1/16/1973 Spenser swaggers in

January 16, 1973.  This day saw the publication of Robert B. Parker's first novel, The Godwulf Manuscript.  It introduced Boston private eye Spenser.  Kirkus Reviews compared the new guy to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe and sniffed "there's some of the toughness and the terseness but the hat's much too big for him and it hasn't got the right slouch."

Yet somehow, Spenser has survived.