Death in Paradise (Jesse Stone Series #3) [NOOK Book]

( 27 )

Overview

Robert B. Parker is back in Paradise, where Detective Jesse Stone is looking for two things: the killer of a teenage girl—and someone, anyone, who is willing to claim the body…


Filled with magnetic characters and the muscular writing that are Parker's trademarks, Death in Paradise is a storytelling masterpiece.

...
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Death in Paradise (Jesse Stone Series #3)

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More About This Book

Overview

Robert B. Parker is back in Paradise, where Detective Jesse Stone is looking for two things: the killer of a teenage girl—and someone, anyone, who is willing to claim the body…


Filled with magnetic characters and the muscular writing that are Parker's trademarks, Death in Paradise is a storytelling masterpiece.

Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
It's often said that authors create protagonists that represent their own personality traits or characteristics in some form. If that's true, then Robert B. Parker's beloved Spenser probably mirrors the author's wit and unbridled machismo, while Jesse Stone is most certainly his sorrow.

Somber yet always inviting, Death in Paradise is the third in Parker's series featuring Stone, a former LAPD cop who was drummed out of California for drinking on the job and now serves as police chief of small-town Paradise, Massachusetts. This time Jesse not only continues his battle with alcoholism but must also solve the case of a murdered teenage girl found in a lake. The investigation leads Jesse deep into his own backyard, where the high-profile bestselling author Norman Shaw becomes a suspect -- as well as to Boston, where he must deal with mob figures Gino Fish and Vinnie Morris. Even off duty, Jesse has plenty of problems as he attempts to comb out his love life, from his consuming feelings for his ex-wife to his developing interest in the sexually charged principal of the dead girl's high school.

Parker emphasizes sentiment here as much as taut suspense and violence. He's always in excellent form, but he's never better than when dealing with small-town folk in all their complexity, as he delves into the secret lives hidden behind the Mr. and Mrs. Front Porch facade. This is the source of the poignancy and emotional resonance that will haul you into the story and refuse to let you go. We're drawn in, step by step, even when we know that something painful is looming around the next corner. With Death in Paradise, the bestselling author again proves that one of his greatest talents is his ability to fully realize the commonplace nature of remorse, loss, and passion. (Tom Piccirilli)

