What is the name of the first novel in the 'Spenser' series by Robert B. Parker?

The Godwulf Manuscript is the first novel in Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series. Houghton Mifflin published the American crime novel in January 1973, introducing Spenser as a Boston private investigator whose name would become synonymous with Parker’s long-running detective series.

In the story, Spenser is hired by a university president to recover a stolen illuminated medieval manuscript. The investigation soon expands into campus politics, organized crime, drug dealing, and murder. Parker’s fictional university is unnamed, but it is widely understood to draw heavily on Northeastern University, where Parker taught at the time.

The novel also establishes Spenser’s background as a former Massachusetts state trooper and Korean War infantryman. Several important recurring characters do not appear yet: Susan Silverman first arrives in the immediate sequel, God Save the Child, while Hawk appears in the fourth book, Promised Land. The Widening Gyre and Early Autumn are later entries, not the series opener.