Trouble in Paradise

Robert B. Parker

Stiles Island in off the coast from Paradise, Massachusetts. It's exclusive, wealthy, and the only connection to the mainland is the bridge and one boat harbor. The residents pay for their own security as well as fall under the jurisdiction of the Paradise police department. Jesse Stone is the chief of the department.

Jimmy Macklin has just gotten out of jail. He rejoins his girlfriend and proposes his next job. He's going to get a group together, blow the bridge, and thieve everything on the island from the bank to the private homes. He takes Faye and they start to case out the area. He decides that with the right specialists they could be rich.

Jesse likes his job and the town. There are problems, though. When a house was torched by some teenagers, their mother came to their rescue and now wants him out of his job. She has clout in Paradise. His ex-wife live nearby in Boston, and he's still in love with her. But she doesn't want to remarry, so he is free to date other women as well. Then he begins to think that something isn't quite right about the couple who are interested in land on Stiles Island.

Trouble in Paradise is the second novel in the Jesse Stone series. Paradise is just north of Boston. In this one, Jesse has ties to characters that appear in Parker's Spenser novels - like Belson in Homicide as well as some other names Spenser fans would recognize. Trouble in Paradise is an enjoyable novel, but not riveting. This book is about Jesse's personal problems as much as about the mystery. If you like the tone on Parker's Spenser novels (and I do), you'll find these of a different narrative tone, yet similar overall.

Notice: Non-graphic violence, 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)