Robert B. Parker, High Profile

High Profile

Robert B. Parker

Putnam, Feb 2007, $24.95 304 pp.

ISBN 0399159041

In Paradise, a jogger sees a man hanging from a tree and calls the police. Chief of Police Jesse Stone sees the body and knows he was shot before somebody hung him from the tree; the medical examiner confirms this, taking the bullets from his body. The victim's prints are in the system so they discover he was Walton Weeks, a popular talk show and radio host as well as a newspaper columnist, making this a high profile case.

Not long after, a second body with bullets in it is found in the dumpster behind Daisy's Restaurant. The same person killed both victims, the second being Walton's lover who was pregnant with his child. Nobody claims the body, including his ex-wives, but pretty soon Jesse has a plethora of suspects including two former spouses, his present wife, a research assistant, a business manager and a bodyguard. Nobody needs a good alibi because the time of death can't be determined and most of the suspects have secrets to hide. Jesse believes a good, old-fashioned police investigation will lead him to the killer.

Robert B. Parker always delivers an entertaining and enjoyable whodoneit due to the lead characters with their snappy repartee and their ability to keep apart their professional lives from their private lives. In HIGH PROFILE, Jesse loves two women, his promiscuous ex-wife and Sunny Randall who can't forget her ex-husband. In an ironic turn of events, Sunny is guarding Jesse's ex-wife from a stalker leading to them becoming friends. Only Mr. Parker could pull that one off.

Harriet Klausner