Spenser: For Hire

Robert B. Parker’s first Spenser book was The Godwulf Manuscript, published in 1973. Most stories in the Spenser book series occur in Massachusetts (and mostly in Boston). Twelve years later, the Spenser characters made their way to television in the form of Spenser: For Hire, starring Robert Urich as Spenser, Barbara Stock as Susan, Avery Brooks as Hawk, Ron McLarty as Frank Belson, and Richard Jaeckel as Lt. Martin Quirk. All characters that appeared in the Spenser books (and as of 2006, still appear in the Spenser books). The Spenser series lasted three seasons on ABC between 1985-1988, before reappearing as a series of movies in the 1990s.

A spin-off series was launched at the end of the Spenser run and lasted just thirteen episodes in 1989. That spin-off series followed Spenser’s friend Hawk to Washington, D.C., and was called A Man Called Hawk