Synopses & Reviews
"Coleman keeps the characters and the somber atmosphere but makes the book his own stylistically." --Booklist Police Chief Jesse Stone is back in the remarkable new installment of the New York Timesbestselling series.
Its been a long time since Jesse Stone left L.A., and still longer since the tragic injury that ruined his chances for a major league baseball career. When Jesse is invited to a reunion of his old Triple-A team at a hip New York city hotel, he is forced to grapple with his memories and regrets over what might have been.
Jesse left more behind him than unresolved feelings about the play that ended his baseball career. The darkly sensuous Kayla, his former girlfriend and current wife of an old teammate is there in New York, too. As is Kaylas friend, Dee, an otherworldly beauty with secret regrets of her own. But Jesses time at the reunion is cut short when, in Paradise, a young woman is found murdered and her boyfriend, a son of one of the towns most prominent families, is missing and presumed kidnapped.
Though seemingly coincidental, there is a connection between the reunion and the crimes back in Paradise. As Jesse, Molly, and Suit hunt for the killer and for the missing son, it becomes clear that one of Jesses old teammates is intimately involved in the crimes. That there are deadly forces working below the surface and just beyond the edge of their vision. Sometimes, thats where the danger comes from, and where real evil lurks. Not out in the lightbut in your blind spot.
Review
"The most memorable Western heroes since Larry McMurtry's...Lonesome Dove."
- ASSOCIATED PRESS
"A sparse, bullet-riddled rumination on law and order."
-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"A pure pleasure to read."
-LIBRARY JOURNAL
"A reminder of just how much hardboiled fiction owes the Western."
-KIRKUS REVIEWS
Review
"No one understands what makes Bob Parker's Jesse Stone tick better th
Review
Praise for Michael Brandman
"Ornery Jesse Stone again puts justice ahead of the law in Brandman's assured third continuation of Parker's series....Comfort food for Parker fans."
—Publishers Weekly on Robert B. Parker's Damned If You Do
"No one understands what makes Bob Parker's Jesse Stone tick better than Michael Brandman, who help bring him to television.... I know Michael is just the writer to carry Jesse into the future."—Tom Selleck
“Brandman nails Parkers compressionist prose.”— Booklist on Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice
"Brandman perfectly reproduces Parkers style in this impressive continuation of his series featuring Jesse Stone.... As with the originals, the pleasure lies more in the easy, banter-filled writing, balanced with the lead's apparently limitless compassion, informed by bitter experience."—Publishers Weekly on Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues
"Part of a grand tradition..."—USA Today on Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues
Review
and#8220;A great addition to the series.and#8221;and#8212;
West Orlando News and#8220;No one understands what makes Bob Parkerand#8217;s Jesse Stone tick better than Michael Brandman...and#8221; and#8212;Tom Selleck, star of the Jesse Stone TV movies
and#8220;If Spencer is the invincible knight, the timeless hero of American detective fiction, then Jesse Stone is the flawed hero of the moment.and#8221;and#8212;The New York Times Book Review
Review
and#8220;A great addition to the series.and#8221;and#8212;
West Orlando News and#8220;No one understands what makes Bob Parkerand#8217;s Jesse Stone tick better than Michael Brandman...and#8221; and#8212;Tom Selleck, star of the Jesse Stone TV movies
and#8220;If Spencer is the invincible knight, the timeless hero of American detective fiction, then Jesse Stone is the flawed hero of the moment.and#8221;and#8212;The New York Times Book Review
Review
Praise for Robert B. Parker “Is there a more promising opening in contemporary crime fiction than Boston PI Spenser opening his office door to a new client? Instantly we get Spensers clear-eyed view of the client, what his or her dress and stature have to say, and the rat-a-tat-tat of Spensers wise-guy answers to the clients queries…a series of unflagging excellence…Great plotting, clever dialogue, and Spensers mouthwatering cooking all make for a fantastic time.” —
Booklist (starred)
Parkers dialogue, clever to a fault, moves his tales along at a natural, human pace as his characters square off, verbs and nouns used like switchblades.” —The Chicago Sun Times
“A fast and fun outing…Parker was a true stylist. His strength was in his sparseness and Painted Ladies shows him in fine form.” —The Boston Globe
“As with all of Parkers 70 novels, the prose is tight and muscular and the dialogue is superb. A must read for faithful fans of the series.” — Associated Press
“In Spensers end is his beginning....Spenser can still nail a persons foibles on first meeting, still whip up a gourmet meal in a few minutes, still dispatch the thugs who haunt his office and his home, and do it all while maintaining a fierce love of Susan Silverman and English poetry....Long live Spenser.” — Booklist
Review
"No one understands what makes Bob Parker's Jesse Stone tick better than Michael Brandman, who help bring him to television.... I know Michael is just the writer to carry Jesse into the future."—Tom Selleck
“Brandman nails Parkers compressionist prose.”— Booklist on Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice
"Brandman perfectly reproduces Parkers style in this impressive continuation of his series featuring Jesse Stone.... As with the originals, the pleasure lies more in the easy, banter-filled writing, balanced with the lead's apparently limitless compassion, informed by bitter experience."—Publishers Weekly on Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues
"Part of a grand tradition..."—USA Today on Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues
Review
Praise for ROBERT B. PARKER'S BLINDSPOT by Reed Farrel Coleman “Fans of both Parkers Spenser and Jesse Stone series will enjoy this 13th installment… Like Spenser, Jesse is a man of honor who feels he must speak for the dead. Colemans writing mimics Parkers, with short chapters, snappy repartee, and just enough action… It is a great, fast beach read, recommended for all detective fiction fans.” — Library Journal
“Coleman is continuing the Stone saga in his own crisp prose style. … Jesse Stone fans will be eager to discover where Coleman takes this compelling series next.”
