Stone Cold
Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone has a problem no officer of the law likes to face: dead bodies keep appearing but clues do not.
Let's take them in order. A man takes his dog out for a run on the beach, only to be discovered hours later - with two holes in his chest. A woman drives her Volvo to the store to do some grocery shopping, and is then found dead, her body crumpled behind her loaded shopping cart. A commuter takes a shortcut home from the train, and never makes it back to his house. And there's a fourth that comes close to Jesse personally.
Hunting down a serial killer is difficult and dangerous in any town, but in a town like Paradise, where the city's selectmen and the media add untold pressures, Jesse feels considerable heat. Already walking an emotional tightrope, he stumbles; he's spending too much time with the bottle, and with his ex-wife - neither of which helps him, or the case. The harder these outside forces push against him, the more Jesse retreats into himself, convinced - despite all the odds - that it's up to him alone to stop the killing.
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Robert B. Parker
Robert B. Parker's résumé is familiar to most of his readers. Born and raised in Massachusetts, graduated from Colby College in Maine, married Joan Hall, had two sons, earned his Ph.D. at Boston University, taught at Northeastern University, and wrote nearly seventy books.
There are other factoids about him that are less well known. Bob's talent for rhythm was first put to work when the U.S. Army sent him to Korea as a Morse code radio operator. He always wanted to be a writer, but he needed a steady income to support his young wife and, later, his sons. Bob was hired as a technical writer first for Raytheon and then for Curtiss-Wright, which soon laid him off. He next worked as editor of a magazine for Prudential insurance agents and freelanced as a partner in Parker/Farman, the "world's smallest advertising agency."
Unable to take any more of corporate America, and with no interest in advertising, Bob returned to school. The plan was to earn a doctorate, get a job teaching, and have the time to start writing seriously. While going to school, he held down as many as five college teaching jobs at once, often took care of his sons, and did odd jobs for a consulting company. Fortunately for the family, Joan had a job in education that paid well.Jesse Stone
Jesse Stone consists of twenty-three books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
