Trouble in Paradise (Jesse Stone)

Amazon.com

Robert Parker's Trouble in Paradise imagines an old-fashioned tough guys' world where most of the women are summed up by their figures and the men are measured by their ability to intimidate. Chief Jesse Stone of Paradise, Massachusetts, is Parker's hero again in this sequel to Night Passage. When he's not thinking about what his girlfriends look like under their clothes, Stone's touring his beat, hanging out at the Gray Gull Hotel bar to get intelligence on local thugs, or interrogating teens about their destructive pranks. But he has a vulnerable side, too, and Parker adds new layers of depth and complexity to his latest series character. Jesse's still reeling from his divorce. He and his ex-wife, Jenn, are not entirely ready to let go. In fact, Jenn has followed Jesse east from L.A. and is suffering in the Boston climate as one of the anchors on the local news. Romance with Jenn is further complicated by Jesse's ongoing attraction to attorney Abby Taylor and his emerging relationship with realtor Marcy Campbell.

Jesse's domestic troubles are gradually overshadowed, however, when ex-con Jimmy Macklin arrives in town. Macklin plans to pull "the mother of all stickups" on the ritzy Stiles Island in Paradise Harbor. He has figured out that the Stiles Island bridge, with its underpinning of utility cables and pipes, is a veritable lifeline to the mainland, and he's gathered a rogues' gallery of professional crooks and killers to help him take the bridge and make the island into a thieves' paradise. The one problem: Macklin never figured that Paradise, Massachusetts, would have a police chief as tough and resourceful as Jesse Stone.

As usual, Parker's stark and facile prose perfectly complements the masculine sufferings of his hero, and the action of the novel unfolds with an effortlessness that intimates a craftsman at work. With Parker's Spenser safely canonized as a detective fiction legend, Jesse Stone's unfolding world offers a welcome new addition to Parker's ouevre. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

Robert B. Parker and his legendary Spenser series have long been considered the ne plus ultra of detective fiction. But the critics' praise for Jesse Stone's debut in Night Passage proved there was room for an addition to the Parker literary canon. "A novel as fresh as it is boldParker's sentences flow with as much wit, grace, and assurance as ever, and Stone is a complex and consistently interesting new protagonist. His speedy return will be welcome" (Newsday). Stiles Island is a wealthy and exclusive enclave separated by a bridge from the Massachusetts coast town of Paradise. James Macklin sees Stiles Island as the ultimate investment opportunity: all he needs to do is invade the island, blow up the bridge, and loot the island. To realize his investment, Macklin, along with his devoted girlfriend, Faye, assembles a crew of fellow ex-cons --all experts in their fields--including Wilson Cromartie, a fearsome Apache. James Macklin is a bad man--a very bad man. And Wilson Cromartie, known as Crow, is even worse. As Macklin plans his crime, Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone has his hands full. He faces romantic entanglements in triplicate: his ex-wife, Jenn, is in the Paradise jail for assault; he's begun a new relationship with a Stiles Island realtor named Marcy Campbell; and he's still sorting out his feelings for attorney Abby Taylor. When Macklin's attack on Stiles Island is set in motion, both Marcy and Abby are put in jeopardy. As the casualties mount, it's up to Jesse to keep both women from harm. Filled with "light, shade, texture, and complexity" (The Boston Globe), Trouble in Paradise is the work of a master.

Customer Reviews:

A strong second showing for Jesse Stone.......2007-08-16

Jesse Stone is a great character and this book is a strong second showing for him. "Trouble in Paradise" begins with Jesse on one of his midnight insomniac rambles. When a homosexual couple has their house burned down, he discovers that some teenaged trouble-makers had a hand in it. Determined to set things right, he uses some less-than-honest tactics to get them to confess. While it seems to set one of the boys on the right track, a pair of brothers from a rich family have their parents threaten first to sue for wrongful arrest and when that doesn't work, their mother tries to have Jesse removed from his position.

Also, a career crook named Macklin and his girlfriend have come to town and are planning the heist to end all heists - they plan to clean out Stiles Island, a rich community connected to Paradise by a bridge over the harbor. Never one to plan small, Macklin decides to isolate the island and rob all the homes, businesses and the bank. Can Jesse find out what is happening in time to stop it?

Well-plotted, intricate and engaging, this book is what a police procedural/thriller is all about. Don't miss it!

