According to a reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Small VicesRobert B. Parker's best novel in years, and the reason is obvious. His study of the way wealth is used to cover up a crime is a perennial subject of social criticism, and his concern with the effect of a young black man's reaction to being raised as a white person (one of the sources of Clint Stapleton's tragedy) is certainly timely. As Parker's novel demonstrates, a black man adopted by a wealthy white couple and raised in a socially privileged environment is not necessarily more moral or a better member of society than a black man from the ghetto who has a record as a habitual offender.

Moreover, Clint Stapleton's role as a killer who benefits from an expensive coverup offers an oblique parallel to the celebrated O. J. Simpson case. If Simpson did indeed...