Stranger in Paradise, by Robert Parker

 The stranger in the seashore town of Paradise is one Wilson “Crow” Cromartie, who may or may not be an Apache.  And, may or may not be a good bad guy. Or, a bad good guy.  What is certain is that ten years ago he was involved in a deadly heist of millions of dollars from wealthy Stiles Island, across a bridge from Paradise.  Most of the robbers were caught but Crow got away with all the money—after saving the women on the island.  Now he is back in town with a new assignment. A wealthy Florida gangster has tracked his ex-wife and teenage daughter to Paradise, where they are hiding out. The gangster wants his ex-wife killed and the daughter returned to him.  Crow has taken on the task mainly for the excitement but he has a problem—he loves women and can’t bring himself to do the killing.  And, he doesn’t want to return the daughter to her abusive father, either.  The Florida gangster is not amused—and sends a team of thugs to get the job done.  Jesse Stone, the police chief of Paradise, has been keeping a somewhat admiring eye on Crow—sort of half-heartedly thinking he’d like to maybe arrest him for something.  But, when the thugs hit town--and team up with a local gang—Jesse finds himself happy to have this stranger in town.  The Jesse Stone series is interesting and very entertaining—and this is a great addition. 

T is for Trespass, by Sue Grafton

 We’re up to the letter ‘T’ in the alphabet and it is December of 1987 in the life of Kinsey Millhone, our intrepid Santa Teresa private investigator.  Kinsey is between boyfriends and things are sort of on the quiet side for her.  With no big cases, Kinsey has been mostly serving court papers to make some money and investigating a traffic accident claim that seems fishy.  Then, one of her elderly neighbors, Gus Vronsky, takes a nasty fall and Kinsey inadvertently gets involved in his recovery.  Since Gus can’t take care of himself, his only relative, a niece who lives in New York, hires a nurse, Solana Rojas, to help Gus in his home.  But, before she employs her, she asks Kinsey to do a brief background check.  Solana checks out ok but as the first months of 1988 go by, Gus goes downhill—and Kinsey starts to get suspicious of Solana and her actions.  Maybe she should have dug a little deeper into Solana’s past during her background check.  Kinsey has two fairly interesting cases on her hands in this latest outing but, as always, it’s spending time with Kinsey, herself, that makes these novels rewarding to read.

Hell’s Bay, by James W. Hall

 For over twenty years, and a dozen or more novels, I’ve read the exploits of Thorn, Mr. Hall’s wonderful Florida character.  A sometime fishing guide and often lonely voice against Florida’s unrestrained development, Thorn manages to get himself involved with nefarious characters—no matter how hard he tries to keep to himself and fly under the radar.  Over all the years and novels, Thorn has always just been—Thorn.   Well, turns out he has a first name and a middle name, too!  Daniel Oliver.  Thorn was orphaned as a baby and never knew any of his blood relatives but several of them come into his life as he embarks on the maiden voyage of a chartered fishing venture with an ex-girlfriend.  An uncle of Thorn’s and his daughter are among the passengers on the fishing expedition.  Thorn, it turns out, is one of the heirs to a large, hugely wealthy Florida business—and that may explain the relatives suddenly showing up.  Once the boat is in the wilds of the Everglades what should be an enjoyable adventure turns deadly.  And, Thorn must figure out why he is at the center of the violence.  This was another winner in this terrific series set in a Florida that is rapidly disappearing.

 Power Play, by Joseph Finder

 Jake Landry is a junior executive working for Hammond Aerospace.  He’s really very junior and normally toils in relative obscurity.  The top executives of the company are about to go on their annual retreat at a remote hunting lodge when word comes of the crash of a competitor’s new prototype jet at an air show.  Since Jake’s department is most likely to know what might have caused the crash, Jake is invited along on the retreat when his boss is unable to go.  Jake definitely feels out of place with all the top brass but, luckily, he knows one person, his ex-girlfriend, Ali, who is now the assistant to the CEO.  At the opening dinner of the retreat, the hunting lodge is taken over by armed men with the intent of securing a multi-million dollar ransom.  At that point, Jake’s past experiences will be put to use as he tries to outmaneuver the hostage takers.  I like this author but his latest book was somewhat of a disappointment.  The novel starts with what looks like will be an interesting plot involving composite plastic failure on new jets being developed by Hammond and another competitor.  Both are using the new technology and problems have developed with it.  I could see the plot taking off with the problems ignored or covered up at Hammond—leading to an aircraft in flight and in danger--with perhaps some celebrities on it to spice things up.  Instead, the whole airplane angle turns out to be irrelevant and the plot becomes your standard hostage situation.  Now, a hostage plot can certainly be gripping but that wasn’t the case here—the suspense was woefully lacking.  I would have much rather been a vicarious passenger on that new plane with the composite parts failing—one by one.  Maybe over the cold Atlantic?

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