Jesse Stone novels
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[1] 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.[2] Showing up drunk to an interview for a job as police chief for a small town of Paradise, 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,..."[1]
Contents |
[edit] Novels
- Night Passage (22 September 1997)
- Trouble in Paradise (21 September 1998)
- Death In Paradise (1 October 2001)
- Stone Cold (1 October 2003)
- Sea Change (7 February 2006) - (mentions Spenser albeit not by name)
- High Profile (6 February 2007)
- Stranger In Paradise (2008)
[edit] 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." [3]
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.
[edit] Filmography
- Stone Cold (20 February 2005)
- Jesse Stone: Night Passage (15 January 2006) a prequel to Stone Cold
- Jesse Stone: Death In Paradise (30 April 2006)
- Jesse Stone: Sea Change (22 May 2007)
- Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2008) written by Parker, but not based on an existing novel
[edit] References
- ^ a b Robert P. Parker interview - Penguin Group (Canada)]
- ^ Parker, Robert (2006). Blue Screen. New York, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399153519
- ^ Robert B. Parker: Selleck and other matters - Typepad. July 2007
[edit] External links
- Jesse Stone page at Robert Parker's website
- Tony Bray interview with Tom Selleck and Robert Parker - TV Now - January 2006
- Bullets & Beer website - (With list of all of Parker's novels, including Jesse Stone)
 |
This article about a mystery novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