— Associated Press
"Coleman keeps the characters and the somber atmosphere but makes the book his own stylistically." —Booklist
“The new Jesse Stone thriller is electric. Told with spare, convincing descriptions and terse dialogue, the spirit of creator Robert B. Parker leaps off the page. …Critically acclaimed mystery author Reed Farrel Coleman has taken over the series in what might be the perfect pairing of character and living writer. …Coleman is among the best writers you've probably never read. … [He applies ]his own deeply empathetic style to the damaged, alcoholic police chief in a plot that takes readers back to the pivotal moment when Stone's baseball career ended. …The result is a new introduction to old characters and proof the past is a predator that never stops hunting.” —AZ Central
Coleman deftly captures the nuances of this character who Parker introduced in 1997 and featured in nine novels. Coleman proves to be the best choice to take up this series. Coleman skillfully keeps Stone on the track that Parker set, while also adding his own touches to the character and the story. As Atkins expertly reinvents the Spenser novels, Coleman shows his dexterity in "Blind Spot." —Oline Cogdill for SouthFlorida.com
“Reed has saved Jesse Stone by embracing the character, not by imitating Parker's writing style. He's done it by making Stone his own. He has fleshed out Stone's world, and his inner life, in so many ways. His first smart move was making the crime story personal, one that goes to the root of Stone's character, and that allows Reed to reboot the series, to reintroduce the character, his past, and his relationships and tweak them a bit along the way….Blind Spot is a cause for celebration.”
— Lee Goldberg, New York Times-bestselling author with Janet Evanovich of The Chase
“Coleman, best known for his Moe Prager series . . . successfully emulates the tone and style of the late Robert B. Parkers nine Jesse Stone novels.” — Publishers Weekly
Praise for the Jesse Stone series
“As in every Parker novel, the great attraction is the writing. The authors wry wit and clear, muscular prose go down so easily that his books seem to be not so much read as inhaled.” —Associated Press
“Stone, who continues to struggle with his drinking and his obsession with his manipulative ex-wife, is the most engaging of Parkers post-Spenser contemporary protagonists. . . . …The dialogue is spot-on and the professional chemistry between Stone and his small force is its own reason to read the series.” —Booklist
Review
and#8220;I had high hopes for what a writer of Colemanand#8217;s skill would bring to the series, and those hopes have not just been met, they have been exceeded. Iand#8217;m sure I am not going to be the first, or the only, person to declare that he has saved Jesse Stoneand#8230;
Blind Spot is cause for celebration.and#8221;and#8212;
January Magazine and#8220;A spellbinding mysteryand#8230;fast-paced, excitingand#8230;Coleman writes a potent crime story. Fans and newcomers alike will get hooked and should look forward to the next Jesse Stone book by Reed Coleman.and#8221;and#8212;Crimespree Magazine
and#8220;Blind Spot is everythingand#8230;this series can and should be.and#8221;and#8212;Bookreporter.com
Synopsis
An Apache hit man arrives in Paradise to find a missing girl and snuff out her mother. But his conscience is getting the best of him. If he doesn?t make the hit, he?ll pay for it. So might Jesse Stone, who?s been enlisted to protect them all.
