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US crime veteran Robert B. Parker wades into the No Exit catalogue with Night Passage, an apéritif for the imminent second Jesse Stone novel, the deservedly highly-rated Trouble In Paradise. 

As befits a writer of Parker’s standing, Night Passage is smoothly realised, finding the 35-year-old Stone walking out on both his marriage to the would-be actress who betrayed him and the LAPD after he's turned out of the job for his drinking. He fetches up in Paradise, a small Massachusetts town near Boston, that takes to him as their new Chief of Police.

Once Stone's in office it turns out he's been hired on account of his drinking, as the local right wing mayor wants a patsy. Homicide, white supremacism, various local crazies, political corruption and money laundering rear their ugly heads. While this goes on Stone keeps cool and attempts to deal with his drinking, phone calls from his wife, and his new relationship with the local District Attorney.

The plot may stretch credibility but it's tight enough and Night Passage is as witty and as gracefully written as Parker's previous books. The opening, featuring Stone's journey across the States to Massachusetts and flashbacks to the break-up, is superb. Parker could do this in his sleep. •

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