Flamingo Blood Rains Thin in Paradise.......2007-08-12

TROUBLE IN PARADISE, # 2 in Parker's Jesse Stone series, is a quietly seething thriller with explosives to boom. In this type of deep plot action, here's how one chapter should end and the next one begin:

Chapter ending:

>> When the police car was halfway across, the bridge began to ripple. The ripple turned into a heave. And, as the sound of the explosion came rolling into the real estate office, the bridge went up and the police car went with it, somersaulting slowly in among the pieces of the disintegrating bridge. One of its doors blew away and the hood tore off, and the car languidly turned over and planed onto the gray harbor and disappeared.... <<

Next chapter beginning:

>> "Exploded?" Jesse said on the radio. "Twenty calls at least, "Molly said. "At least five people said there was a police car on the bridge when it went." <<

I'm thinking that the above quote would be all I'd need to read in a review, to decide to pick up this novel. As I read the above passage, arriving at it through a steady-speed-progress from the beginning of the book, my first question, after being impressed with the explosive clarity of Parker's syntax, was, "Did Jesse's two patrolmen survive that percussion and splash?"

Of course I won't tell you what happened before or after the bridge appeared to take a short flight toward heaven then slammed into hell.

Temperature-rising-subplots twined perfectly from Macklin's gang's preparatory machinations to Jesse's personal and professional life's percolation. Various relationship scenes provided entertaining psychological miasma for wading through balsamic sex-pot stews. Jenn was showing daily as a TV weather girl in Jesse's territory, working to keep him while dating openly on the side. Since that didn't keep her busy enough, she attacked Kay Hopkins, a well-heeled, town snob-lady who had caused Jesse grief. Kay's nose slipped from its upward slant as blood spewed from Jenn's landed fist. What does Jesse do with that?

What caused that cowgirl episode was a previous scene which was even more entertaining than Jenn's fist action which landed her in jail. In that earlier scene, Jesse deftly dealt with a group of town snobs (including the Hopkins) and their lawyer. The situation opened in Jesse's office, appearing to be featuring Jesse's tail caught between a lid and a pot. Fear not. Jesse turned the rip-tide with finesse wrought hot. Loved it!

As if those perks in a work of fiction weren't enough, TROUBLE IN PARADISE introduced a "Crow" bad guy, honor-coded-predator, who could be Hawk's dark twin.

This Jesse # 2 had all I could hope for in an engrossing escape read, with an ending firing on all cylinders in Parker's redemption repertoire. (For a true short account featuring redemption and transitions to paradise, see This is Someone's Loved One: An Undertaker's View)

(My review is up of # 1, NIGHT PASSAGE. I enjoy reading Parker's series in order, though I have skipped around at times. See my Spenser Listmania for sequences and blurbs.)

Getting ready to order DEATH IN PARADISE, # 3 Jesse Stone,
Linda Shelnutt

NOT SPENSER BUT JUST AS GOOD.......2007-08-01

Read most of Robert B. Parker's work down through the years and finally ventured into the Jesse Stone novels. Very good writing, lifelike and interesting characters, with Stone being unlike Spenser and more what I would expect Parker himself to resemble.

Though I like Jesse Stone, easy guy to emphasize with, cannot say I find common ground with him. On the job he is professional and proficient, yet off the job he drinks too much and womanizes too much and cannot get off the dime with his ex-wife. I guess one reason I cannot find common ground with Jesse is that most ex-husbands could not have the love for their troubled ex-wife as does he, when the ex-wife seems unwilling or unable to make a decision whether or not she wants a life with him. Jenn Stone represents a huge problem to both him and herself, and re-marriage is pretty much proven not to be a good idea. Be interesting to follow Jesse and see how he matures to handle all the trouble that will certainly follow from these wrinkles in his personal life.

With all the other reviews listed you need nothing from me as to plot, but I will say that this one seems more like one from either Dutch Leonard or Ed McBain. Certainly no insult meant, only meant as a compliment to the writing genius of Robert B. Parker. I like this book and the Jesse Stone character. Real joy to read.

Read and enjoy, I know I will!

Semper Fi.