Synopsis
Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone returns in a brilliant new addition to the New York Times-bestselling series.
Paradise, Massachusetts, is preparing for the summer tourist season when a string of car thefts disturbs what is usually a quiet time in town. In a sudden escalation of violence, the thefts become murder, and chief of police Jesse Stone finds himself facing one of the toughest cases of his career. Pressure from the town politicians only increases when another crime wave puts residents on edge. Jesse confronts a personal dilemma as well: a burgeoning relationship with a young PR executive, whose plans to turn Paradise into a summertime concert destination may have her running afoul of the law.
When a mysterious figure from Jesse's past arrives in town, memories of his last troubled days as a cop in L.A. threaten his ability to keep order in Paradise-especially when it appears that the stranger is out for revenge.
Synopsis
Hired as a bodyguard at an exclusive society wedding, Spenser witnesses an unexpected crime: the kidnapping of the young bride, which opens the door for murder, family secrets, and the reappearance of an old nemesis.
Synopsis
The brilliant new Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times-bestselling author Robert B. Parker. Called upon by The Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange-money for a stolen painting.
The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and the valuable painting remains stolen. Convinced that Ashton Prince played a bigger role than just ransom delivery boy, Spenser enters into a daring game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. But this is a game he might not come out of alive...
Completed the year before he passed away, Painted Ladies is Spenser and Robert B. Parker at their electrifying best.
Synopsis
Features the main characters first introduced in Appaloosa- now a major motion picture from New Line Cinema. A greedy mine owner threatens the coalition of local ranchers in the town of Resolution, pitching two honorable gunfighters, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, into a make-shift war that'll challenge their friendship -and the violently shifting laws of the West.
Synopsis
Parker and Stone-back with another New York Times bestseller When the sun sets in Paradise, the women get nervous. A Peeping Tom is on the loose. According to the notes he sends Police Chief Jesse Stone, he's about to take his obsession one step further.
Synopsis
On location in Boston, bad-boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. Things don't look so good for Jumbo, whose appetites for food, booze, and sex are as outsized as his name. He was the studio's biggest star, but he's become its biggest liability.
In the course of the investigation, Spenser encounters Jumbo's bodyguard: a young, former football-playing Native American named Zebulon Sixkill. He acts tough, but Spenser sees something more within the young man. Despite the odd circumstances, the two forge an unlikely alliance, with Spenser serving as mentor for Sixkill. As the case grows darker and secrets about both Jumbo and the dead woman come to light, it's Spenser-with Sixkill at his side-who must put things right.
Synopsis
Cole and Hitch are back in a new Western classic... The guns-for-hire introduced in Robert B. Parker's Appaloosa are back...
When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch track down the woman who stole Virgil's heart, they find a dispirited prostitute rather than the innocent beauty she once was. Now they must save her, even if murder is the price of redemption.
Synopsis
The extraordinary new Western from the New York Times- bestselling author, featuring itinerant lawmen Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. Law enforcement in Appaloosa had once been Virgil Cole and me. Now there was a chief of police and twelve policemen. Our third day back in town, the chief invited us to the office for a talk.
The new chief is Amos Callico: a tall, fat man in a derby hat, wearing a star on his vest and a big pearl-handled Colt inside his coat. An ambitious man with his eye on the governorship-and perhaps the presidency-he wants Cole and Hitch on his side. But they can't be bought, which upsets him mightily.
When Callico begins shaking down local merchants for protection money, those who don't want to play along seek the help of Cole and Hitch. But the guns for hire are thorns in the side of the power-hungry chief. When they are forced to fire on the trigger-happy son of a politically connected landowner, Callico sees his dream begin to crumble. There will be a showdown-but who'll be left standing?
Synopsis
Once, Appaloosa law was Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. Now it's Amos Callico, a vindictive, power-hungry tin star with bigger aims-and he could use Cole and Hitch on his side. This time the paid guns aren't for hire, which makes Callico a very vengeful man. But threatening Cole and Hitch ignites something just as dangerous.
Synopsis
Family ties prove deadly in the brilliant new Jesse Stone novel from New York Times-bestselling author Robert B. Parker. The body in the trunk was just the beginning.
Turns out the stiff was a foot soldier for local tough guy Reggie Galen, now enjoying a comfortable "retirement" with his beautiful wife, Rebecca, in the nicest part of Paradise. Living next door are Knocko Moynihan and his wife, Robbie, who also happens to be Rebecca's twin. But what initially appears to be a low-level mob hit takes on new meaning when a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach.
