The Godwulf Manuscript

I got into the Spenser series in the 80's - probably the prime time for Parker. He had figured out his (Spenser's) voice, but he wasn't just on auto-pilot (like he was in the later books). This is the first in the series, and it shows. The narrative tries a little too hard to by updated Marlowe, and Spenser is sketched out rather than fully formed. Not a great book but a decent starting point.