New York Post
With all the authority of a bone-crunching fist, Robert B. Parker is back with another breezy detective novel that mystery fans will find as satisfying as a juicy prime rib at Peter Luger.
Washington Post Book World
A page-turner...one of the master's best.
Publishers Weekly
Melancholy shadows this third, beautifully wrought Jesse Stone mystery; rarely if ever has Parker's fiction conveyed with such solemn intensity the challenge of living a good life in a world of sin. Jesse, erstwhile drunk and now sheriff of small-town Paradise, Mass., tackles two criminal and two personal mysteries here: the murder of a teenage girl found shot dead in a local lake, and the chronic beating of a local wife by her husband; the conundrum of Jesse's attraction to alcohol, and the mess of his love life, shaped by his dependence upon his estranged wife but encompassing a highly sexed affair with a school principal. The search for the identity and the killer of the girl brings Jesse, as such investigations traditionally do, into the realm of high society the prime suspect is a bestselling writer but also to the mean streets of Boston, where the sheriff parries with Gino Fish and Vinnie Morris (outlaws borrowed from the Spenser series). Dogged police work, a hot-to-trot wife, child prostitutes, the solace of baseball, hard-guy banter these and more classic elements inform and bolster this immensely satisfying tale. As usual with Parker these days, though, the book's ultimate pleasure lies in the words, suffused with a tough compassion won only through years of living, presented in prose whose impeccability speaks of decades of careful writing. (Oct.) Forecast: This is Parker's third outstanding novel of the year, after Potshot and Gunman's Rhapsody. To promote it, he plans a vigorous author tour. Expect high interest and sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
While his Spenser series may always define him as a writer, Parker again proves his range in this third entry of his Jesse Stone series. Stone, chief of police in the small New England town of Paradise, is relaxing after a softball game one evening when a murdered girl's body is found nearby. Jesse must first discover the identity of the dead girl and then determine why she was killed. As if searching for a killer isn't enough, Jesse must also balance his police work against personal relationships, especially his complicated relationship with his ex-wife. Stone is a deceptively complex character, one whose problems are both interesting and completely believable. Like his protagonist, Parker doesn't waste words, using them sparingly while still managing to create scenes so vivid that the reader feels like an intimate observer. Another strong effort in what is already an impressive series, this one is a lock for high circulation in public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/01.] Craig Shufelt, Lane P.L., Fairfield, OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The regular evening game of the Paradise Men's Softball League is interrupted when the body of a young woman floats to the surface of the adjacent lake. Since no one can identify the shooting victim, and no one answering to her general description has been reported missing, Police Chief Jesse Stone (Trouble in Paradise, 1998, etc.) relies on routine inquiries and a telltale class ring to identify her as Elinor (Billie) Bishop, universally labeled the "town pump" by her fellow high-school students. Billie's reputation is so dire, in fact, that her own parents deny she's their daughter. The only link Jesse can find for Billie is to the shelter for runaways that Sister Mary John runs in Jamaica Plains. But that link leads in turn to Alan Garner, whose telephone Billie had given as a forwarding number when she left the shelter, and to Garner's boss Gino Fish, the well-connected gay Boston mobster Parker's major-league sleuth Spenser (Potshot, p. 209, etc.) has tangled with now and again. All Jesse has to do is follow the links-if he can tear himself away from the bottle, his ex-wife Jenn, his current love interest Lilly Summers, and the rest of Paradise's troubled citizens for long enough. Parker regulars will find the same extraordinary stillness-as if every scene were still another frozen tableau-that marks the more famous Spenser novels. What they won't find this time is enough action, detection, or real mystery to keep a self-respecting short story from starving to death.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781101546376
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 11/5/2002
  • Series: Jesse Stone Series , #3
  • Sold by: Penguin Group
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 14,330
  • File size: 429 KB

Meet the Author

Robert B. Parker
Robert B. Parker is the author of nearly forty books, including two Jesse Stone novels, Night Passage and Trouble in Paradise.

Biography

Robert B. Parker began as a student of hard-boiled crime writers such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, but when he became a crime writer himself, he was one of the rare contemporary authors to be considered on par with his predecessors. The Spenser series, featuring a Boston-based ex-boxer and ex-cop, is one of the genre's most respected and popular fixtures.

Noted for their sharp dialogue and fine character development, the Spenser books carry on a tradition while updating it, particularly in giving its hero two strong alter egos in Hawk, a black friend and right-hand man; and Susan Silverman, Spenser's psychologist love interest. Parker's inclusion of other races and sexual persuasions (several of his novels feature gay characters, a sensibility strengthened in Parker through his sons, both of whom are gay) give a more modern feel to the cases coming into Spenser's office.

The Spenser series, which began with 1973's The Godwulf Manuscript, has an element of toughness that suits its Boston milieu; but it delves just as often into the complex relationship between Silverman and Spenser, and the interplay between the P.I. and Hawk.

By the late ‘80s, Parker had acquired such a reputation that the agent for Raymond Chandler's estate tapped him to finish the legend's last book, Poodle Springs. It was a thankless mission bound to earn criticism, but Parker carried off the task well, thanks to his gift for to-the-point writing and deft plotting. "Parker isn't, even here, the writer Chandler was, but he's not a sentimentalist, and he darkens and deepens Marlowe," the Atlantic concluded. In 1991, Parker took a second crack at Chandler with the Big Sleep sequel Perchance to Dream.

Parker took other detours from Spenser over the years. In 1999, Family Honor introduced Sunny Randall, a female Boston private eye Parker created with actress Helen Hunt in mind. Two years earlier, he introduced L.A.-to-New England cop transplant Jesse Stone in Night Passage. He also authored four bestselling Westerns featuring Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, a few young adult books, as well as several stand-alone novels that were well-received by his many fans.

