Colorblind (Jesse Parker) by Reed Farrel Coleman / Robert B. Parker

Paradise police chief Jesse Stone is just back from rehab when an African American woman gets murdered. When more racially motivated crimes are committed he gives it his all to find out who is behind this. That task doesn't become easier though when his black female officer Alisha guns down a what appears to be unarmed man.
There's also a young man named Slayton Cole (how cool does that name sound) who fills in a role that reminded me of Spenser's bond with Paul in several novels.
Coleman manages to weave a tight mystery in with another piece of  character development of Jesse Stone quite nicely. Keeping his own writing style, but offering the kind of short chapters Robert B. Paker used Mr. Coleman shows again why he was such a good choice do continue this series.

Robert B. Parker's The Hangman's Sonnet (Jesse Stone) by Reed Farrel Coleman

I was convinced Reed wouldn't take the easy way out with this series and he doesn't disappoint. You see, it would have been easy to take the premise Robert B. Parker left him with and just tell the same story over and over again, never changing the character. Reed however manages to make Jesse Stone grow with each novel. I feel like Reed understands, knows, the character almost better than Parker himself did.
Struggling with alchohol and the death of his great love Jesse still manages to act as police chief, although his friends frequently need to cover his ass.
When a bulgary ends up in murder Jess investigates and becomes involved with the search for a missing master tape of a folk singer's biggest record.
For fans of Spenser (and who reading this blog isn't) there's also a cool short scene with the wisecracking PI that makes the book worth your purchase already.
There is absolutely a nice mystery within these pages that is wrapped up quite neatly. We see Jess clash with several authority figures and there's some wonderful characters walking around.  The highlight, however is how Jess moves on with his life and his struggles.

Blind to Sin (Matt Herrick / Jackson Donne) by Dave White

Dave White cites both Richard Stark and Robert B. Parker as his main influences for his latest novel. Considering those are very important influences to my own Noah Milano stories (like the new Serving Justice) I was already sure to like this book, not to mention the earlier entry in this series was awesome.
As much, or even more, of a heist story than a PI story the Stark influence is obvious. Though, it is not just the plot that shows that influence. Also the prose, especially in the Donne scenes has the same feel to it.
In this novel Jackson Donne is freed from prison together with the son of basketball coach / PI Matt Herrick. Herrick's dad, along with a group of criminals intends to steal from the Federal Reserve together with Matt and Jackson. With this money Matt's mother could be saved from cancer.
Unfortunately, everybody has a secret agenda and there's lots of double-crossing and not much honor among crooks.
Meanwhile Jackson Donne makes the journey from PI to psychopathic sidekick as he comes to the conclusion he needs to become more pro-active. I loved the muscular prose of those Donne scenes and loved the way Dave managed to AGAIN breathe some fresh air in the PI genre without using dinosaurs, zombies or paranormal stuff.

Debt to Pay (Jesse Stone) by Reed Farrel Coleman

Jesse Stone is invited by his ex-wife to be at her wedding. Loyal readers of this series might understand this will be challenging for him.  When Mr. Peepers, a recurring villain and psychopathic assassin is back with revenge on his mind Jesse understands he will have to be at the wedding, if only to protect his ex-wife from Mr. Peepers. Good thing his new girlfriend is ex-FBI and willing to go with him.

Mr. Peepers is almost to Jesse what The Joker is to Batman. Very skilled but also very crazy we see him in action a lot and are treated to his dangerous mind. I usually dislike to many POV's from the villain but Mr. Coleman made it work for me.

As alway, Reed shows an understanding of the Jesse Stone character that makes you forget no he, but Robert B. Parker created him. His development of formerly minor character Suit is impressive as well. I guess that's where this novel shines, not in the fairly standard plot but in the understanding of the characters in it.

I was shocked by the death of a long-running Parker / Spenser character in the first few pages that had me put down the book for a few minutes. Still not sure about what I think about that, although I must praise Mr. Coleman for his guts to shake things up a bit.

