Synopsis: 'Boston P.I. Sunny Randall joins forces with the most important man in her life—her father—to crack a thirty-year-old case.

"Hi Phil,
You miss me? I got bored, so I thought I'd re-establish our relationship. Give us both something to do in our later years. Stay tuned.
Spare Change"

When a serial murderer dubbed "The Spare Change Killer" by the Boston press surfaces after three decades in hiding, the police immediately seek out the cop, now retired, who headed the original task force: Phil Randall. As a sharp-eyed investigator and a doting parent ("You're smart. You're tough. You, too, are a paradigm of law enforcement perfection, and you're my kid"), Phil calls on his daughter, Sunny, to help trap the criminal who eluded him so many years before.
Sunny is certain that she's found her man after interviewing just a handful of suspects. Though she has no evidence against Bob Johnson, she trusts her intuition. And she knows the power she has over him—she can feel the skittishness and sexual tension that he radiates when he's around her—but persuading her father and the rest of the task force is a different story.
When the killer strikes a second and third time, the murders take a macabre turn, as the victims each eerily resemble Sunny. While her father pressures her to drop the case, Sunny's need to create a trap to catch her killer grows.
In a compelling game of cat-and-mouse, Sunny uses all her skills to draw out her prey, realizing too late that she's setting herself up to become the next victim.' From the author's website.

Review:

First edition as new

Sunny Randall is another of Robert B. Parker's other protagonists whose adventures touch on Spenser's orbit. Spenser is Parker's primary protagonist with most of Parker's books concerning him. In Spare Change Sunny teams up with her father, retired Boston Police Captain Phil Randall. The Spare Change Killer, a serial killer, has resumed his random street murders after a 20 year silence. Sunny's father is called out of retirement to stop the rampage. Captain Randall was in charge of the original investigation twenty years back. Sunny wants to put herself out as bait to catch the Spare Change killer. Will it work? Can she do it without ending up as a victim herself? ( )

This was my first book by Robert B. Parker and I enjoyed it for the most part. I made my father read it with me because it was definitely as if my father and I were Phil and Sunny Randall. They bantered like we do, sass like we do, and discuss life as we do. It felt sometimes as if Robert Parker was spying on us. I enjoyed the story and most of the characters. The mystery was good, but Sunny did spend a lot of time "knowing it all" (I'm not that bad. My dad might disagree though). My main complaint was all the "I said" then "Dad said" then "I said" then "Dad said" in the book. It made the writing very choppy. A thesaurus might have helped with that a little. But the plot and main characters sold me on the series. Dad and I will definitely read another one. ( )

I think this is the last Sunny Randall. It's pretty standard serial killer stuff where the killer kind of gives himself away and then they just have to sneak around trying to catch him. Sunny's therapy sessions with Dr. Silverman feel a little on the nose for my taste, and her mother's revolting racism made me uncomfortable. Still, fun enough for an afternoon's distraction. ( )