Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise

Plot

Police Chief Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) accepts a position as an unpaid consultant with the Massachusetts State Police, working for Lt. Sydney Greenstreet (Leslie Hope) who gives him case files on several murders. After reviewing the files, Stone takes special interest in one case that involves the fourth victim of a brutal serial killer who slashed and disemboweled his victims while they were still alive. The jailed killer, a man named Richard and known as the "Boston Ripper" (Luke Perry), admits to the first three murders with pride, but maintains he did not commit the fourth murder. After interviewing the killer, Stone concludes that he's a "sick son of a bitch", but does not believe he killed the fourth victim, Mavis Davies.

Stone interviews Mavis' husband, Bruce Davies, who is still bitter after having learned during the investigation that his wife was working as a high-priced prostitute when she was killed. When Stone asks for his help, Davies informs him that he has no intention of helping to reopen the investigation. Stone asks about Mavis' dog, who appears in some of the crime scene photos, Davies tells him he gave "Steve" to an animal shelter when he refused to eat. Stone goes to the shelter and adopts the dog just before he is euthanized. The dog looks like Stone's deceased pet, Reggie. At Stone's home, the dog continues to refuse to eat, even the expensive steaks that Stone offers.

Meanwhile, Stone encounters a thirteen-year-old girl named Jenny (Mackenzie Foy) smoking marijuana in a park. He takes an interest in the troubled girl's welfare, and calls his deputy, Luther "Suitcase" Simpson (Kohl Sudduth), and asks him to investigate the girl's home life. "Suit" discovers that the girl's mother is a drunk and that she hits her daughter. Later, after seeing Jenny with a bruised face, Stone visits her mother and offers her a "voucher" to seek help for her alcoholism. He tells her that if he even suspects that she's hit her daughter again, he will arrest her.

Returning home, Stone offers leftover spaghetti and meatballs to Steve, and to his surprise, the dog eats it.

Back on the case, Stone meets with Detective Dan Leary (Alex Carter), the officer who arrested the killer, who tells Stone that he's convinced the "Boston Ripper" committed all four murders, noting that since Richard was jailed, "the murders have stopped". Continuing his investigation, Stone interviews the autopsy doctor and confirms that the toxicology report is missing from the file. Stone tells Lt. Greenstreet that he believes the file was "scrubbed". Later, Stone discusses the case with his psychiatrist, Dr. Dix (William Devane), who advises, "If you don't like the answers you're getting, check your premises."

Stone visits gangster Gino Fish (William Sadler) and learns where the fourth victim worked as a prostitute. The "dating agency" owner tells Stone about Mavis Davies' friend, Charlotte (Amelia Rose Blaire), who recently left the business. He finds Charlotte, now running a cafe under her real name, Amelia Hope, and learns that Mavis was having an affair and was in love with a police officer. Back at Lt. Greenstreet's office, Stone reveals that he suspects that Detective Leary was Mavis' lover and that he killed Mavis in a copycat manner of the "Boston Ripper".

Soon after, Detective Leary shows up at Amelia's cafe and attempts to abduct and kill her. When Stone arrives, Leary fires at him, Stone returns fire, and shoots him dead. Afterwards, Stone accompanies Jenny to St. Agnes Refuge, where his friend, Sister Mary John (Kerri Smith), offers the young girl a place to live while her mother is treated for her alcoholism. Sometime later, Stone sits on a bench overlooking the ocean, with his dog Steve at his side.

Cast

Production

Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise was filmed on location in Lunenburg and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Critical response

Writing in the Reno Gazette-Journal, Mike Hughes called the film a "must-see" and declared it "the best yet" of the Jesse Stone film series and "worth the wait". Hughes concludes that "the film neatly balances character depth and a solid mystery". Columnist Jeanne Jakle, writing in MySA, writes that Selleck "commands the screen with the subdued intensity he's brought to the title character for 10 years". Jakle finds the music, muted photography, and slow pace "oddly comforting", and concludes:

Lost in Paradise is a decent whodunit, but the beauty of the movie, as always, lies with its deliciously melancholy execution and, of course, Selleck's layered and quietly magnetic performance, which once again adds to his status as one of TV's stalwart greats.