Chasing the Bear

Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel is a 2009 novel by Robert B. Parker. Though set in present day, it is a prequel to Parker's venerable Spenser series of novels. Unlike the rest of the Spenser series, Chasing the Bear is a young adult novel and not strictly detective fiction. Being a recollection of his childhood, this novel doesn't necessarily fall in the same timeline as the other Spenser novels. Though, from his relationship with Susan, it can be assumed to happen about in the order of its publication, between Rough Weather and The Professional.