For all sorts of reasons, I’m easy to spot in Paradise, Mass. For one thing, I’m the youngest patrol officer on the job. Oh, and I’m only one of two women on the force. It’s me and Molly Crane, Jesse’s right hand. I suppose two women on a force of thirteen isn’t so bad. At least it’s a start. But the thing you’ll notice about me first off is that my face is the only one covered with black skin. That’s right, me, Alisha Davis from the Bronx, daughter of a father who bled NYPD blue. A father who wanted his little girl to follow his path. The thing is, I wasn’t born to follow anybody’s path but my own. So, yeah, that’s right, I took a job in a little town fifteen miles north of Boston.

I think about my Daddy every day I get into my uniform, every day I strap on my gun belt, every day the sun rises. The last thing he wanted me to do was to take this job. I don’t know. Maybe he was right. It’s not like they rolled the red carpet out for me down Scrimshaw Street. No one talks about it, but I know that Jesse, Chief Stone, had to go to the wall for me. That the politicians wanted a retired big city cop like my father. Someone with a pension and benefits and experience. So, yeah, it burns me a little when I pass one of the town selectmen and he shakes my hand and tells me what a fine job I’m doing. Mostly though, I loved the job until a few weeks ago.

You understand, Paradise isn’t lily white or anything. I guess it used to be, except for the Portuguese fishermen who lived in the Swap. Not anymore. People of all kinds have been moving up here from Boston and New York. I think that’s one of the reasons Jesse fought so hard for me. He wants his police force to look like the people they serve. The Patels, the family who bought Jesse’s old house, are a perfect example. He’s a doctor down in Boston. His skin’s almost as dark as mine. His wife, an architect, looks like Christy Brinkley, and their kids . . . well, they’re what gives me hope about America. Blended, because that’s what we are and someday I know we’ll wake up to it.

It’s hard, sometimes, really hard to have hope. Like when those skinhead bikers came into town and started trouble at the Scupper. Trying to push me around, get me off my game, maybe do something stupid. I guess I did, but no one’s going to call me a ni—the N-word to my face and have me just take it. I hate that word no matter who says it or when. I don’t think it was when that cracker moron said it that I started thinking about my decision to take the job here. It was when Suit and Gabe showed up and took over from me, pushing between me and the bikers that I began to wonder. I know they’re more experienced than me and I was pretty hot and all . . . It just rubbed me wrong.

Got me thinking about other stuff, too. I’ve been dating Dylan Taylor for a while now. White man, handsome, ex-military and the head of security over on Stiles Island. Thought I loved him. Now I’m not so sure. I mean, I put this uniform on each day and I walk the streets and drive my cruiser and act confident and friendly. But who am I? I’ve been wondering about that a lot lately. It’s odd, I know, that on the one hand I think about the Patel kids and that gives me hope. Then I think about marrying Dylan and think maybe that’s wrong. I’m feeling a little lost, I guess.

I look in the little square mirror on my locker door and tell myself I’m ready for my shift, but what I hear is my Daddy’s voice. I don’t like what it says, but lately I can’t help but feeling he might be right. I close the locker door shut, but my Daddy’s voice follows.

You can read more about Alisha in Robert B. Parker’s Colorblind, the fifth book in the “Jesse Stone” series written by the author. The first book in the “Jesse Stone” series is Night Passage.

Police chief Jesse Stone returns in the newest novel in Robert B. Parker’s New York Times–bestselling series, and his newest case hits right at the heart of the Paradise police force.

Jesse Stone is back on the job after a stint in rehab, and the road to recovery is immediately made bumpy by a series of disturbing and apparently racially motivated crimes, beginning with the murder of an African American woman. Then, Jesse’s own deputy Alisha–the first black woman hired by the Paradise police force–becomes the target of a sophisticated frame-up. As he and his team work tirelessly to unravel the truth, he has to wonder if this is just one part of an even grander plot, one with an end game more destructive than any of them can imagine.

At the same time, a mysterious young man named Cole Slayton rolls into town with a chip on his shoulder and a problem with authority–namely, Jesse. Yet, something about the angry twenty-something appeals to Jesse, and he takes Cole under his wing. But there’s more to him than meets the eye, and his secrets might change Jesse’s life forever.

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Meet the author
Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post, Reed Farrel Coleman is the author of thirty novels—including five in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series—short stories, poetry, and essays. He is a four-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories and a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards. He is currently at work on the prequel novel to Michael Mann’s movie Heat. With their kids moved to far off Brooklyn, Reed lives with his wife Rosanne and their two Siamese cats, Cleo and Knish, in the wilds of Suffolk County on Long Island.

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