A Solid Parker Novel.......2007-07-30

The second Jesse Stone adventure finds our flawed & conflicted hero settled into his job as police chief of Paradise, Mass. His creepy exwife Jenn has moved to Boston and gotten a job as a weathernerd at a local tv station. She seems to have moved 3000 miles for the specific intent of making them both miserable. What a freak. Spenser would cheerfully shoot her out of a cannon. Jesse meekly plays along and we, the readers, are obviously not meant to like her. He doesn't seem like much of a catch either. A depressed drunk who won't leave his manipulative ex doesn't sound like a fun date to me. Yet he has no trouble scoring with the ladies. Not skanks either. Real full grown adult women with looks, brains and jobs. I think I know what's going on here.

I've read three Stone novels and about 25 Spenser novels. I think I have a good idea what Parker thinks the ideal woman should be. A good looking, intelligent, educated, post-feminist, sexually-liberated good sport who can take a joke, take a drink, dresses to be looked at, doesn't demand commitment, & never makes the guy feel guilty, embarrassed or emasculated. That's not a wife or a girlfriend. That's not even a woman. That's a buddy with boobs. A pal with soft curves. A guy a straight guy can have sex with and not be afraid of people knowing. Good luck with that in the real world. Not coincidentally, Parker's novels are liberally sprinkled with stupid, hateful witches like the dragonmother of two teenage arsonists in this book. In Parker's world, women are either totally cool or total jerks.

The mystery is even sillier in this novel than in the first Jesse Stone adventure. There we had rascist militants, here we have garden variety lowlifes. The lowlifes plan to knock over an entire island off the coast of Paradise. A small island but still, c'mon. The last half of the book involves these guys running around the island blowing stuff up, stealing loot, taking hostages and shooting people. Is this a crime novel or an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger? Who knew living in a small town could be so invigorating?

Jesse creeps slowly toward respectability. We are given the sense that he is tiring of the hypocritical mind games his ex subjects him to. We are also given the sense that he is finally tired of his sad sack drinking and might consider getting counselling. Good. Let's get on with that and develop this manchild into a man.

Feels like a screenplay.......2007-02-24

This is book #2 in the Jesse Stone series from Robert Parker. In the first book, "Night Passage," newly divorced Jesse Stone is an L.A. cop with a drinking problem, trying to get away from the pain of a failed marriage and a cheating spouse. He lands the top job of police chief in the coastal hamlet of Paradise, MA, just a stone's throw (pun intended) from Boston. Stone has been hired by the city council precisely because he is a drunk. Unbeknownst to him, the city council is crooked and wants a police chief who will "go along to get along." When Stone arrives in town and is tougher and smarter than they bargained for, he finds his first task is to clean up the crimes not of the citizens, but of the government that employs him.

In this book, we find Stone a year later still at the helm of the Paradise P.D. with his ex-wife, Jenn, in town as the newest TV weather forecaster at a Boston station. When career criminal Jimmy Macklin assembles a team of four other ex-cons to isolate and rob the nearby wealthy island community of Stiles Island, it's up to Stone to stop them while grappling with his ongoing feelings for ex-wife Jenn.

I've now read almost all the books in the Sunny Randall series, and two books in the Jesse Stone series. As such, I've given myself ample opportunity to decide whether I like Mr. Parker's novels. Unfortunately, I've ultimately concluded that I don't.

Part of my dislike is the style. A reviewer of a separate Parker book said that it read like a screenplay, and I have to strongly concur. That perfectly describes Parker's style. There is a sparseness to the prose and dialog in Parker's books that just don't lend themselves to enjoyable reading - dialog consists mostly of single sentences back and forth where the characters' utterances are never described using any verb other than "said." And by never, I mean just that: never. If you don't believe me, pick up one of his books and thumb to any page at random and look at the dialog. It's as though Parker made up his mind early on that he wasn't going to waste time coming up with various clever verbs to describe the act of speaking, merely to add variety. It isn't necessarily bothersome, but it is a distinctive part of his style. The prose is likewise sparse and rarely does Parker spend extraneous adjectives describing people or scenes.

Second, these novels are neither mysteries nor suspense because it is almost always obvious how the plot will be resolved long in advance of the final pages. I think it is more accurate to describe the Stone series as crime novels because all we really have is Jesse Stone either stopping a crime in progress or solving one that's already occurred.

