Publication
New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, c2006.
Collection
Call number
Fiction P
Physical description
306 p.; 24 cm
Status
Available
Call number
Description
When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch, itinerant lawmen, are used to cleaning up after opportunistic thieves, but in Bragg they find an unusually wily adversary-one who raises the stakes by playing not with the rules, but with emotions.
Subjects
Genres
User reviews
LibraryThing member wmorton38
The characters and dialogue are good but other than that it just does not seem very well written. If you edited out all the “he said” & “she said”s, you would have a short story.
LibraryThing member pjebsen
As far as I remember, this is the first of the many Robert B. Parker novels I read which left me somewhat disappointed.
While it was nice to see Sunny Randall, Parker’s female version of Spenser, meet Paradise, Mass., chief of police Jesse Stone for the first time, the dialogue-driven plot is
If you are a Parker completist (like me), get a used paperback copy. You’ll be done with the thin book in a few hours.
While it was nice to see Sunny Randall, Parker’s female version of Spenser, meet Paradise, Mass., chief of police Jesse Stone for the first time, the dialogue-driven plot is
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pretty unrealistic. The investigations of movie-related murders in Los Angeles and Boston just drag along.If you are a Parker completist (like me), get a used paperback copy. You’ll be done with the thin book in a few hours.
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LibraryThing member bearette24
Another greatly enjoyable Sunny Randall mystery. I was a little surprised by the ending, but as always, I enjoyed Sunny's conversations with her shrink (Susan Silverman from the Spenser books, by the same author) and her burgeoning romance with Jesse Stone. Too bad there are only 6 books in the
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Sunny Randall series... Show Less
LibraryThing member Djupstrom
Easy summer read. Nothing to get excited about though.
LibraryThing member JenJ.
Erin Flint is a movie star with perfect looks, but no acting talent. Now her manager is trying to break her into the men's baseball world and Erin wants a female bodyguard. When Erin's assistant is killed, she's convinced it's because "they" don't want her to play baseball and Sunny is pulled off
This is the book where Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone meet and begin their relationship. It's interesting to watch Parker's three main characters come closer and closer to intersecting. Sunny sees Susan Silverman, Spenser's girlfriend, for therapy. Spenser and Jesse team up on a case. Here, Sunny and Jesse team up and end up sleeping together. All three have some contacts or knowledge with the Boston and cops and underworld. Can we be that far from a dream team trio?
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of bodyguard detail to investigate the case. The murder occurred in Paradise, MA home to one of Parker's other protagonist's, Chief of Police Jesse Stone. Soon Sunny and Jesse have found that nothing about Erin's official past is real and they're off to LA to uncover the truth.This is the book where Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone meet and begin their relationship. It's interesting to watch Parker's three main characters come closer and closer to intersecting. Sunny sees Susan Silverman, Spenser's girlfriend, for therapy. Spenser and Jesse team up on a case. Here, Sunny and Jesse team up and end up sleeping together. All three have some contacts or knowledge with the Boston and cops and underworld. Can we be that far from a dream team trio?
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LibraryThing member ferrisscottr
If you've read Robert B. Parker then you know what you're getting.
Short chapters
Quick read
Hard to put down but if you had to put it down you can pick it right back up where you left off
Amazing characters
Flawed characters
The characters will drink too much & visit the shrink too much
This one doesn't
It was nice reading about how Sunny & Jesse got together as I enjoy both of their respective series.
I found that I liked Jesse Stone a lot better in the Jesse Stone series than I do in the Sunny Randall series.
I did not like the characters in this book at all with the exception of Sunny & Jesse and that made it hard to root for the victim when you didn't like her.
Worth reading but not one of his best. I enjoyed it but not as much as I hoped for.
Short chapters
Quick read
Hard to put down but if you had to put it down you can pick it right back up where you left off
Amazing characters
Flawed characters
The characters will drink too much & visit the shrink too much
This one doesn't
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disappoint - all of the usuals are here.It was nice reading about how Sunny & Jesse got together as I enjoy both of their respective series.
I found that I liked Jesse Stone a lot better in the Jesse Stone series than I do in the Sunny Randall series.
I did not like the characters in this book at all with the exception of Sunny & Jesse and that made it hard to root for the victim when you didn't like her.
Worth reading but not one of his best. I enjoyed it but not as much as I hoped for.
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LibraryThing member ecw0647
A Sunny Randall novel by Robert Parker, written in his inimitable style (lots of I said, he said, I said, he said........). We get to see Jesse Stone and Paradise from the perspective of a woman detective, which is kind of interesting. I'm a fan of the Jesse Stone stories.
I would suggest this one
I won't bother any kind of plot summary. I need only say it's preposterous and instead of a hooker with a heart of gold we have a thoughtful pimp. Hmmm.
Good lawn mowing material, although the sessions with Susan occasionally had me side-swiping a tree.
I would suggest this one
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is kind of middle of the road fare for Robert B. Parker. I did find it jarring to run into characters from the other books (except Hawk of course who would have really stood out): Sunny goes to a shrink who just happens to be Susan Silverman; Jesse and she, of course, get it on (and in the dressing room of a high end clothing store (funny but ridiculous), Suitcase (more baseball lore), and Healy from the State Police, etc. etc. I began to feel like there might only be twelve people in the world and 11 of them populate Parker's books.I won't bother any kind of plot summary. I need only say it's preposterous and instead of a hooker with a heart of gold we have a thoughtful pimp. Hmmm.
