Night and Day

Robert B. Parker

Paradise, Massachusetts, is a community north of Boston. It's a fairly average commuter city on the New England coast. Jesse Stone is called to the junior high school for an unusual complaint. Parents have gathered to protest against the principal. At the dance shortly before, she took the girls into the restroom and checked their underwear. If they were wearing underwear she deemed unsuitable, she sent them home, not allowing them to go to the dance.

That is the beginning of a group of sex related complaints. There is a Peeping Tom abroad in Paradise. And one of the young girls from the junior high school incident comes to Jesse with a problem at home. Paradise has an active Swingers club - wife and husband swapping. Her parents are involved and it's affecting her and her younger brother. She asks Jesse if he can stop them without getting her involved. Since the club is a legal group, he can't do anything officially.

The Paradise police department starts watching for the Peeping Tom. One policeman is assigned to investigate the Swingers club to make sure it is staying within in the wall. Jesse brings in the junior high school principal to talk. The parents could have her arrested for violation of personal rights. Her high powered lawyer husband accompanies her and refuses to let her say much.

Then the Peeping Tom escalates. He starts breaking into homes in the the daytime, holding a gun on women, making them remove their clothes, and taking digital pictures of them naked. He hasn't touched anyone yet, but has threatened each of the women with a gun.

Jesse has his own personal problems. His ex-wife moves to New York City to take a new television job. Once again he is conflicted over their relationship. Sunny Randall keeps returning. They may have decided their relationship couldn't go far, but they enjoy each other's company.

Night and Day is not a murder mystery. It's a good study and people and relationships. While all the incidents have sexual overtones, all of them are about how families and couples interact with each other. Robert B. Parker uses (now used) his knowledge of people to make this story flow and believable.

If you follow this series, this one can be read alone for the mystery despite references to Jesse's past in other novels in the series. But if you're following the series, you'll cheer for Jesse by the end.

Notice:  Suggestive dialogue or situations

Night Passage
Trouble in Paradise
Death in Paradise
Stone Cold
Sea Change
Blue Screen
High Profile
Stranger in Paradise
Night and Day
Split Image
Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues (by Michael Brandman)