Synopsis: 'The town of Paradise receives a tragic shock when the mayor is discovered dead, his body lying in a shallow grave on a property on the lake. It's ostensibly suicide, but Jesse's has his doubts . . . especially because the piece of land where the man was found is the subject of a contentious and dodgy land deal.
Two powerful moguls are fighting over the right to buy and develop the prime piece of real estate, and one of them has brought in a hired gun, an old adversary of Jesse’s: Wilson Cromartie, aka Crow. Meanwhile, the town council is debating if they want to sacrifice Paradise’s stately character for the economic boost of a glitzy new development. Tempers are running hot, and as the deaths begin to mount, it’s increasingly clear that the mayor may have standing in the wrong person’s way. '

Review:

This book is a great disappointment. The writing is shoddy, and the lack of ideas is evident in the obsessive focus on Stone’s craving for alcohol and his missing Sunny Randall.

The first chapter lays out the background in a boring information dump with no apparent attention to engaging the reader. Even mediocre writers know that background information about the characters, setting, and the plot is best introduced in the story’s context. The writing is awkward and stilted. His attempt at banter among Jesse, Molly, and Suitcase are painfully tedious. Jarring changes are introduced without the necessary transitions. For example, in one sentence, Stone and Molly are talking in Dolly Dyke’s Dinner. In the following sentence, they encounter TV crews in front of the police station. Dialogue most often appears in the third person point of view. And the presence of conspicuous grammatical errors is a clear sign of the failure to proofread the manuscript effectively.

An attractive feature of the Jesse Stone novels has been the interesting supporting characters. Now Suit has more or less disappeared as a meaningful character, appearing only to eat doughnuts. Crow is reduced from a mysterious character with mythical skills to a humble wingman. Only Molly survives unscathed.

Stone’s Throw is the second mediocre to poor offering in the Jesse Stone series. It appears the choice of Mike Lupica to carry forward with the series is a grave mistake. My advice is to skip this one and hope someone else is signed to take over the franchise. ( )

The good citizens of Paradise, Massachusetts are stunned by the suicide death of Mayor Neil O’Hara, whose body has been found in a shallow grave. But Jesse Stone, Neil’s friend . . . and the Paradise police chief . . . isn’t buying the idea that O’Hara killed himself. So he sets out to do what he does best . . . he investigates.

It soon becomes apparent that the mayor’s death is connected in some way to the upcoming [and somewhat contentious] land deal . . . Thomas Lawton is the seller of the oceanfront property known as The Throw; both Billy Singer and Ed Barrone are angling for the winning position, both anxious to purchase the land in order to build a casino there. But both men are keeping secrets, and it seems as if they’ll stop at nothing to emerge victorious and to be the one to purchase the land.

And then there’s a grim discovery . . . another body buried in another shallow grave . . . .

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All the expected characters are here in this, the twentieth outing for Jesse Stone. Paradise has become like a second home to readers of the series, and these people are like next-door-neighbor friends. Fortunately, both Paradise and its people are well-drawn and interesting, much as readers expect to find them. Jesse, dogged and determined, will seek the truth.

Short chapters, plenty of action, and an intriguing mystery behind the mayor’s death all work together to keep the pages turning in this enjoyable addition to the series. A few unexpected revelations and an undercurrent of tension [often thanks to the new mayor] keep the pages turning as the unfolding narrative races toward a denouement sure to please fans of the series.

Highly recommended. ( )

Robert B. Parker's Stone's Throw: A Jesse Stone Novel by Mike Lupica finds Jesse Stone missing drinking as well as Sunny Randall. They are in a relationship time out and she is out in Los Angeles working a case. That means she is far from home and working for an old boyfriend, Tony Gault. He is some sort of Hollywood talent agent and hired her to deal with a problem. That case and his presence are not why they are in a relationships time out, but it certainly does not help matters.

One of the ways Jesse keeps drinking at bay is by going for long walks. As the book begins in earnest, Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone is on one of those late evening walks. This night he has walked over to an area of land known as “The Throw.” It is the last big piece of beachfront property in the area and is up for sale by Thomas Lawton III. The sale has caused massive controversy locally and is being fought over by two very rich men who have their own designs for how they will develop the property once the Board of Selectmen approve the sale. Billy Singer, a guy out of Vegas, and Boston based, Ed Barron, have competing plans to build a casino and a hotel on the property.

While the rich have been battling it out in public and on the airwaves with their competing golden promises, some local opposition has come about from folks who have environmental and other concerns. The opposition are underdogs as the rich guys, as they always do, are promising a massive boost to the local economy that has been ravaged by Covid-19 as well as a lot of new jobs. Some in the opposition have resorted to a sort of guerrilla tactic of digging graves and placing ironic tombstones n the fresh grave each time. It happens every so often and at random intervals which makes it hard to catch the people doing it.

Not that Chief Jesse Stone is much worried about it. The current property owner is irate each time it happens, but in the big scheme of things and the fact the land is soon to be ripped apart by bug tractors and the like, it does not really matter.