Parker died suddenly in January 2010 while at home at his desk, working on a book. The cause was a heart attack. He was seventy-seven.

Good To Know

Parker's thesis in graduate school was a study of the private eye in literature that centered on Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Ross MacDonald. Critics would later put him in the same category as those authors.

Parker's main hero is named for Edmund Spenser, the 16th-century author of The Faerie Queene.

Parker had a hand in writing the scripts for some television adaptations of Spenser books starring Robert Urich, who also played Spenser in the ABC series from 1985-88. Urich suffered a battle with cancer and passed away in 2002, but adaptations continue to be made for A&E, starring Joe Mantegna. Parker approved of the new actor, telling the New York Times: ''I looked at Joe and I saw Spenser."

According to a profile in the New York Times, Parker met his wife Joan when the two were toddlers at a birthday party. The two reconnected as freshmen at Colby College and eventually had two sons. They credit the survival of their marriage to a house split into separate living spaces, so that the two can enjoy more independent lives than your average husband and wife.

Parker told fans in a 1999 Barnes & Noble.com chat that he thought his non-series historical novel All Our Yesterdays was "the best thing I've ever written."

Parker had a small speaking part in the 1997 A&E adaptation of Small Vices. How does he have time to write his Spenser books, plus the other series and the adaptation stuff? "Keep in mind, it takes me four or five months to write a novel, which leaves me a lot of time the rest of the year," he told Book magazine. "I don't like to hang around."

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    1. Date of Birth:
      September 17, 1932
    2. Place of Birth:
      Springfield, Massachusetts
    1. Date of Death:
      January 18, 2010
    2. Place of Death:
      Cambridge, Massachusetts
    1. Education:
      B.A. in English, Colby College, 1954; M.A., Ph. D. in English, Boston University, 1957, 1971
    2. Website:
      http://robertbparker.net/

Read an Excerpt

Death in Paradise, Chapter One

One out. A left-handed hitter with an inside-out swing. The ball would slice away from him toward third. Jesse took a step to his right. The next pitch was inside and chest high and the batter yanked it down the first baseline, over the bag and into the right-field corner, had there been a corner, and lumbered into second base without a throw.

"I saw you move into the hole," the batter said to Jesse.

"Foiled again, Paulie."

They played three nights a week under the lights on the west side of town beside a lake, wearing team tee shirts and hats. One umpire. No stealing. No spikes allowed. Officially it was the Paradise Men's Softball League, but Jesse often thought of it as the Boys of Evening. The next batter was right-handed and Jesse knew he pulled everything. He stayed in the hole. On a two-one count the right-handed hitter rammed the ball a step to Jesse's left. One step. Left foot first, right foot turned, glove on the ground. Soft hands. Don't grab at it. Let it come to you. It was all muscle memory. Exact movements, rehearsed since childhood, and deeply visceral, somatically choreographed by the movement of the ball. With the ball hit in front of him, Paulie tried to go to third. In a continuous sequence of motion, Jesse swiped him with his glove as he went by, then threw the runner out at first.

"Never try to advance on a ball hit in front of you," Paulie said as they walked off the field.

"I've heard that," Jesse said.

His shoulder hurt, as it always did when he threw. And he knew, as he always knew, that the throw was not a big-league throw. Before he got hurt, the ball used to hum when he threw it, used to make a little snarly hiss as it went across the infield.

After the game they drank beer in the parking lot. Jesse was careful with the beer. Hanging around in the late twilight after a ball game drinking club soda just didn't work. But booze was too easy for Jesse. It went down too gently, made him feel too integrated. Jesse felt that it wasn't seemly for the police chief to get publicly hammered. So he had learned in the last few years to approach it very carefully.

The talk was of double plays, and games played long ago, and plays at the plate, and sex. Talk of sex and baseball was the best of all possible talk. Jesse sipped a little of the beer. Beer from an ice-filled cooler was the best way for beer to be. From the edge of the lake a voice said, "Jesse, get over here."

