bkoganbing Watching this latest Jesse Stone film Thin Ice put me in mind of Murder She Wrote and Jessica Fletcher's little hamlet by the sea Cabot Cove. The similarities between Cabot Cove and Paradise are striking, but the attitudes are certainly different among the residents.As usual there are two cases for the small town police force to solve in this film. It opens with Tom Selleck and his friend Stephen McHattie from the State Police on a most unofficial stakeout when both are shot. Selleck manages to get off some shots and may have wounded one of the two shooters. The second is Camryn Manheim who came in from New Mexico. Her day old infant was snatched from the hospital several years ago. Mother's intuition and a strange letter tell her that her kid is in Paradise. On that very thin evidence and on her women's intuition Kathy Baker investigates with silent approval from Selleck. By the way Manheim's one scene with Selleck and Baker is unbelievably moving.But it was the side issue that grabbed me. The town council is having a hissy fit over Selleck doing a little moonlighting with McHattie. His chief critic on the council Jeremy Akerman who after unsuccessfully trying to get Selleck to hire his nephew makes it clear that his chief function as police is to nail those speeders at the local trap and generate some revenue. Selleck who worked homicide in the LAPD really thinks it beneath him. Not to mention that those murders from previous Jesse Stone stories are giving Paradise a bad name which could affect the tourist trade.Contrast that with Cabot Cove and how they treat Jessica Fletcher and think of all the murders she solved in Murder She Wrote's long run. The residents there certainly never thought of firing Tom Bosley or Ron Masak and certainly weren't about to tar and feather their most famous resident. Cabot Cove in fact had to be the murder capital of the United States. Paradise has a long way to go.I think it's the provincial attitudes of some of the people you will take away when you watch Thin Ice.

noliver35 I love the feel of these (made for TV) movies. And as another person commented, I also like the music and how it adds to the atmosphere. This one had good attention to detail, I thought. At least, based on a couple of things I noticed. At the firing range Suitcase had a Bic four color pen in his breast pocket; when he was taking notes on his observation of the bad guy outside the bar, he used the same (sort of?) pen to write them. There were a few other little details like that - clearly, the people who put this together took good care with the film. And I continue to be impressed with how Tom Selleck portrays Jesse Stone. Tom might be older than Jesse, but he does a fantastic job. I'm sure that Robert B. Parker would have been happy.

vchimpanzee I just saw this after not paying close attention to TV listings months ago.At the start of this movie based on a Robert Parker novel, Chief Stone is on a stakeout with his friend Captain Healy, the Massachusetts head of homicide. The two are talking and not paying enough attention when someone shows up and shoots both of them. Stone, naturally, recovers, but Healy may not.Town councilman Carter Hanson wants to hire his nephew to replace D'Angelo, though what he really wants to do is get rid of Stone, whose reputation is hurting the town's image as a tourism destination. Eilzabeth Blue shows up wanting the Paradise police department to find her son who was kidnapped seven years ago. She has received a letter from Paradise suggesting her son may be alive in Paradise. Actually, she didn't see the letter for two years because her ex-husband hid it from her. Stone doesn't really want to investigate but Rose does.Stone's ex-wife Jenn, who does the weather on a Los Angeles TV station, calls to say she is moving in with her producer. Stone doesn't approve. His dog doesn't either, but I think the dog is reacting to Stone drinking again. Dr. Dix doesn't approve of much of anything Stone does, and one wonders where he's getting the nearly $200 he has to pay per hour. Jenn has talked to Dr. Dix, who won't reveal what she said.Sidney is Stone's latest girlfriend; she is investigating him for Internal Affairs after Stone shot his shooter, which is standard procedure. But she is also investigating him because he is "on thin ice" with the town council.Suitcase provides a critical clue in the Blue case. One would expect Stone to be so smart he'd see it, but I'm sure this makes Suitcase look good.Tom Selleck gives his usual fine performance. Even though Stone meets a new standard for unethical behavior, Selleck makes us like him. Actually, Stone is more moral than the town council on one issue. Stone doesn't seem to want to be liked except by his friends, but that doesn't matter.The lead actors all give good performances as well, and Camryn Mannheim stands out among the guest stars. Many of the guest actors also give good performances.Somehow I didn't enjoy this as much as other Jesse Stone movies, but it was still worthwhile.

Jay Oyster (tergenev) This is clearly written as the first of two or three stories. It continues several of Robert Parker's characters very well, while seriously taking a couple along different paths. Most notably, Jesse's character has gotten more serious, and more challenged by life. There was always the sense in Selleck's portrayal of a wounded soul . . .much more so than in the books about Jesse Stone.Overall, I liked this movie a great deal. I liked the expansion of William Devane's Dr. Hix character ("Dix" in the novels) and Suitcase Simpson's continuing confusion from his previous coma is still amusing, and occasionally disconcerting. But, although I liked the character of Rose, she is no replacement for Molly. Molly and Jesse's banter from the earlier movies is sorely missed. It added the levity needed as a counterweight to the heavier story lines.I did like those story lines. The shooting of Healey at the beginning of the show starts the story with a bang, and Jesse's dogged determination to track down whoever is responsible is completely in character, even if it does hurt him professionally. The other story line, about the mother looking for her lost child, seemed at the beginning to be entirely predictable, but then it was not. Camryn Manheim, as the mother, is amazingly good here.And may I just say that I love the music in these last couple movies. The music has gotten much stronger. Piano-based with a feel of Ravel or Satie, the soundtrack composer was listed during the credits, but I didn't catch the name. I might consider buying this soundtrack.I liked the ending, but it is clearly leading to the next movie. I can only hope that "Jesse Stone: No Remorse" finishes up a couple of these story lines. I'd like to hear what's happening with Molly. And although I think they tied up the story of the lost child fairly well, the plot with Geno Fish, and the shooter of Detective Healey, seems to have much more to play out in the next movie. And of course, we need to find out what happens next with the police chief of Paradise.