So, his only concern when he sees evidence of a new shallow grave is the fact that Lawton will be in his office loudly complaining yet again. That would have been preferable to what Jesse actually finds at the new grave. Instead of another empty one, he finds his friend and the Paradise mayor, Neil O' Hara, very much dead by way of an apparent suicide.

Of course, it isn't a suicide for several reasons soon explained. The questions of who did it and why are ones of many that have to be answered in Robert B. Parker's: A Jesse Stone Novel by Mike Lupica.

Fast moving with short chapters and a brevity of dialogue and scene details, the book is an okay fast read. It hits all the usual touchstones regarding local and distantly located characters and keeps action front and center. A lightweight and simplistic read that serves as a pleasant enough multi hour diversionary escape despite the fact there is no new ground here and even the final twist is rather expected. The estate really should have stayed with Reed Farrel Coleman for these books. It would have been way better.

Robert B. Parker's Stone's Throw: A Jesse Stone Novel
Mike Lupica
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
ASIN: B08R1BDKFC
September 2021
ISBN# 978-1-4328-6858-1
eBook
334Pages

My reading copy, in eBook format, came courtesy of the Dallas Public Library System. As always, Scott provided the technical assistance needed to get it up and working on my iPad.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2021 ( )

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S STONE'S THROW ABOUT?
The mayor of Paradise is found dead at the site of a contentious land deal—it's one of the most sought-after properties in Paradise, and the City is preparing to weigh in and deciding which of two buyers get to put a casino on it—while several citizens are trying to block the sale at all. The mayor is clearly sympathetic to the anti-sale voices, but it doesn't look like he's going to be able to do anything to stop it going forward.

And then he apparently commits suicide on that piece of real estate. Jesse's not so sure about the suicide part, however, it doesn't make sense to him for several reasons—his friendship with the mayor is just one of them (the fact that the left-handed man seemingly used his right hand to shoot himself would be another).

Jesse just has to decide who has the most motive to kill him—one of the buyers? The seller? The anti-sale group?

Then the leader of the conservation movement goes missing, and his girlfriend is worried. Then it turns out that Wilson Cromartie—Crow—is working for one of the casino builders. He and the Paradise Police Department have a very shaky history—his criminal past (all beyond the statute of limitations) makes Jesse dis-inclined to trust him, no matter how much assistance he rendered in finding a missing girl later. Is Crow on the side of angels this time, or could he be behind the mayor's death?

In a case that clearly calls for someone to "follow the money" there's so much of it flying around that it'd be easy to get lost trying that, there are no easy answers for Jesse and the rest of the PPD.

MOLLY
From the beginning of the series, Molly Crane has been one of the highlights of the books and of the Paradise Police Department. She's loyal, competent, and has a big heart. She's stood by Jesse when things were at their worst for him—covering for him as much as she could. She's almost too perfect—except for the one time she slept with Crow. That's pretty much the only time she's done something wrong.

And since then—at least once per book*—Jesse has brought that transgression up. Every author—Parker, Brandman**, Coleman, and now Lupica—has had Jesse throw this in her face regularly. It's always bothered me that it's so constant, so frequent—the woman beats herself up for it, she's been so good to Jesse, and this is how he treats her?

* As far as I remember, I could be wrong about that, I doubt there's been more than 2 books without it.

** I honestly remember so little about the Brandman novels, I only assume he followed suit.

And now, Crow is back—and he and Molly interact a bit, both with others around and one-on-one. Without getting into anything, I hope that this allows Molly to get past this act of infidelity—and that Jesse stops bringing it up. Really, there's an opportunity for closure here, and I hope Lupica takes it.

TALKIN' BASEBALL
I always liked that Parker wrote Jesse as someone who became a cop not because he had the drive to see justice done, to serve and protect, etc.—but because he had to re-evaluate his life after his baseball career-ending injury and then came to the career in law enforcement.

Parker treated this well, in a "road not taken" kind of way. Coleman did a good job with it—although Blind Spot was more about being part of a team, more than the sport. But Lupica? Lupica really knows how to write about this part of Jesse's life. He has Jesse think about this a lot in the first chapter and I put in my notes, "this is the best passage in Lupica's Parker books." And then it comes up later in the book, too. I don't know if it's all the sports books in Lupica's past, just a better insight into the mindset of the baseball player, or what—but this book has the best usage of Jesse's former career that this twenty-book series has had.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT STONE'S THROW?
I wasn't crazy about this at the beginning—it was always good, but I didn't get sucked in right away. I also wasn't crazy about the way that Crow was being used—it reminded me of the way that Parker took some of the danger away from Vinnie Morris, Bobby Horse, and Chollo after their initial appearances. But it started to grow on me the further I got into it—and by the last half, I was invested as I could've hoped to be.

And even if I wasn't—just being back in Paradise with Jesse, Suit, and Molly is good enough.

Lupica's got the voices down, he understands Paradise, he gets the cast of characters right and this book feels like he's been writing Stone novels for more years than he has—I had to remind myself that this is only his second time with this series. I'd have easily believed this is the fifth.

Whether you're new to Jesse Stone, or you've been reading them since the beginning, this is a novel that will entertain you and leave you looking forward to the next one. ( )