Spenser: For Hire

Mystery and suspense series based on Robert Parker's "Spenser" novels. Spenser, a private investigator living in Boston, gets involved in a new murder mystery each episode.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Cast:Robert Urich , Avery Brooks , Ron McLarty , Richard Jaeckel , Barbara Stock , Carolyn McCormick , William H. Macy , David O'Brien , Tom Urich , Charles Kimbrough , Sal Viscuso , Barbara Garrick , Gerry Bamman , Paul Sparer , John Seitz , Ron Frazier , Neill Barry , Hansford Rowe

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Promised Land/Pilot

Fri, Sep 20, 1985

Spenser is hired by a real estate developer with gambling problems to track down his wife, who's run away. When it becomes obvious that the wife has gotten herself in over her head with some crusading acquaintances, he tries to reconcile the estranged couple and get them both out of the trouble they are in.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ No Room at the Inn

Fri, Sep 27, 1985

Spenser's apartment burns down, but he's allowed to move into an old fire station as thanks for saving a firefighter's life. Meanwhile, Spenser and Hawk are hired to protect the life of grand jury witness. When it starts to look like someone on the inside might be trying to have the witness killed, and that the witness may not be who she says she is, things get convoluted.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ The Choice

Fri, Oct 4, 1985

A old man whom Spenser and Hawk knows is shot. They discover that the killer are a couple who comes from an affluent background, which they hide behind. It turns into a cat and mouse game for Spenser and Hawk, who are determined to take them down.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Children of a Tempest Storm

Fri, Oct 11, 1985

Spenser kills a would-be thief in the course of thwarting a robbery. He and Susan take in the man's two children while investigating his past. Susan discovers she's pregnant.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ Original Sin

Fri, Oct 18, 1985

Spenser investigates the apparent suicide of a young nun, and stumbles onto a corrupt landlord.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ Discord in a Minor

Fri, Oct 25, 1985

Spenser's been hired by a conductor to find his daughter who ran away with her boyfriend. When he finds them, she tells him that her father has been molesting her. Spenser then tells her father what she said which he denies. After Spenser leaves, he calls Hawk, who once did a job for him, to do something for him.

7Season 1

S1.E7 ∙ The Killer Within

Tue, Nov 12, 1985

Spenser is hired to protect a woman's identical twin sister from assassins, only to discover his employer suffers from a split personality.

8Season 1

S1.E8 ∙ Autumn Thieves

Tue, Nov 19, 1985

Spenser stumbles onto a ring of thieves while investigating a relic stolen from a museum.

9Season 1

S1.E9 ∙ Blood Money

Tue, Nov 26, 1985

The wife of a kidnapped oil tycoon hires Spenser to deliver $1 million in ransom money to a ring of terrorists while police have the drop-off area surrounded.

10Season 1

S1.E10 ∙ Resurrection

Tue, Dec 3, 1985

Spenser investigates a crooked vice cop involved in the mugging of one of Susan's friends.

11Season 1

S1.E11 ∙ Internal Affairs

Tue, Dec 17, 1985

Marital infidelity and suspected involvement in a gambling ring lead to Lt. Quirk's suspension. Belson is shot during a raid. Spenser works to clear Quirk's name and catch Belson's would-be killer.

12Season 1

S1.E12 ∙ Death by Design

Tue, Jan 7, 1986

Spenser walks into a death trap when a beautiful university scientist who makes so-called 'designer drugs' hires him to track down her gigolo boyfriend and recover $50,000.

13Season 1

S1.E13 ∙ A Day's Wages

Tue, Jan 14, 1986

A young ex-con named Louis Harper steals from his boss, John Brady. Brady hires Spenser to prove it and Harper hires Hawk to protect him from leg-breakers. Spenser and Hawk team up to solve Louis' murder.

14Season 1

S1.E14 ∙ A Madness Most Discreet

Tue, Jan 21, 1986

Spenser tries to protect a former Russian ballerina, when she hires him to help her find stolen papers, but he gets more than he bargained for once he discovers that she is a person of interest to dueling government agents employed by American and Russian forces.

