Ceremony (1982)

Ceremony is the ninth Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, first published in March 1982. It is the first of three Spenser novels involving the character April Kyle, who returns in Taming a Sea-Horse and Hundred-Dollar Baby. Kyle is a 16-year-old girl who has run away from home and, apparently, turned to prostitution.

Plot

The book opens with Spenser and Susan Silverman talking with the Kyles about their missing daughter, April. Mr. Kyle (a prosperous insurance salesman) apparently saw her in the act of seducing a John, a man about his age. He's livid at the thought of his daughter working as a prostitute and voices his opinion loudly. Spenser is clearly not interested in working for Mr. Kyle at any price, but the pleadings of Susan Silverman and Mrs. Kyle persuade Spenser to take the job (which he does for the nominal fee of one dollar).

Spenser talks to a Smithfield, Mass. cop (a friend of Susan’s named Cataldo) and gets a lead that some of April's old crowd might know something. Spenser literally strongarms a kid named Carl Hummel to find out where they think she might be: with a friend in Boston, Amy Gurwitz, who left town a few months before April did.

Spenser goes to see Amy. She is living in a three-story home with a middle-aged man named Mitchell Poitras and tries to look the part of a sophisticated well-to-do woman even though she is no more than sixteen. He gets no information from her, but is convinced she knows something about April. (It turns out that Mitchell Poitras is a high-ranking figure in the Massachusetts school system and deals with a lot of troubled youths. He is using his position to funnel troubled girls into prostitution).

Next Spenser heads to a part of Boston called the Combat Zone (Boston's red-light district). He asks a hooker about April and shows a photo he has of her. Her pimp, a strong-looking man who goes by the name "Trumps," tries to stop Spenser. Spenser takes Trumps's sap away from him and roughs him up with it. Once Trumps steps away, he learns April has been working for a pimp named "Red." The hooker warns Spenser to watch his back after roughing up Trumps because he hold grudges and that she will be beaten for what happened. Spenser offers to take her away and she laughs at him.

Spenser enlists the help of Hawk and heads back to the Combat Zone to find Red. They find him in a strip bar, but Trumps and two thugs confront Spenser before he can question Red. Hawk arrives and takes out the two thugs by slamming their heads together. Once he informs Trumps that he has Spenser's back, Trumps backs off and leaves. Red refuses to answer questions, but after Hawk chops him across the throat, Red discloses April's last known address.

Spenser and Hawk proceed to the address and find it in a filthy building with a hooker as a neighbor. April's room is dirty and small and empty except for a photo on the wall of her parents' home.

Spenser decides to watch the house that Amy and Mitchell Poitras are living in. After they leave the house, Spenser breaks into their house shortly before Thanksgiving. While there, he finds a set of spare keys and has them copied at Sears. On the third floor, he finds a kiddie porn photo and movie studio and a huge stash of pornographic photos and films. He leaves the house leaving behind no evidence of his visit.

Hawk finds out that Red works for Tony Marcus, a black crime boss. Under the pretense of hiring Trumps's hooker, the one that warned him earlier, Spenser questions her and finds out that April has been transferred to the "Sheep Ranch" (a brothel that specializes in kinky acts) in Providence, Rhode Island.

Undercover in a garish red outfit, Spenser finds the Sheep Ranch with the help of a local cabby and busts April out of there going through the madam and bouncer to do it. On the road with April, Spenser discovers that she was moved there right after he talked to Amy. He tells April he won't force her to go back to her parents if she doesn't want to. Claiming to need an emergency bathroom break on the side of the road, April gets out of the car and disappears into the woods.

Susan had befriended a neighborhood dog, a black Labrador Retriever. Someone broke into her house, shot the dog, and left it in the kitchen. Spenser gets Officer Cataldo to watch over Susan while he takes care of it.

Spenser and Hawk visit Tony Marcus's office. Soon, Spenser beats Marcus up and threatens to kill him if anything happens to Susan. He also works a deal where they can take April and bust Mitchell for child porn. Marcus begrudgingly agrees as long as his name is kept out of it. Then he punches Spenser in the jaw at the end of their meeting and Spenser lets him go. Hawk, who occasionally works freelance for Marcus, assures Spenser that Marcus's word is good.

With Susan and Hawk, Spenser visits Mitchell's house on a Friday night. After they peek into the windows, it is apparent there is a big party with numerous guests. They let themselves in the locked front door using Spenser's duplicate spare keys. They are confronted by a big bodyguard, but Hawk knocks him out and dumps him behind the shrubs by the front porch.

Upon entering the living room, they see that they have happened upon not just any old party, but a full-fledged orgy. Most of the men are middle-aged or older and all the girls are very young, most obviously younger than eighteen. After wandering through the throng of dancing and groping guests, they fail to find Amy, April, or Mitchell. A recon of the second floor finds many couples engaged in sex, but not the party hosts.