Third, call me a prude but there is just too much promiscuity in these novels. I don't think human beings are psychologically wired to be able to have casual sex with same care they'd give to picking out a paperback at a supermarket checkstand. I almost expect Stone to say "what was your name again?" when he crawls out of the sack with his latest recreational partner. Characters that treat sex as a recreational pastime seems to be a recurring aspect of Parker's novels in both the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone series.

Fourth, Stone's relationship with his ex-wife is tiresome and frustrating, paralleling the relationship between Sunny Randall and her ex. Parker drags these never-resolving relationships on for book after book after book until we're ready to slap the main characters and - as my dad used to say - tell them to "poop or get off the pot." After about the first book, the soap opera ceases to be interesting and simply becomes irritating, like a dripping faucet on a stainless steel pan.

All in all, I can envision Parker's books primarily as fodder for TV scripts. Indeed, Parker's Spencer series of novels were the basis for the "Spencer for Hire" TV series starring Robert Urich. Tom Selleck starred as Jesse Stone in the movie adaptation of "Stone Cold," the fourth book in the Jesse Stone series. And that about sums up my feeling about these books in general: pulp fiction that isn't very cerebral and lends itself better to lackluster TV series and movies than a gripping read.

At this juncture, I'm going to turn my attention to a few Spencer novels to see if they are markedly different from the Randall or Stone series. If not, I'm afraid I'm largely through with Mr. Parker's offerings.

Average customer rating:

The story of Modern Art
The rise and fall of modernism
Not For a Beginner
Difficult reading.
More than an art book, by more than an art critic

The Shock of The New
Robert Hughes
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Modern | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

jp-unknown1 | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Arts & Photography | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0070311277

Book Description

This authoritative, lively book, based on the BBC Time-Life television series, provides a comprehensive survey of the birth and development of modern art and an updated discussion of the European and American art movements in the 70s and 80s including minimalist and public art, 70s American painting, German Neo-Expressionism, art by women, and environmental art. "The Future that Was," the final chapter, is completely rewritten and updated. 75% of the 275 illustrations in the revised edition are in 4-color.

Customer Reviews:

The story of Modern Art.......2007-04-12

The art of the last century viewed through the eyes of one of its best critics. This book is lavishly illustrated, very easy to read, an invaluable introduction to modern and contemporary art (that is, until the early 1990's). Hughes is one of those few critics who know how to admit they can sometimes be wrong (see his mea culpa on Philip Guston's late works), but who is almost always right.
The book itself is divided into chapters which do not necessarily follow a chronology but rather distinguish different themes such as "the mechanical paradise" (Cézanne,cubism, futurism), "the faces of power" (expressionism, Dada, art under Communism or Fascism), or "the landscape of pleasure" (Monet, Gauguin, Matisse, Louis, Noland), etc...up to "the future that was" with insights on contemporary art and the art market.
A book that has already become a classic, almost like Gombrich's "the Story of Art".

The rise and fall of modernism.......2002-07-13

This is based on the script for a BBC program. To be a good TV program, it should have a clear and plain storyline which could fit into limited timetable. You can identify such a feature in the form of book, though substantially enlarged. The author did his best to make a clear impression of what was modernism in the visual art on reader (and audience). The author begin the book with what modernist artists perceived as ¡®the new¡¯ in their time. They thought they lived in thoroughly distinct time from the tradition. The new age demanded the new art. Modernism is the logical upshot of their zeitgeist. To understand it, we should pay attention to the interaction between artists and the time.
In this regard, Hughes organized the book not in time order or changing styles but with keywords which summarize the zeitgeist of modernists like machine, power, pleasure, utopia, freedom, popular culture, or future, to endow the reader with the tangible vision to see into the deep question of modernism.

Not For a Beginner.......2002-05-21

This book is very wordy, the author tends to use French and Italian phrases without translation. The book's cryptic explanations and definitions must be tediously read and re-read, since they do not appear to follow any pattern. Hughes is a pretentious attention seeker. This book is not for anyone outside art students.

Difficult reading........2001-10-03

I have read some past reviews on this book, and i am shocked to find that college students have been using this book for learning. I am currently in high school and my teacher is making us read this book. I find this book very hard to understand. If anyone has any information or quick summaries of this book i would appreciate it. Thanks.