Stressed by the case, his failed relationship with his ex-wife, and his ongoing battle with the bottle, Jesse needs something to keep him from spinning out of control. When private investigator Sunny Randall comes into town on a case, she asks for Jesse's help. As their professional and personal relationships become intertwined, both Jesse and Sunny realize that they have much in common with both their victims and their suspects-and with each other.
Synopsis
The wives of Boston's wealthiest men have a mutual secret: they all had an affair with the same cad who's blackmailing them, and Spenser's been hired to stop him. But when the wives start dying one by one, Spenser's new case becomes murder.
Synopsis
Spenser had a simple job-protect an art scholar during a ransom exchange for a stolen painting. No one was supposed to die. But the scholar had secrets no one knew, and uncovering them will endanger Spenser as well.
Synopsis
After a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall realize just how much they really have in common with their victims, their suspects-and each other.
Synopsis
A bad-boy movie star named Jumbo pushes the limits of his reputation when he's accused of rape and murder. When the Boston PD calls on Spencer, he meets Jumbo's young bodyguard, Zebulon Sixkill, and the two form an unlikely alliance. It's a high profile case for Spenser, but the Hollywood secrets he uncovers are sordidly unsavory- and not just those of the accused...
Synopsis
Summer in Paradise, Massachusetts, is usually an idyllic season?—but not this time. A Hollywood movie company has come to town, and brought with it a huge cast, crew, and a troubled star. Marisol Hinton is very beautiful, reasonably talented, and scared out of her wits that her estranged husband's jealousy might take a dangerous turn. When she becomes the subject of a death threat, Jesse and the rest of the Paradise police department go on high alert.
And when Jesse witnesses a horrifying collision caused by a distracted teenage driver, the political repercussions of her arrest bring him into conflict with the local selectment, the DA, and some people with very deep pockets. There's murder in the air, and it's Jesse's reputation as an uncompromising defender of the law—and his life—on the line.
Synopsis
A knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story. Elizabeth Shaw specializes in wills and trusts at the Boston law firm of Shaw and Cartwright, and over the years she's developed a friendship with wives of very wealthy men. However, these rich wives have a mutual secret: they've all had an affair with a man named Gary Eisenhower- and now he's blackmailing them for money. Shaw hires Spenser to make Eisenhower "cease and desist," so to speak, but when women start turning up dead, Spenser's assignment goes from blackmail to murder.
As matters become more complicated, Spenser's longtime love, Susan, begins offering some input by analyzing Eisenhower's behavior patterns in hopes of opening up a new avenue of investigation. It seems that not all of Gary's women are rich. So if he's not using them for blackmail, then what is his purpose? Spenser switches tactics to focus on the husbands, only to find that innocence and guilt may be two sides of the same coin.
With its eloquently spare prose and some of the best supporting characters to grace the printed page, The Professional is further proof that "[t]here's hardly an author in the crime novel business like Parker" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
Synopsis
The brilliant new Spenser novel from the beloved New York Times-bestselling author Robert B. Parker. Called upon by The Hammond Museum and renowned art scholar Dr. Ashton Prince, Spenser accepts his latest case: to provide protection during a ransom exchange-money for a stolen painting.
The case becomes personal when Spenser fails to protect his client and the valuable painting remains stolen. Convinced that Ashton Prince played a bigger role than just ransom delivery boy, Spenser enters into a daring game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. But this is a game he might not come out of alive...
Completed the year before he passed away, Painted Ladies is Spenser and Robert B. Parker at their electrifying best.
Synopsis
Family ties prove deadly in the brilliant new Jesse Stone novel from New York Times-bestselling author Robert B. Parker. The body in the trunk was just the beginning.
Turns out the stiff was a foot soldier for local tough guy Reggie Galen, now enjoying a comfortable "retirement" with his beautiful wife, Rebecca, in the nicest part of Paradise. Living next door are Knocko Moynihan and his wife, Robbie, who also happens to be Rebecca's twin. But what initially appears to be a low-level mob hit takes on new meaning when a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach.
Stressed by the case, his failed relationship with his ex-wife, and his ongoing battle with the bottle, Jesse needs something to keep him from spinning out of control. When private investigator Sunny Randall comes into town on a case, she asks for Jesse's help. As their professional and personal relationships become intertwined, both Jesse and Sunny realize that they have much in common with both their victims and their suspects-and with each other.
