Michael Brandman
has returned to writing with his book Missing Persons.
His resume is extensive having co-written nine Jesse Stone
movies and three westerns with the legendary actor Tom Selleck,
and producing over forty films with screenwriters such as
Arthur Miller and Neil Simon. But he is also known for being
the original writer of the Robert B. Parker novels after Parker’s
death.
Besides working on this book Brandman is also in the early
stage of a tenth Jesse Stone movie with Tom Selleck. “It
is more of a murder mystery than the psychologically brooding
Jesse, more in the line of Stone Cold. This Jesse
is based upon the original one written by Parker. Even though
Reed Coleman, the current writer of the Jesse Stone series,
killed off the crime boss Gino Fish, Tom and I consider him
an amazing and essential character. We worked closely with
Bob on the first few movies and that is going to be the guideline
we follow.”
Readers of Missing Persons will make the inevitable
comparisons to the Jesse Stone series. The setting is a small
town with the lead character, Buddy Steel, a chief deputy
sheriff. The town, Freedom in California, is by a seaside
just like Paradise. Buddy is similar in personality to Jesse
in that he is tall, good looking, does not like dealing with
the politics, will not play the political game, will not hesitate
to ruffle feathers, and is not a fan of authority. The difference
is Jesse played baseball, while Buddy plays basketball.
The other stark difference is that Buddy does not drink as
much as Jesse and he returned to the town where he grew up
because of his father’s illness. Having grown up in
the shadow of his autocratic father he was hesitant to return,
but did so out of a sense of duty. His father, the current
sheriff, has Lou Gehrig’s disease, and has pressured
his son to come home and pull the plug when necessary in an
assisted suicide.
The rest of the plot involves the disappearance of an evangelistic
preacher’s wife. As the quote in the book reflects,
“Cameras don’t lie. There was something disingenuous
about him.” People have to think no farther than what
Joel Osteen said and did during the floods in Texas. The book
plot tried to show how many of these preachers are con men
that emerged as self-righteous.
This is the first in a possible series. Although he is somewhat
cynical Buddy Steel is a likeable character. Readers are rooting
for him to succeed and grow out of his father’s shadow.
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