The BEST episodes of Spenser: For Hire
Every episode of Spenser: For Hire ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Spenser: For Hire!
Spenser: For Hire is a mystery/suspense series based on Robert Parker's "Spenser" novels. Spenser, a private investigator living in Boston, gets involved in a new mystery each episode. Using his years of experience, his natural talents for observation and reasoning, and the occasional bit of help from his friend Hawk, Spenser never fails to crack the case.
#1 - The Hopes and Fears
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/20/1986
With the help of Hawk, a disgusted Spenser is determined to get rid of thugs who are terrorizing his Boston neighborhood.
#2 - Sleepless Dreams
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/8/1987
Spenser becomes obsessed with an apparently suicidal woman after a chance encounter on the street.
#3 - Consilum Abditum
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/15/1987
Susan is in trouble when her claims of sexual harassment lead her college counselor to retaliate by hiring a hit man to keep her quiet. Spenser gets arrested for getting involved in a fight.
#4 - On the Night He Was Betrayed
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/1/1987
Spenser helps an old friend, an alcoholic priest who tries to help homeless teenagers, when he gets involved over his head.
#5 - The Heart of the Matter
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/11/1987
Lt. Quirk faces his mortality when he suffers a heart attack. Spenser and Hawk protect him from revenge-minded villains as he recovers.
#6 - My Enemy, My Friend
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/1987
A streetwise young kid gets involved over his head in the underworld. Spenser and Hawk try to protect him from would-be killers.
#7 - Homecoming
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/1987
A cop who helped send a gangster's son to prison years ago has been hiding, cause the gangster wants to get him. But now he wants to come home, so he and his father, asks Spenser to act as intermediary. While the gangster is unwilling to settle for nothing less than seeing him dead. Spenser tries to see what he can do. At the same time Spenser has to deal with Susan, who came back to town, and would like to see if they have a future, but this case is taking up all of his time.
#8 - Song of Orpheus
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/9/1987
A prison inmate with a grudge against Hawk hires outside muscle to rub him out.
#9 - The Man Who Wasn't There
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/2/1987
Rita and her old college friends are reunited when a fictional person they created 20 years ago is found dead in his apartment.
#10 - If You Knew Sammy
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/4/1987
NRA poster-boy Sammy Backlin breezes into town for a book signing, unwittingly involving Spenser in a shoot out. Spenser agrees to protect Sammy from gangland thugs.
#11 - The Road Back
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/21/1987
Spenser loses all feeling in his right arm after he's shot while guarding a politician.
#12 - My Brother's Keeper
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/14/1987
Spenser becomes embroiled in the seamy Vietnamese organized crime racket after a Vietnamese crime boss uses Spenser to track down a former soldier.
#13 - One for My Daughter
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/7/1987
Spenser and Hawk protect a man who owes money to men of dubious ethics. When their client, Bo Braxton tries to blackmail his creditors, he and his alcoholic teenage daughter go on the run.
#14 - Trial and Error
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/21/1987
A pimp is wrongfully arrested for the murder of one of his girls. Spenser agonizes between pursuing the real murderer or letting the pimp take the rap.
#15 - Mary Hamilton
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/14/1987
A girl comes to Boston looking for her estranged father. Spenser decides to help her.
#16 - Personal Demons
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/7/1987
Spenser and Rita go after a corrupt African.
#17 - Murder and Acquisitions
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/24/1987
Spenser investigates the apparent suicide of a philandering financier about to turn state's evidence to bring down insider trading. Rita has problems of her own when an old boyfriend shows up. Belson hires Spenser to find his missing wallet containing a winning lottery ticket.
#18 - Among Friends
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/10/1987
Hawk is the main suspect when Lt. Quirk is shot, due to a recent fracas between the two. Spenser suspects a new man in town, trying to take Hawk down to make a name for himself.
#19 - Thanksgiving
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/29/1987
Spenser runs into an old friend while visiting a recreation of a Puritan village. Spenser does everything in his power to exonerate said friend when he's accused of a brutal slaying. As he uncovers more and more, Spenser begins to think it might be hard to clear the name of a guilty man.
#20 - Gone Fishin'
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/6/1987
Spenser's fishing trip is interrupted when he has to protect a young man who's not allowed to marry the girl he loves.
#21 - Child's Play
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/20/1987
A sniper takes some shots at Spenser and Susan, and a young boy ends up dead in the crossfire. Spenser sets out to determine why such a tragedy happened and track down the shooter.
#22 - Skeletons in the Closet
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/3/1988
Spenser and Hawk find themselves on opposite sides of the same case. Spenser is hired to retrieve a stolen journal containing information damaging to a judge's career. Hawk is hired by the thief to extort money from the judge.
#23 - The Siege
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/10/1988
Hawk and Susan along with other people are held captive in a post office. Richard Brooks later seen on Law and Order during Season's 1 & 2 plays one of the hostage takers.
#24 - Arthur's Wake
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/16/1988
Spenser protects an old friend, Arthur, after he's assaulted and robbed. In the course of his investigation, Spenser comes across disturbing information connecting Arthur with racketeering.
#25 - To the End of the Line
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/23/1988
When Frank's niece dies of a drug overdose, Spenser and Frank go after the men responsible.