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Summary: Death in Paradise
Review: "Death in Paradise" is the third novel in the Jesse Stone series by Robert B. Parker, who is better known for his Spenser novels. The remains of a teenage girl are found in a Paradise lake. The girl had been shot and dumped in the lake. Paradise police chief Jesse Stone discovers that the girl is Billie Bishop, and learns that she and other runaway girls seem to have ties with a Boston mob boss. Quite a bit of time is also devoted to Jesse's relationship with his ex-wife, Jenn, who is a weatherperson for a Boston TV station. "Death in Paradise" is more of a straight mystery than either of the first two Jesse Stone novels. I enjoyed reading "Death in Paradise", and look forward to more Jesse Stone novels in the future.
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Summary: Contriving the anti-Spenser
Review: "Death In Paradise", by Richard B. Parker. Audio version (Five tapes) read by Robert Forester. New Millennium Audio, Beverly Hills, CA.In short, staccato bursts of dialogue, Robert B. Parker tells the story of Chief of Police, Jesse Stone, in the small town of Paradise, north of Boston, Massachusetts. Chief Stone had lost his police job in Los Angeles, lost his first wife and ended up in the small town of Paradise. His experience in Minor League Baseball makes the Chief a star in the local softball league, and that's where the story begins. The softball team's reverie after the early evening game is broken by the discovery of badly decomposed body floating in the lake. The story then grows around Chief Stone's development of his tiny police force by instructing them, with on-the-job training, in big city police tactics. The dead girl's family has disowned her; the girl had run away, and become part of a sex for pay group. Stone shows his police officers how to act on routine (and boring) stakeouts and finally, he tracks down the murderer. Throughout all of this, the author has interspersed tales of Stone's alcoholism, failure at married life and regrets with the injury that cost him a promising baseball career. About three-quarters of the way through, you begin suspecting the identity of the killer, but these side issues in the life of Chief Stone continue to make the book interesting. This book appears to be better if it is read aloud. The audio version, read by Robert Forester, flowed naturally and rapidly. Everything seemed to fit together as the book was read. It certainly helped me in the traffic of I-495, around Boston. Speaking of Boston, please let the reader know that the pronunciation of Copely Square is "COP-lee", not the "Cope -lee" used in this presentation.
Rating: 
Summary: Like an Oriental painting...
Review: ...P>But I think what we have in this novel is pure craftsmanship, the kind where the artist paints the leaf and the twig and leaves the tree and the landscape to the viewer's imagination. Jesse Stone doesn't NEED to say any more than he does, nor do any of the other characters in the book. And the plot is really quite complicated and intricate, with all lines coming together by the last page...as well as the final hint of more to come and life and intrigue resuming even after we have put the book down. Parker, you get better with every novel. Reader, don't be decieved. This is one really well written book!
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Summary: Another Hit
Review: Anyone who has read my reviews knows that I love virtually anything written by Robert Parker. Therefore, it will come as no surprise that I bought this new book as soon as it was in the bookstore or that I am recommending it. It is interesting that Parker has now written enough different novels about his male private eye, Spenser (28 books), his female private eye, Randall, (2 novels) and his small town police chief, Stone (3 novels) that he has parallel series running simultaniously. In addition he has written a diverse series of other novels. In this episode Jesse Stone is wrestling with a broken marriage, a drinking problem, a number of other women who are interested in him, and a vicious killing. As in all Parker novels you get his version of how life really works, a pretty good mystery story, a fascinating soap opera in which you sense more hope than pain and a continuing belief in the power of endurance to help people get through life. Having read almost all of Parker's work I cannot tell how much of his core philosophy is autobiographical and reflects his own life, how much is an idealized version of what he believes to be true, and how much is what he believes his readers will pay to buy a book and read. In any event he keeps me hooked and I will come back for the next Parker novel on any topic and with any central character he wants to write about.
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Summary: Prolific Parker's Third Big One This Year
Review: As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I am amazed at how prolific Robert B. Parker is at writing mystery fiction. Not only does this master turn them out fast, he also turns them out great. DEATH IN PARADISE is Parker's third Jesse Stone novel. In case you don't remember, Jesse is the former LAPD officer who was fired for drinking on the job and landed as police chief in a crime-challenged Massachuetts town. Basically, think of Jesse as Spenser with a drinking problem. This time, a body of a teenaged girl is found, and Jesse investigates her murder. The investigation leads him into the world of child exploitation. Subplots include Jesse adjusting to his new life and re-adjusting to his old ex-wife. Parker has another winner here. DEATH IN PARADISE is a great book.
