Jesse Stone is the lead character in a series of

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

s written by Robert B. Parker. They were among his last works, and the first series in which the

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

used the

third-person narrative Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

. The series consists of nine books, starting with ''Night Passage'' (1997) and ending with ''Split Image'' (2010), which Parker completed before his death in January 2010 but did not live to see published. The series was initially continued by Michael Brandman. In April 2014,

Reed Farrel Coleman Reed Farrel Coleman (born March 29, 1956) is an American writer of crime fiction and a poet. Life and career Reed Farrel Coleman, the youngest of three boys, was born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Brighton Beach section of ...

assumed the writing of the series. The novels have been adapted into nine TV films. The first eight films were commissioned by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, and aired from 2005 to 2012. A ninth film was picked up by the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies a ...

, and aired on October 18, 2015. A tenth film was under consideration in 2017.

Overview

The character begins the series at about 35 years old. He is a former minor league baseball

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

whose career was cut short by a shoulder injury. He was raised in Arizona and California.Robert B. Parker interview
��Penguin Group (Canada) He was asked to resign from his job as a homicide detective for the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division because of a drinking problem that began after his divorce from his beautiful wife, Jennifer. Showing up drunk to an interview for a job as police chief for the small town of Paradise, Massachusetts (loosely based on the real town of

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...

), Stone is hired because the corrupt president of the town board of selectmen thinks he will be easy to control. Stone quickly notices that the town has big league crimes, struggling with the mob, wildly errant wives and a triple homicide, and that his job will be more difficult than he expected. But, he proves up to the task, beginning with making a corruption case against the town council president and arresting him. In the novels, Stone typically carries a

.38 Special The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...

snubnosed revolver A snubnosed revolver (colloquially known as a snubbie, belly gun, or bulldog revolver) is a small, medium, or large frame revolver with a short barrel, generally less than 4 inches in length. Smaller such revolvers are often made with "bobbed" o ...

, the same weapon that he carried as an LAPD detective. The series chronicles Stone's cases as chief of the Paradise Police Department, as well as his struggles with alcohol and his complicated relationship with his ex-wife Jenn. He is respected and well liked by the police officers in the town police department. He develops a good working relationship and friendship with the State Police Homicide Commander, Captain Healy. The character of Jesse Stone, a deeply troubled man, was a departure for the author. Parker, comparing Stone to Spenser, the protagonist of his first series and the one for which he was best known, said, "Jesse is a much more damaged individual who is coming to terms with himself as he goes along." There is some overlap of characters with the Spenser books, notably with Healy and Sunny Randall, and (in ''Night and Day'') indirectly with Susan Silverman.

Novels

By Robert B. Parker: # '' Night Passage'' (September 1997) # '' Trouble in Paradise'' (September 1998) # '' Death in Paradise'' (October 2001) # '' Stone Cold'' (October 2003) # '' Sea Change'' (February 2006) # '' High Profile'' (February 2007) # '' Stranger In Paradise'' (February 2008) # '' Night and Day'' (February 2009) # '' Split Image'' (February 2010) By Michael Brandman: # ''Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues'' (September 2011) # ''Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice'' (September 2012) # ''Robert B. Parker's Damned If You Do'' (September 2013) By Reed Farrel Coleman # ''Robert B. Parker's Blind Spot'', G.P. Putnam (September 2014) # ''Robert B. Parker's The Devil Wins'', G.P. Putnam (2015) # ''Robert B. Parker's Debt to Pay'', G.P. Putnam (September 13, 2016) # ''Robert B. Parker's The Hangman's Sonnet'', G.P. Putnam (September 12, 2017) #''Robert B. Parker's Colorblind'' G.P. Putnam's Sons (September 11, 2018) #''Robert B. Parker's The Bitterest Pill'' G.P. Putnam's Sons (September 10, 2019) By Mike Lupica # ''Robert B. Parker's Fool's Paradise'', G.P. Putnam (September 8, 2020) #2 "Robert B. Parker's Stone's Throw," G.P. Putnam (2021) SBN 9780525542117

Television adaptations

(and later the

) adapted the novels as a series of movie specials starring

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series '' Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...

in the title role; the first was aired in 2005 and the most recent in 2015.

Robert Harmon Robert Harmon (born 1953) is an American film and television director. He is best known for the 1986 horror film '' The Hitcher'', starring Rutger Hauer, as well as for films like '' They'' and '' Nowhere to Run''. His television work is dist ...

has directed all but one of the films (

Dick Lowry Dick Lowry (born 15 September 1944 in Oklahoma) is an American director and film producer. Productions List films were all made for television unless otherwise indicated. *1975: ''The Drought (film), The Drought'' (theatrical film) *1980: '' ...

directed '' Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost''), and

Jeff Beal Jeff Beal (born June 20, 1963) is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal creates music that often incorporates a synthesis of im ...

has provided original music. Select scores from the movies were released on a limited edition CD by

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer r ...

