Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets: A
Jesse Stone Novel by Christopher Farnsworth is a breath of
fresh air. This book in the long running Jesse Stone series reads like a Jesse
Stone novel. One forgets that this is not done by Robert B. Parker and
that is a very good thing.
The Paradise Police Department is very short handed.
The normal situation has been made worse by the fact that three officers are
out with Covid. Things are so bad that Molly Crane is working dispatch and
Chief Jesse Stone has been doing patrols. After a long day, Jesse is looking
forward to going home. Instead, after some back and forth with Molly, Jesse
heads to an address for a welfare check.
On arrival, he finds a young man by the name of
Matthew Peebles. He is a bit agitated and explains that the man inside the
aging house is a friend of his parents. His mane is Phil Burton. Mr. Peebles
says he and Phil Burton talk by phone on a semi regular basis and that he comes
out from the city (New York City) now and then to visit and check on him as he
is elderly. He says that he has not heard from him in awhile and is worried.
Jesse manages to eventually get inside the house through
the back as a sliding glass door is partially open. It is very clear as he
steps inside that Mr. Burton is a very serious hoarder. At least, he was. He clearly
been dead on his couch for quite some time.
Jesse makes his way back out of the house with the
intention of breaking the news to Mr. Peebles and alerting the coroner, having
the house cleared out, and more. Once he gets to the front of the house, he
realizes that Mr. Peebles is long gone.
Soon Luther “Suitcase” Simpson arrives and he and
Jesse go back into the house. Everything in the massive piles of stuff in the
house is very unstable. Simpson accidentally brushes a tower of carboard boxes
and the tower collapses and falls spilling some of the boxes open. Other stuff
slides around them making walking very difficult. When Simpson regains his
footing, Jesse spots a polaroid picture on the floor.
It, and many more that can now be seen, showcase
what appears to be dead people at various locations and conditions. Whatever
Phil Burton was involved with, it was bad.
As that investigation gets underway, Jesse also
welcomes the newest officer, Derek Tate, to the force. This was a hire forced
on him by the Mayor, Gary Armistead, and Jesse isn’t totally comfortable with him.
Due to the workload in recent days, Jesse has not been able to do a deep dive
into him as much as he would with any new officer. On paper he looks good. But,
there was an incident when he worked in Philadelphia.
Tate owned up to it, expressed some remorse, and
claims to want a fresh start in Paradise, Massachusetts. Paradise certainly was
a fresh start for Jesse many years ago and it could be for Tate as well. So, he
brings him onboard and puts him out on patrol unsupervised as Tate has experience.
It does not take a rocket scientist to know that things are not going to go
well.
What follows is a fast moving read as Jesse deals
with the Burton investigation, Tate and his version of police work, and other
personal and professional issues. The author does a masterful job of pulling
the reader along at a fast clip in the Jesse Stone world. It has been some time
since an author could make the characters in the series come alive in the right
voice and Mr. Farnsworth definitely pulls that off in Robert B. Parker’s
Buried Secrets: A Jesse Stone Novel.
Strongly Recommended.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/42WtvtV
My reading copy came from the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, by way of NetGalley with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
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2 comments:
Looking forward to it. Stone was Parker's most fully realized character and while I admired much of Parker's early writings. it seemed he fell too much in love with his characters, making his later books less readable. We are lucky that the cadre of writers who have contributed his series were able to breath new life into Parker's characters, especially Reed Farrel Coleman and Mike Lupica with Jesse Stone. Farnsworth, best known for his President's Vampire series, should bring another interesting view to the beleaguered Paradise police chief.
Reed Farrel Coleman was great doing them. Big fan of him and his books.
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