Jesse Stone novels

The Jesse Stone novels are a series of detective novels written by Robert B. Parker, featuring his fictional creation Jesse Stone. They are among his most recent works, and the first series in which the novelist uses the third-person narrative. There are seven books to date beginning with "Night Passage" (1997) continuing through "Stranger in Paradise" (2008).

The Jesse Stone character, starts out at about thirty-five years old, is a departure for Parker in that he is a deeply troubled man. A former minor league baseball shortstop, who injures his throwing arm, he was raised in Arizona and California. [http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000024618,00.html?sym=QUE Robert P. Parker interview] - Penguin Group (Canada)] ] Having been dumped by his beautiful actress wife (actress Jennifer Stone), he was sacked from his job as a homicide detective for the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division because of a drinking problem. [Parker, Robert (2006). "Blue Screen". New York, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399153519] Showing up drunk to an interview for a job as police chief for a small town of Paradise, Massachusetts (loosely based on the real town of Marblehead, Massachusetts), he is inexplicably hired. He quickly notices that the town is rife with big league crimes — the mob, white supremacists, wildly errant wives and a triple homicide. Stone knows this job will be more difficult than he anticipated. From Parker, comparing Stone to Spenser: "Jesse is a much more damaged individual who is coming to terms with himself as he goes along,..."

Novels

* "Night Passage" (22 September1997)
* "Trouble in Paradise" (21 September1998)
* "Death In Paradise" (1 October2001)
** "Back Story" (10 March2003) - (a Spenser novel that includes Stone)
* "Stone Cold" (1 October2003)
* "Sea Change" (7 February2006) - (mentions Spenser albeit not by name)
** "Blue Screen" (13 June2006) a Sunny Randall - (novel that includes Stone)
** "Spare Change" (5 June2007) - (a Sunny Randall novel that mentions Stone)
* "High Profile" (6 February2007)
* "Stranger In Paradise" (2008)

Television

CBS has made the "Jesse Stone" novels into a series of movie specials starring Tom Selleck in the title role. The movies begin out of sequence with the original books but stay relatively true to storylines and character with exceptions made mostly for network viewing palatability. Tom Selleck plays the character almost as straight from the novels as possible. In real life, Selleck is much older (early sixties vs late thirties in the books) than Stone. The author has stated that he finds the Jesse Stone movies the most accurate portrayal of his books on TV, even going so far on his blog to say "Tom nails the character." [http://robertbparker.typepad.com/robertbparker/2007/07/selleck-and-oth.html Robert B. Parker: Selleck and other matters] - Typepad. July 2007]

Other regular characters include: Viola Davis as Molly Crane, Kohl Sudduth as Luther "Suitcase" Simpson, and Vito Rezza as Anthony D'Angelo (as fellow members of the Paradise Police Department). Stephen McHattie appears in some of the movies as Captain Healy of the state police and likewise William Devane as Dr. Dix. Robert Harmon has directed all of the movies, and Jeff Beal has provided the original music.

Filmography

* "Stone Cold" (20 February 2005)
* "" (15 January 2006) a prequel to "Stone Cold"
* "" (30 April 2006)
* "" (22 May 2007)
* "" (2008) written by Parker, but not based on an existing novel

References

External links

* [http://www.robertbparker.net/jesse_stone.asp Jesse Stone page] at Robert Parker's website
* [http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Interviews-Features/Article/default.aspx?posting={26D06249-4F14-4D42-8748-594DAB0D0AC1} Megan Walsh-Boyle interview with Tom Selleck] - TV Guide - May 2007
* [http://bullets-and-beer.com/Books.html Bullets & Beer website] - (With list of all of Parker's novels, including Jesse Stone)