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Summary: But nobody seems to care about Billie...
Review: As this series continues, this novel may well portray crucial developments in Stone's life and career, but it fails to satisfy as a crime novel. Jesse Stone faced a home-grown militia group in his debut novel, followed by a group of cold-blooded criminals pulling off a spectacular robbery in the second. So the murder of a 14 year old girl who's been disowned by her parents due to promiscuous behavior seems rather pedestrian in comparison. Indeed, the girl Billie's parents, her former boy friend, and her high school principal have little interest. Unfortunately, Parker doesn't seem terribly interested either since we really don't get to know the girl. However, the focus on Stone's drinking may be a crucial development in the series. Other people's problem drinking is involved in two incidental plotlines, and, along with Jenn's encouragement, may be what it takes to drive Jesse to accept counciling for his own problem. There are a couple of other developments. After Gino Fish and Vinnie Morris appearing in the two previous books without actually meeting Stone, he meets them face to face for the first time. There's also development in the relationship between the Chief and his main assistant. Spenser of course has Hawk, and Sunny Randall has her strong support. Jesse Stone has--Suitcase Simpson? Seems like he got shortchanged, but Suitcase does show promise. He still has a bit to go, but under the Chief's tutelage, he might be a respectable police officer yet. I can't recommend this as a mystery, but do advise Parker fans to read it anyway because it does seem to be leading someplace.
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Summary: Entertaining, but light...
Review: Death in Paradise by Robert Parker is a very entertaining, but very light mystery. We follow the exploits of Paradise chief of police, Jesse Stone, as he tries to solve a murder mystery, get his drinking under control and get his love life on track. While Parker's dialogue is first rate, it seems to read more like a screenplay than a novel. Also, the plot seems to resolve itself just a little too quickly. My biggest complaint, however, is all the wasted paper. With 1 to 1-1/2 blank pages between each chapter--and we're talking 66 chapters and almost 300 pages here, it's almost as if Parker tried to make a novella into something larger. So for Parker fans, you'll enjoy this book but don't expect a deep, complicated or dramatic mystery.
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Summary: Turn To Stone!
Review: I think these Jesse Stone books just keep getting better and better with each release. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books and I like this one even more. I may be in the minority here, but I'm finding that I prefer Jesse Stone over Spenser.
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Summary: Hey, let's welcome Jesse Stone!
Review: It does look like this is a good time for Robert B. Parker to come up with a new character, and judging from this first book, Jesse Stone could be a winner. He's certainly different from Spenser. While he shows some wit, he's of a darker and brooding nature, having messed up his professional and personal lives by hitting the bottle too heavily. In fact, he even goes to a job interview after drinking and surprisingly gets hired as police chief in Paradise, Mass. He figures that he was hired in spite of his condition when the truth is he was hired because of his drinking...he appeared to be far easier managed than he turned out to be. Obviously, Parker intends to have the two series interrelate to a degree. Vinnie Morris and Gino Fish appear in the story, although interestingly, they never interrelate with Stone. Somehow, I suspect that might change in future novels. Like the Spenser novels, this is a fast and easy read. It's not quite as much a fun read maybe, but what the hey, it's good and satisfying light reading.
Rating:
Summary: Don't take that next drink, Jesse!
Review: Jesse Stone is a cop - and a boozer. Don't call him an alcoholic because he doesn't admit it to himself. And he's certainly not going to go to AA meetings. The mystery is so-so. Parker certainly has done better, and I expect he will again. What I enjoyed, however, was Jesse Stone's struggle with his own weakness and his slow but steady progress toward redemption. The rapid-fire dialogue sometimes plays a bit thin - maybe I've seen it too often in the Spencer novels. It makes for fast reading, but after a while it becomes an affectation, rather than an interesting way to show characters in action. Certainly this isn't the best Parker novel ever published, perhaps it might even be a bit below average, but even a less-than-average Parker is better than 99% of the rest of what's out there. Certainly worth an afternoon in the recliner with a NON-alcoholic beverage on the side table.
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