Night Passage by the late multiple Shamus & Edgar Award-winner Robert B. Parker (
SYKM,
Wikipedia), also a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and creator of the very popular Spenser series, is the 1st in his related Jesse Stone series starring an ex-LAPD cop who takes the role of police chief in a picturesque Massachussetts town which turns out to be chock-full of crime and corruption, as picturesque Massachussetts towns are prone to be, originally out in 1997, free courtesy of publisher Oldcastle Books' No Exit Press imprint.
Currently free @
Amazon UK (also seems to be available in other Europe/Oceania countries such as Australia and Netherlands when I spot-check), &
iTunes UK &
AU, where I suspect this is being price-matched to, and may possibly drop @
B&N UK &
Kobo UK (possibly in other countries by then as well) in another few days (linked for your price-drop check convenience) if the publisher intends it to be a multi-store freebie instead of just an iTunes price-match.
Unlikely to stop in the middle of the pond, since Penguin still has the North American rights to this.
If something else hadn't popped up this afternoon which bumped this (and everything else in the priority posting queue) off the top spot, this would have been the selected featured title for today, because it's really nice to get a 1st-in-series novel for a long-established character from a major talent.
Parker's other backlist reprint titles from Oldcastle are couponable @
Kobo (presumably only available in UK/EU/Oceania), by the way.
Description
After a busted marriage kicks his drinking problems into overdrive and the LAPD unceremoniously dump him, 35-year-old Jesse Stone's future looks bleak. He is shocked, however, when a small Massachusetts town called Paradise hires him as their police chief. Once on board he doesn't have to look for trouble in Paradise - it comes to him.
For what is on the surface a quiet New England community quickly proves to be a crucible of political and moral corruption - replete with triple homicide, tight Boston mob ties, flamboyantly errant spouses, maddened militiamen and a psychopath-about-town who has fixed his violent sights on the new lawman. He finds he must test his mettle and powers of command to emerge a local hero - or the deadest of dupes.