15Season 1

S1.E15 ∙ Brother to Dragons

Tue, Feb 4, 1986

Spenser is going skiing with Susan, but when he picks her up at Smithfield High School where she works, he finds out one of her students died of a heroin overdose. Spenser gets hired by the superintendent and goes undercover as a teacher at her school to find out where the drugs are coming from. He obviously gets into it with the dealers.

16Season 1

S1.E16 ∙ When Silence Speaks

Tue, Feb 11, 1986

A deaf woman hires Spenser to find a man she had been corresponding with who had gone missing. As Spenser investigates, he realizes that the missing man is somehow involved with a gang of thieves who are trying to kill Spenser in revenge for busting up their diamond heist.

17Season 1

S1.E17 ∙ In a Safe Place

Fri, Feb 14, 1986

Spenser searches for the father of an undocumented boy killed by an unhinged unemployed man. The trail leads Spenser into a conspiracy involving the exploitation of undocumented workers on the waterfront.

18Season 1

S1.E18 ∙ Angel of Desolation

Tue, Mar 4, 1986

Spenser is hired by the fashion model wife of a rich bank owner who says her life is in danger. After multiple attempted murders and one successful murder, Spenser realizes that the wife is not the target. When the wife's past comes to light, the investigation takes a whole new direction.

19Season 1

S1.E19 ∙ She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

Tue, Mar 11, 1986

Detective Belson's ex-partner is murdered during his daughter's wedding reception. The dead cop is suspected of being involved in criminal activities, so Lt. Quirk asks Spenser to investigate the dead man and find out if Belson is dirty too.

20Season 1

S1.E20 ∙ At the River's Edge

Tue, Mar 25, 1986

Spenser witnesses an ex convict murder a 19 year girl then kill himself. The girl's wealthy younger sister hires Spenser to find out why her sister was killed. Clues lead Spenser to a crusading preacher that had a secret relationship with the 19 year old.

21Season 1

S1.E21 ∙ Rage

Tue, Apr 1, 1986

When Spenser is trying to locate a runaway. The girl meets a psychotic man but Spenser saves her but the man escapes. He then wants to get back at Spenser and he starts by holding Susan hostage.

22Season 1

S1.E22 ∙ Hell Hath No Fury

Tue, Apr 8, 1986

Partnering with an attractive TV news reporter, Spenser investigates the reason a newly constructed building collapsed killing a boy. He suspects the building company after data samples show suspect concrete core strength results.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Widow's Walk

Sat, Oct 4, 1986

Spenser needing to get over Susan's departure takes a job that takes him out of town. A woman whose husband's a fisherman who died recently, needs his help because another family who wants to shut them is causing them problems. And her young son just wants to get back at them.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ An Eye for an Eye

Sat, Sep 27, 1986

Spenser has just relocated and out of no where, former clients are accusing of trying to shake them down. Spenser is oblivious to what they are talking about. Later a D.A. is threatening to take action against him.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ Rockabye Baby

Sat, Oct 25, 1986

Spenser tries to protect a pregnant girl who is carrying the son of a mobster who wants a son. But it seems that someone doesn't want her to give birth to the child.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ White Knight

Sat, Oct 18, 1986

When Hawk goes to check on the boxer he owns, he is arrested. So Spenser goes there to try and figure out what is going on. They discover that it might have something to do with a man who is running for public office whom Hawk met a few years ago.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ And Give Up Show Biz?

Sat, Nov 1, 1986

A young man is found floating in the water. When he wakes up, he claims to have no memory of who he is. Spenser tries to help him. Later, he becomes the prime suspect in a murder. But he claims he can't be a killer.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ The Long Hunt

Sat, Nov 8, 1986

Spenser travels to Maine to help hunt down an escaped murderer, but the tables are turned when the man's father stalks Spenser.

7Season 2

S2.E7 ∙ Home Is the Hero

Sat, Nov 22, 1986

Rita asks Spenser to help a youth she's coaching at a youth center. Spenser discovers that the boy is working for a Fagin like criminal.

