My interest in the Jesse Stone books was spearheaded by James Patterson and Mike Lupica, who co-authored three books (of which I have read The House of Wolves and 12 Months to Live). Well, Mike Lupica has written some of the later Jesse Stone books, so I was intrigued and after I read the first Jesse Stone book, I was hooked! The original author was Robert J Parker, and after he passed away, three other authors (including Mike Lupica) have continued the series which totals 2o books! Right now, I am just starting the 15th book.
In addition to the books, there are 9 movies, with the first 5 based on specific Robert J Parker books, and the remaining based on the characters he created. I got them all on Prime for free except for one, which I had to a rent for a few bucks.
And, last Sunday, I finished the last movie. Tom Selleck plays the Paradise, Massachusetts Police Chief Jesse Stone in all of them. Most of the cast of characters stays the same throughout all the movies. Viola Davis plays officer Molly Crane for a few of them and seeing her made me want to read her autobiography which I did and really enjoyed. There is a Tom Selleck biography coming out next year, and it’s already in my Amazon Wishlist.
The books were much better than the movies, as there were some key differences between them, but the dialog was fairly consistent. As for the movies based on the characters, I enjoyed them more as I had no clue what was going to happen. Well, I sort of knew that a crime would happen, and Jesse and his fellow police officers would eventually solve them, and a lot of flirtation between Jesse and any female would happen and maybe they would end up sleeping together.
I probably should’ve counted how many ladies he slept with, how many cups of coffee he drank, how many donuts he consumed, how many alcoholic drinks he consumed, how many times he asked people to call him Jesse, how many times he and his dog did something together, how many times he got drunk, how many times he did something without telling any of the other police officers, how many times he had a coply intuition, or how many times I was mesmerized by Tom Selleck’s goatee and eyebrows and then flashbacked to when I was much much much much younger and had a Magnum PI tray for eating!
A few days ago, I told Nina that maybe I should make 2024 the year of catching up on television shows and any movies I have missed since Niko was born in 2016. I basically stopped watching the original CSI, Criminal Minds, The Walking Dead, and The Simpsons. Being with Nina and Niko and having that time together was much more important than watching television. I also stopped paying attention to sports. I even have a few shows on Netflix that I also stopped watching – Glow and Bloodline. I know there are more, so maybe I will do that.
But who am I kidding? I probably won’t do that as the little time I have in the evenings when Niko is sleeping and Nina is in the bedroom, I would much rather write or read. I am not the type of person who can binge watch something on a streaming service. I also have a very short attention span as when I do watch something, it will very likely take me a few days to finish it. I did watch Seasons 1 and 2 on HBO Max of Winning Time, and I enjoyed them (as I did read the book it was based on by Jeff Pearlman).
But again, you never know with me. Maybe I will surprise myself.
