I do think there always seems to be the good guy/bad guy dynamic as well as moral vs. immoral, and working class vs. elites in detective stories, but there is so much more to the top shelf series. Parker’s Spenser, for example, is unexpectedly sensitive and intellectual even as he exhibits his tough guy persona. He is an excellent cook and a boxer! He has the ability to discern right from wrong but he will face moral dilemmas like everyone else. He also seems to be able to laugh at himself now and then so we know he knows he is far from perfect. Qualities like these make the great investigator characters complex, flawed and endearing —so the reader wants to devour more books in the series.