in 2009. The films stay relatively true to storylines and character, with exceptions made mostly for television network viewing. With the fifth film, Selleck and Michael Brandman took over the screen writing, and took the films in new directions. The premise begins when the town council forced Jesse Stone out of his job as the Paradise Chief of Police. The council dubbed it "early retirement" and granted Stone a partial pension. As such, Stone was also granted the right to carry concealed firearms, without having a "concealed carry" permit. Captain Healy hires Stone as an occasional "temporary consultant" to assist on certain state police investigations. Stone insists that he will get back his old job as chief. In the eighth film of the series, Stone is restored as the Chief of Police after the incumbent is murdered. The chairman of the town council asks Stone to return as Chief and catch the killer. Stone's buddy , his Golden Retriever Reggie (played by Joe the dog), watches over Stone and plays an important supporting role in the series. Tom Selleck plays the character as straight from the novels as possible; he is older (late fifties/early sixties vs. late thirties in the books) than Stone. The author, Robert B. Parker, said that he found the Jesse Stone films the most accurate television adaptations of his novels. On his blog, he wrote that "Tom nails the character".Robert B. Parker: Selleck and other matters
- Typepad. July 2007 The cast of the films has included the following regular characters: * Kohl Sudduth as Officer Luther "Suitcase" Simpson. *

Kathy Baker } Katherine Whitton Baker (born June 8, 1950) is an American actress. Baker began her career in theater and made her screen debut in the 1983 drama film '' The Right Stuff''. She received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Suppor ...

as Officer Rose Gammon. *

Viola Davis Viola Davis (; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, she is the only African-American to achieve the Triple Crow ...

as Officer Molly Crane. The character was replaced by Rose Gammon in ''Sea Change''. *Vito Rezza as Officer Anthony D'Angelo, a Paradise Police deputy. The character was written out of the series in ''Benefit of the Doubt''. *

Stephen McHattie Stephen McHattie Smith (born February 3, 1946)Other sources cite 1945, 1947, and 1948. is a Canadian actor. Since beginning his professional career in 1970, he has amassed over 200 film and television credits. He won the Genie Award for Best Sup ...

as Captain Healy, head of the

Massachusetts State Police The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state. As of 10/4/2022, it ...

Homicide Division. *

William Devane William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera ''Knots Landing'' (1983–1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial dramas '' 24'' (2001–2010) and '' ...

as Dr. Dix, a former police officer turned therapist, whom Stone sees for help with his drinking and other personal issues. *

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on ''Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

as Hastings "Hasty" Hathaway, an auto salesman and formerly corrupt town council president who befriends Stone. * William Sadler as Gino Fish, an organized crime boss who likes Stone, despite their being on opposite sides of the law. Gino sometimes assists Stone on cases with information. A featured piece of music is '' Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 (Brahms) no.2''.

Filmography

# '' Stone Cold'' (February 20, 2005) # '' Jesse Stone: Night Passage'' (January 15, 2006) a prequel to ''Stone Cold'' # '' Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise'' (April 30, 2006) # '' Jesse Stone: Sea Change'' (May 22, 2007) # '' Jesse Stone: Thin Ice'' (March 1, 2009) # '' Jesse Stone: No Remorse'' (May 9, 2010) # '' Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost'' (May 22, 2011) # '' Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt'' (May 20, 2012) # '' Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise'' (October 18, 2015)

Characters

* A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.

Hiatus and relaunch

Although '' Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt'' attracted nearly 13 million viewers when CBS aired it on May 20, 2012, producer Michael Brandman told ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' a few days later that he and Tom Selleck had been notified that CBS would not be ordering any more episodes. They said the film attracted older viewers, and CBS is moving away from movies and specials in favor of shorter duration TV series. Selleck noted that the movies were expensive to produce, and he had his own money invested in the last few. Selleck said he was not finished with the Stone character. When interviewed by NBC's "Popcornbiz" in August 2012, he said,

Well, right now CBS hasn't ordered another one. That's nothing new. They always seem to order them one at a time even though we kind of hit home runs, which is frustrating. So I'm not sure whether this is the last 'Jesse' or not. I don't think it will be, because there are so many other markets, cable and everything, that I think would want the series.5 NBC Chicago Popcornbiz, Aug 10, 2012: "Tom Selleck Back to his Sleuthing Ways"
Retrieved 2012-09-01

On March 4, 2015, Hallmark Mysteries & Movies announced it had picked up a ninth film. Selleck himself indicated he was grateful to Hallmark, however he had to produce the movie with $1 million less budget than what CBS provided for the last film done for the network. Only Selleck, Kohl Sudduth, William Devane, and William Sadler returned for the ninth film, with the balance of the cast being new characters. It aired on October 18, 2015. A tenth film was under consideration in 2017.

References

External links

Jesse Stone
at Robert Parker's website
Megan Walsh-Boyle interview with Tom Selleck
- TV Guide - May 2007 {{Authority control American detective novels American mystery novels by series Fictional baseball players Fictional detectives Fictional police detectives