The voice was scared. Carrying a can of Lite beer, Jesse walked to the lakeside. Two men were squatting on their heels at the edge of the water. In front of them, floating facedown, was something that used to be a girl.

--From Death in Paradise by Robert B. Parker (c) October 2001, G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Putnam, used by permission.

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Table of Contents

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First Chapter

Death in Paradise, Chapter One

One out. A left-handed hitter with an inside-out swing. The ball would slice away from him toward third. Jesse took a step to his right. The next pitch was inside and chest high and the batter yanked it down the first baseline, over the bag and into the right-field corner, had there been a corner, and lumbered into second base without a throw.

"I saw you move into the hole," the batter said to Jesse.

"Foiled again, Paulie."

They played three nights a week under the lights on the west side of town beside a lake, wearing team tee shirts and hats. One umpire. No stealing. No spikes allowed. Officially it was the Paradise Men's Softball League, but Jesse often thought of it as the Boys of Evening. The next batter was right-handed and Jesse knew he pulled everything. He stayed in the hole. On a two-one count the right-handed hitter rammed the ball a step to Jesse's left. One step. Left foot first, right foot turned, glove on the ground. Soft hands. Don't grab at it. Let it come to you. It was all muscle memory. Exact movements, rehearsed since childhood, and deeply visceral, somatically choreographed by the movement of the ball. With the ball hit in front of him, Paulie tried to go to third. In a continuous sequence of motion, Jesse swiped him with his glove as he went by, then threw the runner out at first.

"Never try to advance on a ball hit in front of you," Paulie said as they walked off the field.

"I've heard that," Jesse said.

His shoulder hurt, as it always did when he threw. And he knew, as he always knew, that the throw was not a big-league throw. Before he got hurt, the ball used to hum when he threw it, used to make a little snarly hiss as it went across the infield.

After the game they drank beer in the parking lot. Jesse was careful with the beer. Hanging around in the late twilight after a ball game drinking club soda just didn't work. But booze was too easy for Jesse. It went down too gently, made him feel too integrated. Jesse felt that it wasn't seemly for the police chief to get publicly hammered. So he had learned in the last few years to approach it very carefully.

The talk was of double plays, and games played long ago, and plays at the plate, and sex. Talk of sex and baseball was the best of all possible talk. Jesse sipped a little of the beer. Beer from an ice-filled cooler was the best way for beer to be. From the edge of the lake a voice said, "Jesse, get over here."

The voice was scared. Carrying a can of Lite beer, Jesse walked to the lakeside. Two men were squatting on their heels at the edge of the water. In front of them, floating facedown, was something that used to be a girl.

—From Death in Paradise by Robert B. Parker (c) October 2001, G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Putnam, used by permission.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 27 )
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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 27 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 25, 2013

    I admire Parker immensely  and have always enjoyed Spenser.   I

    I admire Parker immensely  and have always enjoyed Spenser.   I have a new cast of characters to  enjoy with Jesse Stone and company. The writing is superb, and what makes it all the better is that Stone struggles  with his demons, his insecurities and doubts- except when he's working There he is in his element and nothing escapes his attention.  Great read, and in the case of this book, very topical.

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  • Posted July 22, 2012

    Good Read

    Very entertaining; recommend it a lot

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  • Posted September 17, 2011

    Great Book!

    The first two books in Robert B Parkers (Jesse Stone) series had a couple of moments of laughter that caught you off guard. This one, Death in Paradise had many more of those moments. Still Jesse Stone has his one line comments (which are amusing in themselves). The evolving relationship between Jesse & Jenn is smooth and not overwhelming, slow & steady. I have to wonder why a book wasn't written about the bridge in book #2 that was blown up...and the rebuilding of it.....??? Even if you haven't read the first two books in this series, read this one! I am moving on to book #4.