8Season 2

S2.E8 ∙ One If by Land, Two If by Sea

Sat, Nov 29, 1986

Spenser must solve the murder of a good friend, Joe Kelly. He is killed riding as Paul Revere in an annual celebration. There is more to Joe than Spenser knows.

9Season 2

S2.E9 ∙ Shadowsight

Sat, Dec 13, 1986

Spenser tries to find the connection between a 12-year-old's nightmares and the real-life murders they foretell.

10Season 2

S2.E10 ∙ The Hopes and Fears

Sat, Dec 20, 1986

A 13-year-old boy and a pregnant woman glimpse the face of the leader of a masked gang robbing Spenser's neighborhood at Christmastime.

11Season 2

S2.E11 ∙ Among Friends

Sat, Jan 10, 1987

Hawk is framed for the attempted murder of Marty Quirk. There is a new gun in town named Tyrone Blackwell. Name looks good on a tombstone.

12Season 2

S2.E12 ∙ I Confess

Sat, Jan 17, 1987

A man who witnessed the murder of a bank officer is now confessing to the crime.

13Season 2

S2.E13 ∙ Murder and Acquisitions

Sat, Jan 24, 1987

A man under investigation for insider trading on the stock market is killed before he can turn state's evidence.

14Season 2

S2.E14 ∙ Personal Demons

Sat, Feb 7, 1987

A woman involved in the fight against hunger in Africa hires Spenser to prove that an administrator is stealing millions in contributions.

15Season 2

S2.E15 ∙ Mary Hamilton

Sat, Feb 14, 1987

Spenser helps a young woman search for her father, but has to convince Rita and the police that she is innocent of two attempts on her father's life.

16Season 2

S2.E16 ∙ Trial and Error

Sat, Feb 21, 1987

Rita has a solid case against a pimp suspected of murdering a teen-age hooker, but Spenser thinks the man is being framed.

17Season 2

S2.E17 ∙ One for My Daughter

Sat, Mar 7, 1987

A video director with gambling debts has passed on a drinking problem to his 16-year-old daughter.

18Season 2

S2.E18 ∙ My Brother's Keeper

Sat, Mar 14, 1987

Spenser searches for the murderer of a war hero whose forthcoming book promised an expose of a Vietnamese crime boss.

19Season 2

S2.E19 ∙ The Road Back

Sat, Mar 21, 1987

When Spenser is protecting someone, he gets shot. He then learns that there a chance that he might lose the use of his injured arm. So he has therapy while waiting for the surgery that could fix it. And at the same time, the man he was protecting, not wanting to let anyone else get hurt is willing to give to the people who were trying to kill him.

20Season 2

S2.E20 ∙ If You Knew Sammy

Sat, Apr 4, 1987

A vigilante named Sammy writes a book and angers the Boston mob. Turns out the Feds, the mob and Hawk all want Sammy dead for different reasons. William H Macy makes an early cameo and Spenser must tie all the loose ends together.

21Season 2

S2.E21 ∙ The Man Who Wasn't There

Sat, May 2, 1987

Rita wants Spenser to find out about a man killed in a fire a man she and four classmates fabricated in their college's computer.

22Season 2

S2.E22 ∙ The Song of Orpheus

Sat, May 9, 1987

Hawk is ambushed and dumped in the harbor. Rita is on a hot case with a mysterious hidden source and one mob boss is pulling all the stings. Will Spenser unravel this before he is killed too.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Homecoming

Sun, Sep 27, 1987

Spenser is hired to protect ex-undercover cop, Nick Cavanaugh. As Judge Emmett Cavanaugh tries to make a deal with Crime Boss Gus Harley to safeguard his son and get Cavanaugh's son, Kevin, released from prison, Cavanaugh's other son, Georgie, tries to work his own angle. Along the way, Spenser's ex-girlfriend, Susan, returns from San Francisco. Double dealing and family intrigue lead to a terminal shootout.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ My Enemy, My Friend

