JESSE STONE: DEATH IN PARADISE

US, 2006, 90 minutes. Colour.
Tom Selleck, Viola Davis, Kohl Sudduth, Orla Brady, Gary Baseraba, John Diehl, Mae Whitman, Matt Barr, Stephen Mc Hattie, William Devane.
Directed by Robert Harmon.

Death in Paradise is the third film, starring Tom Selleck (who co-wrote the screenplay), bringing to the screen Robert Parker’s character Jesse Stone. Stone was a police officer in Los Angeles, had a drinking problem after the departure of his wife (who continually phones him in Massachusetts where he has moved). He is the chief of police, assisted by Kohl Sudduth (in all the films) and Viola Davis (in the early films, soon to have Kathy Baker become part of the team). Stephen Mc Hattie is the police chief for Massachusetts. William Devane continues his role as Doctor Dix, the former policeman, with an alcohol problem, who has become a psychiatrist and has sessions with Jesse Stone.

There are two strands in this film, as in the others. One is the straightforward confrontation between a drunken husband and his wife (John Diehl as the husband). He is in denial, Jesse imprisons him for a while, the women encourage the wife to consider leaving her brutal husband, which she finally does. He is distraught, pulls a hold-up in a supermarket, wounding Luther ‘Suitcase’ Simpson (Sudduth) and Jesse Stone is forced to confront him and kill the man. In the meantime, there is the more serious story of the body of a teenager found in the river. Investigation identifies her as a girl who had fallen into bad times, drugs and sex, a bad reputation in the town. She has very upright parents, a self-righteous father as well as a sister who has escaped from the family and is studying at the university (Mae Whitman). Stone visits the high school and encounters the headmistress (Orla Brady). They form a bond. In the meantime, there is information that the girl has been in Boston, at a centre for runaway girls, managed by a very modern nun in modern clothes, Sister Mary John, played by Kerri Smith – who was to appear in other Jesse Stone films. There is also a connection with Gino Fish, the Boston gangster, as well as another gangster, played by Leo Flynn. Flynn’s biography was to be written by a local celebrity and author.

In the event, the author is accused of the murder and having made the girl pregnant. However, with the complication, it emerges that the gangster and his assistant have set up the author as the killer of the girl so that he will not be able to write the biography of the gangster.

The film was directed by Robert Harmon who had directed seven of the eight Jesse Stone films up to 2012.

1. The popularity of the Jesse Stone series? Police stories? Murder mysteries? The role of the police – especially Chief Stone?

2. Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone, the character he has created? The loner, with his dog, having left Los Angeles, concern about his wife and the phone calls, the drinking, his interviews with Doctor Dix? His working with Suitcase, with Molly Crane? The collaboration? The role of the police chief? The town council?

3. The two plots? The drunken husband, the interviews, Stone tripping him, putting him in the cell, charging him? The wife, Molly counselling her? Her not wanting to leave her husband, her reticence? Her gradually gaining courage, the decision to leave? The siege in the supermarket, Jesse and his response, Suitcase being shot? The hospital scenes? The killing of the man?

4. The discovery of the body of the girl in the river, the search for the weapons, the missing shoe, the doctor and his diving? Suitcase and his walking around the river, finding the ring? The connection to the boy in the school – his being a suspect? Not? The interrogation of the headmistress, the information, her bonding with Jesse? The further investigations, the identity of the girl, going to her parents, her mother’s grief, the father and his self-righteousness? The visit to the sister at the university, her hard statements, sympathy for her sister, antagonism towards her parents? The information about the author?

5. The author, celebrity, the headmistress and her comments, the social, Jesse and his gatecrashing, upsetting the author, the cars parked illegally...? The antagonism?

6. The Boston connection, the phone number? Meeting Sister Mary John, the discussions with her, her help? Going to see Leo Finn? His offhanded manner, the brutal assistant? Not speaking? Going to see Gino Fish – and the information from him? Wanting Stone to do his work?

7. The confrontation with the author, his having impregnated the girl, audiences thinking he had killed her? The alibis? The truth?

8. The truth about Finn, his organising the killing? To save face and stop the biography? The confrontation with Stone, with the assistant, the assistant shooting and Stone holding Flynn in the line of fire?

9. Stone, his status with the council, having used violence? His being under suspicion? Yet his sense of achievement? Solving the mysteries?