Robert B. Parker

1880s, the American West. Randall Bragg is a rich landowner who is wanted for murdering the town marshal. Lawman Virgil Cole and his deputy Everett Hitch are two friends who are hired to defend a lawless town from the murderous rancher. Their efforts become complicated and their friendship is tested when a young widow arrives in town.

Jesse investigates the grim works of a serial killer in Boston and becomes concerned with a wayward teen in Paradise.

Following his divorce and the loss of his job as a homicide detective with the LAPD, Jesse Stone travels across the country to Paradise, Massachusetts where he is recruited by the town's board of selectmen to become the new Chief of Police. But things are not quite so heavenly in Paradise, as Stone starts off his first day on the job investigating a domestic abuse case that leads to a money-laundering scheme possibly involving bank manager Hasty Hathaway--...

Jesse Stone is a down-and-out former L.A. police detective whose biggest battle is now against the bottle, as the demons of his past rise to haunt him while he drives himself to distraction by pursuing a decade-old murder case. Finding refuge in the small town of Paradise, Chief Stone reopens an unsolved murder case, digging up clues in an old grave and pursuing the ghosts of a forgotten crime. But it's not just the victim's and killer's pasts that...

Stone is a quiet chief of police in a cold, gray, seaside town. When a serial killer strikes, this tough cop is in the thick of it. Add his girlfriend, an ex-wife and a sexy defense attorney, and things really heat up.

Jesse Stone is shot while moonlighting on a Boston stakeout, leaving his friend fighting for his life and Stone out for justice. His rogue investigation to find the shooter leads him into Boston's shady underworld. This leads him right into the bed of a Boston PD investigator, who wants his head on a platter if he continues to pursue the case. Meanwhile, Stone is approached by a broken-hearted mother who is convnced her kidnapped son is still alive....

While struggling to get his job back as the Paradise police chief, Jesse Stone investigates a mob-related double homicide; after taking an involuntary retirement, Jesse Stone investigates the death of a young friend; a domestic abuse investigation leads to a bank manager laundering money; Jesse Stone reopens an unsolved murder case; Jesse Stone goes up against the mob as he investigates the murder of a teenage girl; after being suspended, Chief Stone...

Death in paradise: Now that Stone has settled in as Paradise's police chief, he has to solve the grisly murder of a teenage girl. The investigation uncovers abuse and even leads him to a conflict with a Boston mob. Night passage: The story picks up after Jesse Stone is fired from the Los Angeles Police Department. He becomes an unlikely candidate recruited by the town board of selectmen to become police chief of Paradise.

Spenser, a Boston private eye, tackles a different case each week with the occasional assist from his buddy Hawk. At the local police department, Spenser has a friend in gruff Lt. Martin Quirk. On the rare occasions when he issn't working, Spenser spends time with his girlfriend, Susan, a school guidance counselor.