Synopsis
Features the main characters first introduced in Appaloosa- now a major motion picture from New Line Cinema. A greedy mine owner threatens the coalition of local ranchers in the town of Resolution, pitching two honorable gunfighters, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, into a make-shift war that'll challenge their friendship -and the violently shifting laws of the West.
Synopsis
The extraordinary new Western from the New York Times- bestselling author, featuring itinerant lawmen Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. Law enforcement in Appaloosa had once been Virgil Cole and me. Now there was a chief of police and twelve policemen. Our third day back in town, the chief invited us to the office for a talk.
The new chief is Amos Callico: a tall, fat man in a derby hat, wearing a star on his vest and a big pearl-handled Colt inside his coat. An ambitious man with his eye on the governorship-and perhaps the presidency-he wants Cole and Hitch on his side. But they can't be bought, which upsets him mightily.
When Callico begins shaking down local merchants for protection money, those who don't want to play along seek the help of Cole and Hitch. But the guns for hire are thorns in the side of the power-hungry chief. When they are forced to fire on the trigger-happy son of a politically connected landowner, Callico sees his dream begin to crumble. There will be a showdown-but who'll be left standing?
Synopsis
One girl is a teenage dose of pretty poison. The other is a movie starlet on the run from a violent past. These two cases collide in Paradise and Jesse Stone is trapped between them.
Synopsis
Its December in Boston, and Spenser is busy planning the menu for Christmas dinner when hes confronted in his office by a young boy named Slide. Homeless and alone, Slide has found refuge with an organization named Street Business, which gives shelter and seeks job opportunities for the homeless and lost. Slides mentor, Jackie Alvarez, is being threatened, and Street Business is in danger of losing its tenuous foothold in the community, turning Slide and many others like him back on the street. But its not a simple case of intimidation Spenser, aided by Hawk, finds a trail that leads to a dangerous drug kingpin, whose hold on the at-risk community Street Business serves threatens not just the boys safety and security, but their lives as well.
Unfinished at the time of his death, Silent Night was completed by Parkers longtime agent, whose decades-long association with Parkers work gives her unique insight and perspective to his voice and storytelling style. Her contribution also speaks volumes about their enduring friendship.
Synopsis
Police Chief Jesse Stone returns in another outstanding entry in the New York Times-bestselling series.
The woman on the bed was barely out of her teens. She wasnt exactly beautiful, but shed tried to make the most of her looks. And now, alone in a seedy beachfront motel, she was dead.
Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone doesnt know her name. Whoever she is, she didnt deserve to die. Jesse starts digging, only to find himself caught in the crosshairs of a bitter turf war between two ruthless pimps. And more blood will spill before its over.
Synopsis
Police Chief Jesse Stone returns in another outstanding entry in the New York Times-bestselling series.
The woman on the bed was barely out of her teens. She wasnt exactly beautiful, but shed tried to make the most of her looks. And now, alone in a seedy beachfront motel, she was dead.
Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone doesnt know her name. Whoever she is, she didnt deserve to die. Jesse starts digging, only to find himself caught in the crosshairs of a bitter turf war between two ruthless pimps. And more blood will spill before its over.
Synopsis
The new Jesse Stone novel in Robert B. Parker'sand#160;New York Times bestselling seriesand#151;and this one is and#147;a cause for celebrationand#8221; (January Magazine). and#160;
A reunion with former baseball teammates leaves Jesse Stone grappling with memories and regrets over what might have been, and that includes bittersweet memories of his old girlfriend, the darkly sensuous and secretive Kayla, who has unexpectedly arrived at the reunion as well.
and#160;
But when a young woman is found murdered in Paradise, and her boyfriend, a son of one of the townand#8217;s most prominent families, is kidnapped, Jesseand#8217;s investigation yields some troubling suspicions: the reunion and the murder are connected, and one of Jesseand#8217;s old friends is intimately involved in the crimes.
Synopsis
One girl is a teenage dose of pretty poison. The other is a movie starlet on the run from a violent past. These two cases collide in Paradise and Jesse Stone is trapped between them.
About the Author
Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch Westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.
Michael Brandman is the author of the New York Times-bestsellers Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice and Robert B. Parkers Killing the Blues. An award-winning producer of more than thirty motion pictures, he collaborated with Robert B. Parker for years on movie projects, Spenser TV movies, and the Jesse Stone series of TV movies starring Tom Selleck. He worked on the adaptations of Stone Cold, Night Passage, Death in Paradise, and Sea Change, and wrote and produced the original screenplays for Thin Ice, No Remorse, Innocents Lost, and Benefit of the Doubt. He lives in California.