinton leading Spencer 59 percent to 27 percent. [snip] The poll demonstrated that Spencer's big hurdle initially is simply getting himself known statewide. Almost 80 percent of voters surveyed...