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  • Posted September 16, 2011

    Death in Paradise vs Family Honor

    I just read the previous review of someone who tried to access Death in Paradise via ebook and was unable to. Has anyone else had the same problem? I am getting ready to purchase Death in Paradise ebook and we will see if I get it or if I get Family Honor instead. If customer service can't fix the problem - who do you contact? Thanks

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  • Posted September 7, 2011

    Death in Paradise

    I've e-mailed customer service about my e-book, "Death in Paradise". Unfortunately, I received another Robert B. Parker book called "Family Honor". I would really like to read Death in Paradise but can't seem to find a way to access it. Every time I download it I get Family Honor. Customer service just told me that they didn't have control over it, that it was the company... Any ideas anyone?

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 23, 2009

    Another piece of Jesse Stone's everyday life

    Jesse is still dealing with his emotional issues and his addiction issues. He is lovable, likable and believable. Many different characters are introduced and slowly Jesse puts the pieces together to solve his current case. This book is much more about Jesse and his everyday life than it is necessarily about his job, IMO.

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  • Posted May 31, 2009

    The enjoyment of the Jesse Stone series doesn't end. "Death In Paradise" keeps the characters strong and likable. Very enjoyable.

    I'd never read several books of the same series, one after the other, in the past. While I have other books to read, I don't seem to be as interested in them as I am in the characters of the Jesse Stone series. I thought I'd tire of them and want a break, but so far they are so strong and different that they keep me hooked. "Death In Paradise" keeps my interest alive. I look forward to the next book in this series.

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  • Posted May 10, 2009

    Love Jesse Stone!

    Another hit series by Parker. Have not read his stuff since Spenser (which I loved). Will definitely have to collect all of these.

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  • Posted March 10, 2009

    Death In Paradise

    Robert B. Parker comes through with another Jesse Stone hit!! They are an easy read so they are hard to put down once you read the first page and you can't help but get attached to the characters. Whenever there is one of the TV movies made from the series, you can bet I will be watching--perfect casting with Tom Selleck as Jesse. Keep them coming!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 21, 2008

    Homerun

    This is my 2nd Jesse Stone novel and I know I will now read the whole series. The writing is fabulous with its witty fast-pace dialogue and plot. But more than anything the character development in Jesse Stone is superb. Jesse hits homeruns but Parker definitely does too.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 7, 2003

    Great Book!

    wow this is the best book i have ever read. im 14 years old and this is the first book i have ever read because i felt like reading. im not a big reader. but this book...it was great

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 10, 2001

    Superb Mystery

    Robert B. Parker once again scores a winning run with his third novel in the Jesse Stone series. Former L.A. homicide detective Jesse Stone is now Chief of Police in Paradise, Massachusetts after alcohol ruined both his detective job and his marriage. When the body of a young girl is found in a lake during one of Jesse¿s softball games, Chief Stone must use his well-honed investigative skills to find the killer. <br><br> Just as Jesse feels the need to lead his softball team (he once played in the minors), he must lead his police force in his quest to find the killer of the unidentified girl. Just to name a few on the force, there is Molly, with her Irish-Catholic sense of humor, a perfect combination with Jesse¿s dry wit. And Suitcase Simpson is only too eager to please his Chief though his experience with surveillance is nil. <br><br> As Jesse follows the trail of clues to discover the murderer¿s identity, his personal life is carefully revealed. His dependent relationship with his ex-wife, Jenn, is inextricably intertwined with his alcohol problem. And there is Lilly, the high school principal he is seeing seemingly to avoid loneliness. <br><br> Mr. Parker has penned another sure success, one of his best yet. The mystery is nothing short of excellent, as previously unrelated characters become suspects caught in a web that begins to unravel as their connection to each other is exposed. And Jesse is portrayed as a very real hero, a man who seems rather sure of himself to his peers and to women, but a man who battles quite a few demons in private.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 18, 2009

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 27, 2012

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 7, 2011

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 19, 2011

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 7, 2013

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 31, 2010

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    Posted December 6, 2011

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    Posted March 30, 2013

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