More than an art book, by more than an art critic.......2000-11-09

I bought and read the first edition of this book after seeing the 1979 PBS series Hughes hosted, and I heartily recommend both book (which I still have) and the TV show if you can find it anywhere. Hughes' special brilliance is his ability to show the revolution in art at the turn of the 20th century as reacting to the revolution in technology and living standards and the rapid changes in every part of society -- the "shock" of this race to "newnesss" that really starting picking up speed a hundred years ago. Also unique and priceless is Hughes' puckish sense of humor and willingness to express an opinion - even a negative opinion - about art and architectural movements.

Book Description

Environmental degradation in Latin America has become one of the most pressing issues on the international agenda. The volume began to crescendo when space shuttle astronauts photographed five thousand fires on a single night in the Brazilian Amazon state of Rondonia in 1985, and grew shrill when rubbertapper Chico Mendes was shot in 1988 trying to stop ranchers from clearing rainforests near his home in Acre.
Since the early 80s, we've heard pleas from rock star, environmental groups, and scientists, asking us to focus our attention on environmental destruction in Latin America-oil spills, lax NAFTA driven ecological standards, endangered indigenous cultures, and the destruction of the rainforests. This volume presents an overview of the pressing nature of these issues and the scope of the problems and seeks to focus our attention on environmental destruction in Latin America by examining several types of environmental crises in Latin American countries. With discussions of the World Bank, urban pollution, NAFTA, toxic pollution in maquiladoras, headline grabbing environmental disasters, drug trafficking, and the 1992 Rio Earth Conference, this book will be a must read for anyone interested in the future of Latin America or world ecology.

Customer Reviews:

Definitive, enlightening and beautifully written.......2004-09-20

I've been in business, been involved with ecology and cultural survival and I've traveled in and among the countries and cultures of Latin America for over 25 years. I read this book on a recent trip to Costa Rica and I am so impressed with it that I am purchasing 25 copies and sending them to all of the managers of my mutual funds. How this action fits in with a review on a book concerning the plant's ecology may not be clear to you, but if you read some of the other descriptions of "Trouble in Paradise", then you may understand. For people concerned with the future and with the environment this book provides tremendous relief.

Highly recommended!.......2004-04-10

(From Planeta Journal) -- A must read for anyone interested in environmental issues and must read for anyone interested in Latin America, Trouble in Paradise: Globalization and Environmental Crises in Latin America (Routledge, 2003) combines academic research with a regional travelogue.

Written by J. Timmons Roberts and Nikki Demetria Thanos, this book reviews the critical issues run the gamut from green to gray.

Chapters review pollution havens on the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, the hazards of an urban sprawl and the rise of protests particularly via the Internet. This is no surprise as co-author J. Timmons Roberts is a co-founder of the Environment and Latin America Network (ELAN).

Excerpts from Trouble in Paradise

To become sustainable, Latin America needs real democracy to create the leverage for its citizens to demand a cleaner environment and the services they need to survive. (p. 4)

Contact informs strategic advocacy work on one or both sides of the North-South divide. Lives can be changed. The same can be said of academic programs in the region and of linkages between universities and other schools ... Rather than merely observing these issues from afar and wringing our hands, we need to be engaged. Institutions can be changed. (pp. 205-206)

Study and travel in Latin America and connections between communities and universities across the North-South divide can create lasting bonds and new directions of change. And we need to call for a drastic rethinking of priorities in international aid and finance. Aid needs to support solutions which address social and environmental problems at the same time. (pp. 210-211)

Readable, comprehensive, and thought-provoking analysis.......2003-09-16

This is the book we have all been waiting for: a definitive analysis on the state of the environment in Latin America, how it got that way, and --- best of all-- what is and can be done to remedy the crises. Trouble in Paradise offers the coherence, comprehensiveness,and depth sorely lacking in environmental studies about Latin America. Informed by long-term academic as well as political engagement with these issues, Roberts and Thanos make a varied set of long-term environmetal crises and struggles surrounding them come to life for both students and specialists. They trace how common political, economic and social features structure these case studies and thus bring Latin America's environment to the forefront of discussions about globalization.

Its readability, price, length (200 pages of reading) and content make this volume excellent for both undergraduate and graduate classrooms. It will get students excited about both Latin America as well as environmental struggles and the inequalities that surround them. The case studies they cover are great jumping off points for imporant related issues such as free trade, inequality, ethnicity, social movements, urbanization and local politics. I will be using it at my desk and in the classroom for years to come!

