Robert Parker's estate OKs new Spenser novels
By Associated Press
Apr 27, 2011 12:59 PM CDT
FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2006 file photo, author Robert Parker poses in his office in Cambridge, Mass. The author of the popular Spenser private eye books about a hard-nosed Boston private investigator, died Jan. 18, 2010, but his most popular series will live on. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki, File)   (Associated Press)

Crime novelist Robert B. Parker is gone, but his most popular series will continue.

Parker's estate and publisher G.P. Putnam's Sons announced Wednesday that new "Spenser" and "Jesse Stone" novels will be written. Michael Brandman, a longtime friend of Parker's, will handle the "Jesse Stone" books. Ace Atkins will take on Spenser. Parker's widow, Joan Parker, says in a statement that she's "delighted" the author's characters will "live on."

Parker died last year at age 77. "Sixhill," a Spenser novel completed before his death, comes out next month.