Good lawn mowing material, although the sessions with Susan occasionally had me side-swiping a tree.
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LibraryThing member CherieDooryard
The worst Robert Parker is still 90% more enjoyable than most light reads, so this gets four stars even though the plot is a bit weak and the writing is a bit repetitive. Am I supposed to believe that Sunny Randall actually asks suspects the same question twice...and is surprised by the answer each
Audiobook notes: Kate Burton is a phenomenal reader. The moods she sets with her voice are amazing.
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time? He phoned this one in, but it's Parker, so it's still good with sharp writing.Audiobook notes: Kate Burton is a phenomenal reader. The moods she sets with her voice are amazing.
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LibraryThing member nbmars
In Blue Screen, Robert B. Parker introduces two of his favorite characters to each other. It so happens that Sunny Randall, a private detective, and Jesse Stone, a policeman both are currently estranged from their respective spouses. Upon meeting, they then proceed to philosophize on the nature of
Oh yes, they also have a murder to solve.
Sunny has been hired by film mogul Buddy Bolen to protect his up-and-coming star Erin Flint, a beautiful Amazonian actress who can’t act very well, but it doesn’t matter. Buddy lives in Paradise, Massachusetts, where Jesse is the Chief of Police. Buddy also owns a major league baseball team, the [fictional] Connecticut Nutmegs. Buddy plans to have Erin play for them as major league baseball's first female player if she can learn to hit major league pitching. Erin fears that unseen forces may try to kill her to prevent her from playing in the Bigs. Despite the fact that her fear seems paranoid, Erin’s sister, Misty, who looks like Erin, is found dead with her neck broken in a way suggesting that an expert killer is at work.
Erin wants Sunny to work on the case even though it falls within Jesse’s jurisdiction. Jesse doesn’t (to say the least) mind to have Sunny on the case with him. Sunny’s and Jesse’s investigation into the former lives of Erin and Buddy leads them to Hollywood, where they uncover several likely suspects in the murder.
Jesse is a former AAA minor league baseball shortstop. This plot feature allows Parker to have Jesse appraise Erin’s likely ability to hit major league pitching, and to philosophize on whether any woman could make in the big leagues. Jesse’s verdict is that Erin could never make it—like Michael Jordan, her bat speed is too slow. He remains agnostic on whether some other woman “out there” might someday play in the majors.
The murder investigation takes a back seat to the real focus of the book, which is how Sunny and Jesse relate to one another. Moreover, the issue of whether Erin could hit a major league fast ball [she can’t] is nearly as important a subplot as the murder.
Evaluation: As always in a Parker novel, the chapters and the sentences are short and pithy and the dialog is clever and snappy. Who cares about the murder!
(JAB)
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love and experiment with a little sex. Told from Sunny’s perspective, the characters’ interplay seems quite realistic to me even though it is authored by a male.Oh yes, they also have a murder to solve.
Sunny has been hired by film mogul Buddy Bolen to protect his up-and-coming star Erin Flint, a beautiful Amazonian actress who can’t act very well, but it doesn’t matter. Buddy lives in Paradise, Massachusetts, where Jesse is the Chief of Police. Buddy also owns a major league baseball team, the [fictional] Connecticut Nutmegs. Buddy plans to have Erin play for them as major league baseball's first female player if she can learn to hit major league pitching. Erin fears that unseen forces may try to kill her to prevent her from playing in the Bigs. Despite the fact that her fear seems paranoid, Erin’s sister, Misty, who looks like Erin, is found dead with her neck broken in a way suggesting that an expert killer is at work.
Erin wants Sunny to work on the case even though it falls within Jesse’s jurisdiction. Jesse doesn’t (to say the least) mind to have Sunny on the case with him. Sunny’s and Jesse’s investigation into the former lives of Erin and Buddy leads them to Hollywood, where they uncover several likely suspects in the murder.
Jesse is a former AAA minor league baseball shortstop. This plot feature allows Parker to have Jesse appraise Erin’s likely ability to hit major league pitching, and to philosophize on whether any woman could make in the big leagues. Jesse’s verdict is that Erin could never make it—like Michael Jordan, her bat speed is too slow. He remains agnostic on whether some other woman “out there” might someday play in the majors.
The murder investigation takes a back seat to the real focus of the book, which is how Sunny and Jesse relate to one another. Moreover, the issue of whether Erin could hit a major league fast ball [she can’t] is nearly as important a subplot as the murder.
Evaluation: As always in a Parker novel, the chapters and the sentences are short and pithy and the dialog is clever and snappy. Who cares about the murder!
(JAB)
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LibraryThing member asxz
All that gubbins over several books about Sunny and Richie being soulmates and Jesse and Jenn being soulmates and it's all disposed of in one romp-filled, love-at-first-case, pot-boiler. Shame. I'm sure Parker has gone to the Hollywood satire well before and there are definitely diminishing returns
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here. Spoiled starlet, mob money, pimps and agents with an odd bit of baseball improbability thrown in. Ho hum. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
2006-06
ISBN
9780399153518