Average customer rating:

Another Wonderful Novel From Granger

pip of a historical character study

Trouble in Paradise
P.J.P. Granger
Manufacturer: Corgi Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

No Peace for the Wicked

Widow Ginger

Not All Tarts Are Apple

Alone Alone

Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)

ASIN: 0552150665

Customer Reviews:

Another Wonderful Novel From Granger.......2005-10-12

The 1st novel I read of hers was "Not All Tarts Are Apple". Granger just has this certain 'way' of really pulling the reader into the novel.
It's told from Zelda's point of view. Set in London amidst WWII, Granger intricately weaves us a tale of family & neighbors within the quaint, zany community of Paradise Gardens. Everyone is in everyone else's business & there's never a dull moment within the confines of Paradise Gardens.
Lol, I am learning so much about UK/London dialect from reading her novels!
This is a charming novel that preceeds the story from "..Tarts..".

pip of a historical character study.......2004-11-18

Most English are euphoric and celebrated the victory ending World War II. However, Zelda feels the war was a time of personal freedom and safety even when the Blitz terrorized much of the country. Her friend Dilly assumes that Zeld seems depressed because she never felt the impact of war since her Paradise Garden was untouched. Zeld knows that the Hitler's throwing in the towel means her violent spouse Charlie is returning to abuse her.

The return of the vets impacts the workplace. New bosses place unreasonable demands on the "temporary" female replacement employees and returning soldiers are displacing women on the job. Thugs battle to take control of gangs with bystanders like Zeld's nephew Tony pulled to join or else. Healer Zinnia Makepeace obtaining singing lessons for Tony in Soho enables Zeld to meet Bert and Maggie Featherby. They provide an opportunity to escape her miserable life if she is courageous enough to leave Charlie.

This is a terrific prequel to the fabulous NOT ALL TARTS ARE APPLE as Pip Granger paints quite a different panorama than the normal upbeat England of 1946. The story line uses the characters to provide insight as the war years simply are pushed aside by those who believe a return to normalcy ignores that women proved that they were the greatest generation; Like World War I did for third world people under European rule, World War II did for women; the legacy is their daughters and younger sisters becoming Supreme Court Justices and Prime Ministers. TROUBLE IN PARADISE is a pip of a historical character study that will have fans searching for more works by Ms. Granger.

Harriet Klausner

Trouble in Paradise (Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers)

Average customer rating:

Classic books

Trouble in Paradise (Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers)
Franklin W. Dixon
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1416911782

Book Description

ATACK BRIEFING FOR AGENTS FRANK AND JOE HARDY

MISSION:

The son of Don Ricardo, the UN Ambassador from St. John, has gone missing -- and we are sending you to locate him.

LOCATION:

St. John, USVI

POTENTIAL VICTIMS:

Esteban Calderon, the son of the ambassador, and whoever else his kidnappers have harmed.

SUSPECTS:

We have very few clues. The police on St. John have hit a wall in their investigation.

THIS MISSION REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION.
THIS MESSAGE WILL BE ERASED IN FIVE SECONDS.

Customer Reviews:

Classic books.......2007-01-18

My 9yo son really likes the series. The books are very age appropreate.

Average customer rating:

The Trouble With Paradise
Jill Shalvis
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Romance Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0425217191
Release Date: 2007-10-02

Book Description

When Dorie Anderson meets a cute guy, she becomes a huge klutz. But one phone call has turned her dead-end dating life into an adventure: she's won a trip on a singles' cruise to Fiji. On board, she soon meets pro baseball player Andy, and the ship's hunky French doctor. She's sure she'll fall head-over-heels in no time. Unfortunately, she's right: soon, she trips over her luggage right in front of them. Mortifying. But a bigger disaster is just on the horizon. Dorie finds a man murdered in his bunk the same night a storm wrecks the ship, stranding everyone on a deserted shore. It'd be a perfect setting for romance-if it weren't for the fact that there's a killer among them.

Average customer rating:

Very Inspiring!!!

Trouble In Paradise
Robin Hatcher
Manufacturer: Steeple Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Romance Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0373785860

Book Description

Her aunt's bequest was the answer to Shayla Vincent's prayers. The rustic, secluded cabin was the perfect spot to start her long-deferred writing career.

