Finished Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman. This book features Jesse Stone, a character created by the late Robert B. Parker.
Like the rest of Paradise, Massachusetts, Police chief Jesse Stone is gearing up for the summer tourist season. In Jesse’s case, that means figuring out who’s behind a rash of car thefts. Also in the mix is an old enemy who’s out of prison and headed toward Paradise to finally take his revenge on Jesse …
I’ve enjoyed and read Parker’s books for years, so I was interested in seeing how this series would continue after Parker’s death (he passed away in 2010).
On one hand, things haven’t changed much. All the familiar characters are back, and Jesse takes down the bad guys with ease (really, almost too much ease).
However, it just didn’t quite read like a Parker book to me. The dialogue (one of my favorite things about Parker’s style) just didn’t seem quite as snappy and engaging as in previous books. Also, Jesse didn’t sound quite like Jesse to me.
The mystery involving the car thefts is fairly thin, and I was disappointed that Sunny Randall, Jesse’s on-again, off-again love interest (and star of another series by Parker) wasn’t in this book. I’ve been hoping that Jesse and Sunny would get and stay together, just because I think it would be interesting to read about their relationship from both his and her points of view. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now.
Overall, this was an okay entry in the series, but I enjoyed the books written by Parker more.
My grade: D
Would I read this author again: Probably. I’m interested in reading more about Parker’s characters.
Memorable quote: “Coffee was the only thing on Jesse Stone’s mind when he entered the Paradise police station on a bright New England spring morning.”




