Robert Parker's Hard-Boiled Stories

"The slug they dug out of him was a .22. A woman's gun?" asks the hard-boiled private eye. "Or was I being a sexist oinker?"

And in one line, we are in the world of crime novelist Robert Parker and his almost New Age tough-guy detective, Spenser.

After thirty-four volumes in Parker's long-running series, Spenser is still for hire, with his shrink girlfriend Susan, and his hit-man pal, Hawk. This time out, there are soccer mom hookers, and trouble in a fancy cat-house — and Spenser's got some responsibility.

This hour, On Point: author Robert Parker talks about his latest book, "Hundred Dollar Baby," and the crime novel in an age when everybody's acting tough.Guest:

Robert B. Parker, author of "Hundred Dollar Baby" and more than 50 other books.