Ian O'Connell was her new neighbor—a rugged rancher caring for his two adorable nieces. Yet Shayla had already helped bring up her siblings. Raising another family when her career goal was within her grasp was the last thing she wanted, even as the brown-eyed cowboy had quickly become the first.

Customer Reviews:

Very Inspiring!!!.......2007-06-25

This book was very inspiring, and show's how a person can trust the Lord in "little" things as well as major things. You won't regret reading this one!!

Three Screen Comedies by Samson Raphaelson: Trouble in Paradise; The Shop Around the Corner; Heaven Can Wait

Average customer rating:

Three Scripts and Freundschaft Too!

Three Screen Comedies by Samson Raphaelson: Trouble in Paradise; The Shop Around the Corner; Heaven Can Wait
Samson Raphaelson , and Pauline Kael
Manufacturer: Univ of Wisconsin Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

United States | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Screenplays | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Sansho the Bailiff - Criterion Collection

ASIN: 0299087808

Customer Reviews:

Three Scripts and Freundschaft Too!.......2000-05-27

"Three Screen Comedies" is much more than an anthology which takes a few scripts, puts them under one cover, and republishes them. These weren't the shooting scripts but have been altered by Mr. Raphaelson to make them more readable and to reintroduce some bits that were cut from the finished movies. This said, this wouldn't be a bad book if republishing the scripts were all that it did. The screen comedies to which the title refers are: "Trouble in Paradise," "The Shop Around the Corner," and "Heaven Can Wait." In this reviewer's opinion, each screenplay would be a mega-hit in today's movie market.

One, in fact, is. "The Shop Around the Corner," which premiered in 1940 and starred Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart has been remade as "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. What were pen-pals in the original became e-mail "pals" in the update. Like the original, the remake is warm, funny, witty and has a happy ending.

The Warren Beatty movie, "Heaven Can Wait," shares nothing except the title with the original which starred Gene Tierney and Don Ameche. In the author's notes introducing "Heaven Can Wait" in the book under review, Raphaelson felt it necessary to comment that ""The title "Heaven Can Wait" has been used recently on a movie that in no way resembles our original film. I don't know why this was done."" A rather subtle understatement in my opinion.

What makes this book different than the run of the mill anthology are the insightful and informative introduction by Pauline Kael, the then movie critic for "The New Yorker," and the inclusion of Raphaelson's "Freundschaft: How It Was With Lubitsch and Me," which was originally published in "The New Yorker" in May of 1981. Both Kael's introduction and Raphaelson's "Freundschaft" could, among other things, serve as textbook examples of the workings of creative minds joined together in what they do best, creating.

"Freundschaft," arguably Raphaelson's finest piece of writing, was a memorial to Ernst Lubitsch (the incomparable producer/director of many outstanding movies). Raphaelson and Lubitsch worked together for thousands of hours, each feeding off the other's ideas, whims, and comic utterances, in the creation of 9 films spanning two decades, the 30's and 40's. Although Raphaelson was ostensibly the writer, and Lubitsch the director/producer, no such distinction seemed to exist when they collaborated. "Freundschaft," in addition to being a memorial to Lubitsch, is also the story of a collaborative relationship and an ode to a "love/hate/love" intellectual, emotional, creative relationship that is unique in the movie business.

I recommend this book for its screenplays, for Mrs. Kael's introduction and for Mr. Raphaelson's paean to Ernst Lubitsch. You can't go wrong on any of these counts, and having them all in one book is a real treat.

Average customer rating:

Good second-marriage story

Trouble in Paradise (Second Chance at Love - To Have and to Hold)
Jeanne Grant
Manufacturer: Jove Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
Regency | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0515078301

Customer Reviews:

Good second-marriage story.......2003-09-21

"Trouble in Paradise" tells the story of Susan, a shy bookstore owner who falls in love with and marries dynamic Griff Anderson, a successful local businessman. Griff has already had one unhappy marriage, and he has three children from that union: thoughtful eighteen-year-old Tom, rebellious fourteen-year-old Barbara, and adorable ten-year-old Tiger. Susan loves the children, but has private reservations about how to handle them.

At first, Griff and Susan's marriage is wonderful. They buy an old house and restore it. They go alone on a camping trip up north in their home state of Minnesota. But when Griff's ex-wife neglects the children one time too many, Griff gets a court order for the children's custody, and they come to live with him and Susan. Then, the peaceful household is plunged into chaos. Susan also begins to have doubts about why Griff married her. Was he really in love with her, or did he just want a mother for his kids?