Robert B. Parker’s The Devil Wins (Jesse Stone) by Reed Farrel Coleman

I'm a mystery fan. So when I read a crime novel my main interest is usually in how the plot unfolds. This time, that came second to the scenes where Jesse Stone ponders about his state in the world, his struggle with alcohol. His descriptions of a glass of whiskey made me all thirsty for one and I felt I was invited into the very most intimate life of a man I respect, understand and care for.
In this novel Jesse Stone investigates the death of two girls who went missing during their high school years. One of the cops in Jesse's team, Molly, has a connectioin to the girls and one of the other main cops in the series, Suitcase, has a chance to shine as well. The relationship to Jesse's officers is investigated in as much detail as the murder case, deepening the value of this novel and improving upon the framework created by the great Mr. Parker.
I also noticed Mr. Coleman managed to channel the specific rhytm Parker's prose seemed to have a bit more, which made me enjoy the book even more.
Perfect merging of the style of two great crime novelists.

Lullaby (Spenser) by Ace Atkins / Robert B. Parker

When I first heard that Ace Atkins would be taking over the Spenser series after Robert B. Parker's demise I was very happy. Not only would that mean I wouldn't have to miss my favorite PI but I knew the series would be in good hands, Ace being a big favorite writer of mine.
Still, it took quite some time before I got around to reading Ace's Spenser books. Why? Not sure. Maybe there was some fear of disappointment? Well, that fear was unfounded.
It is almost creepy how well Atkins writes in Robert's style. It is almost if he is channeling the writer from beyond.
Atkins makes a very smart choice in making his first Spenser novel all about protecting a young teen, bringing back memories of the best Spenser books of the past with Paul Giacomin. That, and the return of favorites like Vinnie Morris, Broz, Hawk, Rita Fiore, Susan, etc make this a solid and true Spenser read.
Atkins also does a good trick of placing Spenser in the modern world, but still making him the original, old fashioned hero we know. He might use a cellphone but only to make phone calls for instance.
One of the best Spenser novel in the past few years. Amazing, right?

Just a sidenote that Robert B. Parker was one of my biggest influences as well, you can see that in my currently free Noah Milano novelette that you can get here.

Blind Spot (Jesse Stone) by Reed Farrel Coleman

I am a big fan of Reed Farrel Coleman's work. I am also a big fan of Robert B. Parker's work. So I figured Parker's characters in Coleman's hands should be a match made in heaven. Turns out I was right. So, after Michael Brandman now Mr. Colleman chronicles the story of Jesse Stone.
Reed seems to "get" Jesse Stone even better than Parker himself if that's even possible. By that I mean the character really, really came to life for me. The time Reed spend researching about the character to write an essay in the non-fiction "In Pursuit Of Spenser" pays off here.
When a young woman is murdered in Paradise police chief Jesse Stone finds a connection to his old baseball team. Falling in love with a pretty undercover Special Agent, saving damsels in distress from bikers, battling against the bottle all keep him pretty busy. In the end though, Jesse solves the case... Kind of.
Aside from great work on Parker's characters Coleman introduces a few great ones of his own creation, like the thug-in-love Breen. These characters are just as fascinating as Parker's.

Frame Up (Fenway Burke) by James Phoenix

The last time I felt like this reading a book was when I was reading The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais.
When I read that debut of PI Elvis Cole I was so pleased to see someone understood the greatness of Robert B. Parker's Spenser series but managed to give it his own twist. Through the years Crais developed his own voice and Cole became more and more unique. That bodes well for the future of James Phoenix and Fenway Burke.
In this novel we follow PI Fenway Burke's defeat at the hands of a dangerous assassin and his return in a way that reminded me of Spenser's defeat at the hands of the Grey Man (in Small Vices). There's also his meeting with Harvard lawyer Megan who gives Susan Silverman a run for her money when it comes to intelligence.
The surprises here are that they actually get married and start a family, taking the idea of the Spenser series (a tough guy involved in a steady relationship with an intelligent woman) to the next level.
I really enjoyed how Fenway schooled himself to be more of an intellectual equal to Megan.
There's a few Hawk-like guys in here as well, Ax and . They're not Pike or Hawk yet, but I'm sure they'll grow on me in the novels to come. I do think I like Fenway's dogs better than Pearl.
I liked the Spenser references that will appeal to the hardcore fans, like a Starbucks versus Dunking Donuts discussion for instance.
One of my favorite books this year... Get it here.

Read these blogs if you like PI fiction

There's some things on the web you should check out...
Dave White starts a cool discussion about the popularity of PI fiction here.
Lawrence Block shares a chapter from "In Pursuit Of Spenser" here.

Great article about PI fiction

You just have to read this article article that interviews many of my favorite writers about Robert B. Parker and his influence on the genre.