Sun, Oct 4, 1987

Spenser and Hawk are on opposite sides of a case when a hot shot young black teenager tries to be a young "Hawk" - his idol. He is a witness to a double murder. Hawk wants to send him away. Spenser wants him to do his duty. Fireworks erupt.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Heart of the Matter

Sun, Oct 11, 1987

Lt Quirk confronts his own mortality following being outrun by a murder suspect and receiving death threats. While Quirk recovers from a heart attack and contemplates retiring, Spenser and Hawk track down who is making the death threats and shooting at the Lt.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ On the Night He Was Betrayed

Sun, Nov 1, 1987

An alcoholic priest who works with drug addicts and runaways in Boston's Combat Zone is accused of murder and he asks Spenser to find out what really happened. Spenser suspects that the crime bosses who have had confrontations with the priest in the past may be behind the murder. Spenser works to clear the priest of the crime and must also try to redeem the priest in the process.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Sleepless Dream

Sun, Nov 8, 1987

Coming off a long stakeout and 36 hours without any sleep, Spenser witnesses a young woman jump from a rooftop in a suicide attempt. While the woman recovers in the ICU, Spenser investigates and has run-ins with a disreputable private investigator and the young woman's family. Even though he is exhausted, Spenser can't sleep until he finds out what would cause a young, talented woman to try to kill herself.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Consilum Abditum

Sun, Nov 15, 1987

Spenser breaks up a domestic dispute, and gets charged with assault. Meanwhile, Susan is sexually harassed by her thesis adviser and turns to Hawk. Shortly thereafter an attempt is made on Susan's life. As Spenser deals with the assault charge, he and Hawk also track down Susan's assailant, while Susan must defend her program of study before the same board looking into the harassment charges she filed against her adviser.

7Season 3

S3.E7 ∙ Thanksgiving

Sun, Nov 29, 1987

Spenser takes Susan to Plymouth for Thanksgiving and runs into an old Army buddy whose down on his luck. When his friend, Mike Kaminsky, is accused of murdering the young wife of an elderly philanthropist, Spenser tries to prove him innocent. As Susan looks after the Kaminsky family, Spenser and Hawk search out the shifty background of the murder victim, and deal with the controversy conscious step-son. Attempts on Spenser's life ultimately lead he and Hawk to the those responsible.

8Season 3

S3.E8 ∙ Gone Fishin'

Sun, Dec 6, 1987

Spenser is in the middle of a streak of bad luck and is planning a fishing trip with Susan to get away from it all. As Spenser is loading his car, a prep school student approaches him and asks for protection from people who are trying to kill the young man. Spenser doubts his story and is giving him Hawk's phone number when two men in a car shoot at them with a shotgun. The young man runs away before Spenser can stop him. Spenser and Susan head off on their trip and Spenser's bad luck and the prep school student's troubles follow them into the Berkshires.

9Season 3

S3.E9 ∙ Child's Play

Sun, Dec 20, 1987

A hit man kills one of Spenser's friends in a shoot out on the street. Spenser must defend himself after he shoots a kid while attempting to follow the hit man and is accused by a witness of being reckless. While Spenser struggles with the consequences of his actions, and figures out what the real situation was with the kid he shot, he and Hawk track down the hit man for a final showdown.

10Season 3

S3.E10 ∙ Skeletons in the Closet

Sun, Jan 3, 1988

Spenser is hired by a prominent local judge in a blackmail case. When the simple exchange turns complicated things get intriguing. Spenser rescues the judge's daughter from a bad situation, and Susan takes her in. Hawk is hired to go up against Spenser in a showdown. Judge Kingsley, his daughter, Hawk and Spenser all have their little secrets to hide in the end.

11Season 3

S3.E11 ∙ The Siege

Sun, Jan 10, 1988

Susan and Hawk are among the hostages taken by three men during a robbery gone bad at a Post Office. One of the hot headed robbers shoots several people, including critically injuring Hawk. Spenser and Postal Inspector Higgins attempt to help defuse the situation by tracking down the girlfriend of one of the robbers, while Susan and Hawk try to talk the more sensible offenders into surrendering. Sgt Belson struggles to meet the demands of the robbers. In the end, it comes down to Belson balancing the deadline demands of the robbers and the antsy SWAT commander with Spenser taking action of his own.

