Book Review: Stranger in Paradise

Spenser has Hawk. Now Jesse Stone has Crow.

Wilson "Crow" Cromartie first appeared in Trouble in Paradise, the second book in Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone series. He participated in the robbery of Stiles Island.

Now ten years later, the statute of limitations has expired on his crime. He has been hired to find a mother and her child living in Paradise. When he does, he is told to kill one of them. Since Crow doesn't kill women or children, he asks Jesse to help keep them safe.

The character of Crow is not as developed as Hawk, but readers have had 30 years to get to know Hawk. It will be interesting to see if Crow becomes a major character in this series as Hawk is in the Spenser series.

Parker's choppy writing style gets to me sometimes, especially as an audio book. But his stories move quickly, and are always an entertaining read...good escapist literature.