Woman found washed ashore turns out to be killed by her Miami father who has been sexually abusing her and her twin sisters for decades.

(2005) Another good Jesse Stone novel. This involves a dead woman washed up on the shore who turns out to be the victim of her pedofile father who was jealous of his daughter's sexual exploits.From Publishers WeeklyFilled with tawdry sexual shenanigans, bestseller Parker's fifth Jesse Stone novel (after 2003's Stone Cold) finds the former L.A. cop, now the police chief of Paradise, Mass., tentatively reunited with his ex-wife, Jenn, and approaching a year since his last drink. The murder of a woman aboard a sailboat leads Stone into a world of wealth and depravity centered on a couple of yacht owners from Florida and their crowd. Drugs, pornography, rape and underage sex provide a degrading framework for the murder investigation. Stone gets a valuable assist from Kelly Cruz, a Fort Lauderdale cop, as he traces the backgrounds of victims and suspects. The laconic Stone with his uncertain relationship with Jenn, his struggle with alcohol and his visits to a therapist presents a striking contrast to Parker's primary hero, Spenser. But much of the dialogue is interchangeable: witty, flirtatious, droll and sexually charged. The outcome manages to be both surprising and depressing. Stone is a work in progress whose following is likely to increase as he continues to grow.

Synopsis: 'When a woman's partially decomposed body washes ashore in Paradise, Stone is forced into a case far more difficult than it initially appears. Identifying the woman is just the first step in what proves to be a treacherous and emotionally charged investigation. Florence Horvath was an attractive, recently divorced heiress from Florida; she also had a penchant for steamy sex and was an enthusiastic participant in a video depicting the same. Somehow the combination of her past and her present got her killed, but n one is talking - not the crew of the Lady Jane, the Fort Lauderdale yacht moored in Paradise Harbor not Florence's very blonde, very tan twin sisters, Corliss and Claudia; not her curiously affectless parents, living out a sterile retirement in a Miami high-rise. But someone - Jesse - has to speak for the dead, even if it puts him in harm's way.' From the book jacket

Review: This was a twisted, interesting story. It took a while to figure out all of the connections. ( )

First Parker and Jesse Stone Read. Fan of T. Selleck's J. Stone books filmed in Nova Scotia so that is in my minds eye when I read. Not a lot of back ground and short on scenic descriptions. It was like after a page of dialogue he decided to insert the pattern on the dog's water bowl. Characters are revealed through short sarcastic dialogue with meaning embedded between words. Still, I enjoyed the coastal town imagery, Jesse Stone's doggedness and the Kelly Cruz "broad". ( )

First edition as new