When a beloved and prolific author the caliber of Robert B. Parker passes away, as he did in 2010, he leaves behind a hole that seemingly cannot be filled, and all the timeless characters he created are left in limbo. That is, until other great writers like Reed Farrel Coleman, Christopher Farnsworth and Mike Lupica pick up the mantle and keep things moving forward.

Another author who has stepped in to fill the void is Alison Gaylin. Her latest release, ROBERT B. PARKER'S BOOKED, is not only a worthy entry in the Sunny Randall series, it is also a deep dive into the modern publishing industry and offers a rare peek behind the curtain of how bestselling authors and novels are created and dismantled with equal ease.

"All the characters here are dynamic and fully fleshed out. Gaylin works gracefully to make ROBERT B. PARKER’S BOOKED an engaging and clever mystery from start to finish."

Sunny’s day takes a turn when she receives a phone call from a longtime friend, bestselling author Melanie Joan Hall, who insists that her life is over. Melanie is about to release her long-awaited memoir, Stronger Alone, but says its publication is now at serious risk due to the online shaming it receives from an anonymous book reviewer with the screen name Book Babe who posts reviews on a site called ReadAnon.

The scathing review prompts Melanie to resort to an immediate drinking binge. In the middle of it, she chooses to respond in a highly unprofessional manner to who she deems to be a troll seeking to ruin her career. Regrettably, many people see these posts before she can take them down. The onslaught of anti-Melanie sentiment is blowing up the internet, essentially canceling her.

Once Melanie’s longtime publisher, Scepter, decides not to move forward with her memoir and eventually terminates her long-term contract, she turns to Sunny to help expose Book Babe and stop her downward spiral. It is believed that Book Babe is most likely a woman as older posts discuss her pregnancy. This narrows it down somewhat as Sunny continues to push Melanie to think of anyone she may have wronged who would have reason to come after her in such a public way.

With the help of her assistant, Blake James, and her best friend, Spike, Sunny figures out Book Babe's identity. However, before she can be officially outed, Book Babe is found murdered. Now, a full-on homicide investigation is taking place with Melanie at the center of it as the publicly decried suspect.

Watching Sunny Randall operate is always a thing of beauty. All the characters here are dynamic and fully fleshed out. Gaylin works gracefully to make ROBERT B. PARKER’S BOOKED an engaging and clever mystery from start to finish.