12Season 3

S3.E12 ∙ Arthur's Wake

Sat, Jan 16, 1988

Spenser's old friend and mentor, Arthur, is mugged on the street, losing a large sum of cash. In trying to help his hero, Spenser finds his good intentioned friend not being wholly truthful. The money trail leads to neighborhood renewal, organized crime, political intrigue, possible corruption in the police department, and the murder of the mugging suspects. Meanwhile, Susan counsels a young boy on the loss of his family.

13Season 3

S3.E13 ∙ To the End of the Line

Sat, Jan 23, 1988

When the niece of Sgt Belson dies from a cocaine overdose, he hires Spenser to look into the drug dealers. As Spenser and Hawk work their way up the supply chain, Belson deals with his emotional suffering while trying to stay on the right side of the line with the Police Department. Eventually, they meet some shady businessmen, and make a deal with federal agents whilst Belson must make a choice of moral imperative.

14Season 3

S3.E14 ∙ Play It Again, Sammy

Sat, Jan 30, 1988

Sammy Backlin returns to Boston and requests Spenser to protect him. After a shootout where Spenser gets shot, a package is delivered to his apartment which leads to an old kidnapping case from when he was a rookie cop. Agent Efrem Connors also returns, looking for Backlin. Eventually, they are all drawn into another kidnapping case.

15Season 3

S3.E15 ∙ The Big Fight

Sat, Feb 6, 1988

Spenser is asked for help by old boxing friend Joey. But when they walk into the warehouse, someone takes shots at them, forcing Spenser to kill the shooter. As it becomes apparent that Joey has deep gambling debts, Spenser takes him to a hotel to hide out, forcing Joey to realize just how dire his situation is. After Joey takes off, Spenser tries sorting out what Joey was into and how to help him. This leads to Spenser contemplating how people change over time.

16Season 3

S3.E16 ∙ Substantial Justice

Sat, Mar 5, 1988

Spenser is hired by a theatre producer to help prove her innocence in a murder charge when even her lawyer believes her to be guilty. Meanwhile, the man Hawk is hired to protect is murdered, in what may be related cases.

17Season 3

S3.E17 ∙ Company Man

Sat, Mar 12, 1988

Spenser is hired to find out who stole 40 pounds of dynamite from a local construction company and used some of it to stage a bombing at one of their construction sites. After a second bombing at another site owned by the same contractor Spenser realizes that there may be more to the plot than simple revenge over recent layoffs. At the same time, Susan has a health scare that has her worried about her future with Spenser.

18Season 3

S3.E18 ∙ Watercolors

Sat, Mar 19, 1988

Spenser is hired to protect a 14 year old boy after he witnesses a murder in a park by a one eyed man who the police can't identify.

19Season 3

S3.E19 ∙ Hawk's Eyes

Sat, Mar 26, 1988

When an old lawyer friend dies in an traffic crash, Spenser looks into it. A cohort of the lawyer's calls Spenser down to the office to look at some files, but when he arrives the man is dead and two people are ransacking the office files. Later, Susan is kidnapped, an attempt is made on Spenser and Susan's lives, and Hawk is blinded.

20Season 3

S3.E20 ∙ McAllister

Sat, Apr 30, 1988

When the daughter of a Navy captain is murdered, suspicion falls on the (black) lieutenant who had been having an affair with her. McAllister, an honorable attorney and an old friend of Hawk's comes to defend him.

21Season 3

S3.E21 ∙ Haunting

Sat, May 7, 1988

Susan enlists Spenser's help in determining the past of a young amnesiac woman who had been sexually abused as a child. The inquiry brings Spenser back to the case of a young girl who was kidnapped from her wealthy family, the case that he resigned from the police force over. When someone puts out a contract on Spenser, and the shady acquaintance she's been living with is killed, he must determine if it has anything to do with the true identity of the young woman.