I found this story excellent and absorbing. Most of the characters are real and sympathetic. I found the description of Susan's bookstore particularly interesting. The boys, Tom and Tiger, are appealing characters.

The one fly in the ointment, (and which keeps this from being a five-star review), is the heroine's stepdaughter, Barbara. The girl is so obnoxiously hostile to Susan that after awhile, Barbara begins to lose reader sympathy, (even after Barbara excuses her attitude as a misdirected act of loyalty towards her own mother). Otherwise, I highly recommend this story; it's good on every other level.

Average customer rating:

One of the better Harlequin Historical Westerns

PRETTY DECENT STORY

Rated: PG

Trouble In Paradise (Historical)
Liz Ireland
Manufacturer: harlequin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Blissful, Texas

ASIN: 0373291302

Customer Reviews:

One of the better Harlequin Historical Westerns.......2006-10-02

I like to read HH Westerns often as they are light reading and most are entertaining. I find a lot of duds, so was glad this wasn't. The story is of a woman who became pregnant after her employers son used her & left her. She was fired, even though it would have been the employer's grandchild and has nowhere to turn. Luckily someone takes her in, but it is only a sheet blocking off the end of a hallway. Luckily Ellie has been a pen pal and decides leaving NY to go west and start over. She drops in and stays for a visit and sparks fly between her & her penpal's brother.

The story is cute, and some side characters get some good interaction and romance as well. I did not find that her being very pregant & having a love scene as gross, as another reviewer put it. It wasn't explicit. The book is worth reading, yet not a keeper for me. I may look for more by the author.

PRETTY DECENT STORY.......2002-09-29

Roy McMillan was worried about his brother, Parker being taken by a scheming widow.
Of course there is trouble when he falls for Ellie.
The revelation of Ellie's pregnancy was a bit comical in the progression of who learns in what order.
Momma, Isabel Dotrice, catches on quicker than others, I felt a little sad that she and Ed McMillan had to wait so long to finally declare their love for each other.

And Clara Trilby was another matter. Such a spoiled brat. But Parker would have her. Yuck!
Loved Ike, he was an all around wonderful character.

Well written and enjoyable story to read - recommended

Rated: PG.......2000-10-01

An author capable of making a Nebraska prairie town in 1892 seem like a fun place to live is an author worth reading. Liz Ireland's latest Harlequin Historical is an adorably funny romance guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Ellie Fitzsimmons thought she was in love with her employer's son, so against her better judgment, she allowed herself to be seduced by him. When she discovered she was pregnant, not only did the father of her baby refuse to acknowledge the child as his, but she also found herself out of a job. Wanting to get as far away from New York as possible to begin anew with her unborn child, Ellie sets off for Paradise, Nebraska where Parker McMillan, her penpal of a few years, lives.

When Ellie meets Parker, he turns out to be both handsome and sweet. Parker opens up his home to her and their longtime camaraderie through letter writing evolves into a wonderful platonic friendship. Although they get along well together as friends, Ellie knows she isn't in love with Parker and vice versa. Parker may be as sweet as they come, but the man she can't get out of her mind is his cranky, brooding brother Roy.

Roy McMillan doesn't like the fact that a stranger from New York is coming to Paradise to stay with his family for an undetermined amount of time. His brother Parker is too softhearted to Roy's way of thinking. Parker not only falls in love too easily, but worse yet, he becomes a melodramatic, romantic milksop each time he gets caught by Cupid's bow. Not wanting to endure the torture of having to listen to Parker moan around the house if and when he falls in love with Ellie and subsequently loses her like he did the last one, Roy decides to keep an eye on one Ellie Fitzsimmons. Roy's problem now is that he is the one who feels like doing a little milksop moaning around the house, for he's falling fast and furiously for Ellie.

The strength of "Trouble in Paradise" comes from the colorful and humorous characters, both primary and secondary. The protagonists are perfect romantic leads: Ellie is independent and feisty, yet knows she loves Roy and doesn't bother to fight that fact, and Roy is the most adorably surly hero I've ever had the pleasure to read about. Roy reminds me of a younger, cuter Archie Bunker and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that cranky men can be wonderfully sexy heroes too.

-full review originally published in The Romance Reader

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books