From Publishers Weekly
Parker's latest mystery brings two of his series characters, Boston PI Sunny Randall and Paradise, Mass., chief of police Jesse Stone together for the first time. Zillionaire Buddy Bollen hires Randall as bodyguard to his live-in girlfriend, the minimally talented but beautiful and athletic Erin Flint, who has starred in several movies Bollen's produced. As the owner of a baseball team, he wants Flint to be the first female major league player. Flint's fear of physical reprisal against her as she attempts to break the baseball gender barrier leads to the hiring of Randall. When Flint's assistant is found dead, Stone joins Randall, professionally and romantically, to solve the murder. Parker, as usual, delivers a fine novel, whose serviceable plot exists primarily to showcase his well-drawn characters. Although she may upon occasion lose track of whose voice is whose, Burton does an admirable job of delivering Parker's dialogue, which is as stylistically unique as a David Mamet play. Her first-person narration from Randall's point of view and expository passages are nicely performed, bringing just the right amount of world-weariness to her characterization.
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BLUE SCREEN revolves around a wheeler-dealer movie mogul, his rising-star girlfriend, and murder. However, the heart of the story is the newly formed working relationship of Boston P.I. Sunny Randall and Police Chief Jessie Stone, from the coastal town of Paradise. Narrator Kate Burton is faced with the tough challenge of giving voice to Jessie Stone, played by Tom Selleck in three TV movies. She comes through by keeping tight control of Sunny Randall, who tells the story from her point of view. Both Randall and Stone are presented in Burton's clear and precise natural voice; she uses a bit of a New England accent to differentiate other characters. Her emotionally charged portrayal of starlet Erin Flint is top-notch. T.J.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.