Stranger in Paradise - Tapa dura

. deftly sketched characters . his use of genre material is always fresh. He demonstrates his continued ability to write well-constructed and literate works of detective fiction - Times Literary Supplement. (Times Literary Supplement)

If Spencer is the invincible knight, the timeless hero of American detective fiction, then Jess Stone is the flawed hero of the moment, a man whose deficiencies define his humanity - New York Times Book Review (New York Times)

Jesse Stone is an ex LA cop who has taken the job of police chief in Paradise, Massachusetts. His drinking, his damaged relationship with his wife, define him as much as his supreme skill at policing his patch. When Crow, an Apache hitman, turns up in Jesse Stone's office, he is intrigued and very much on his guard. Ten years before Crow was part of a gang that had taken a woman in the town hostage when a bank raid went wrong. The hostages were released unharmed, thanks to Crow's moral view that you didn't kill women, but he also got away with enough money not to have to work again. So why is Crow back in town? Why has he come to see Jesse? And why has he taken a job of kidnapping a young girl and her mother? All questions to which Jesse has to find answers as things start to go badly wrong in Paradise.