The Devil Wins by Reed Farrel Coleman, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Twenty-five years ago, two teenaged girls went missing during a 4th of July celebration in Paradise, Massachusetts. Now, their bodies have been discovered beneath a warehouse destroyed by a fierce nor'easter, together with the body a man, who appears to have died within the past 24 hours, in The Devil Wins, the fourteenth Jesse Stone mystery overall and the second to be written by Reed Farrel Coleman.

Jesse has only been police chief of Paradise for ten years, so is unfamiliar with the case of the missing girls. However, they were friends of his current fellow officer Molly Crane. Forensics indicate that one of the girls had multiple knife wounds in the shoulder and chest area; the other had apparently died as a result of a blunt object striking the back of her skull. While Jesse is trying to determine if the cold case murders are related to the most recent one, yet another person is killed. The city council gives Jesse just two weeks to solve all the cases, or he will be fired. Though his staff is cooperative and willing to help in any way they can, elsewhere Jesse feels as if the investigation is being hindered at every twist and turn. Indeed, he comes to think that maybe even Molly may know something, and is holding back information that may be crucial to solving these crimes.

The Devil Wins is a complex (in a good way) mystery that is made even more so in that it involves two recent murders coupled with two long ago unsolved killings that on the surface have little in common. Jesse's character is one that has a deep history through the Parker novels (and to a lesser extent, through the made-for-television movies starring Tom Selleck) and yet continues to develop here. He resents the political pressure put on him, but he has a strong tie to the community and wants to do what is best for all. This is a solid entry in this series, one that will please existing fans and be a strong introduction to those readers that haven't yet read any of the books.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Devil Wins.

Acknowledgment: Penguin Group provided a copy of The Devil Wins for this review.

The Book of Ghosts
Mysterious Press (eBook), February 2013
ISBN-13: 9781453261071; ISBN-10: 1453261079

Debt To Pay
Putnam (Hardcover), September 2016
ISBN-13: 9780399171437; ISBN-10: 0399171436

The Devil Wins

A Jesse Stone Mystery by Reed Farrel Coleman