Summary

• Tom Selleck is well-known for his TV work on Blue Bloods but also starred in detective novel adaptations as Jesse Stone.
• Jesse Stone movies follow the character's journey as a disgraced homicide detective facing corruption in a small town.
• The Jesse Stone movies are best watched in release date order to follow the character's arc and long-term storytelling.

Even though the actor has had a long and storied career for the past 50-plus years that has included such shows and movies as Magnum P.I and Three Men and a Baby, actor Tom Selleck is well known these days for his TV work on a weekly CBS family cop drama known as Blue Bloods. Along with cast members Donnie Wahlberg and Bridget Moynahan, this long-running series has captivated primetime fans with its endearing tale of the Reagan family, who are tasked with continuously saving NYC from all sorts of criminal activity. What a lot of modern-day followers of this American actor don’t know is that he also starred in some riveting detective novel adaptations that graced the small screen for about ten years, starting from 2005 all the way to 2015.

Stepping into the role of Jesse Stone, Selleck would become a disgraced homicide detective in LA who has been transferred into the foggy city of Paradise, Massachusetts, and given the rank of police chief. Carrying a drinking problem in one hand and an unhealthy dependence on receiving nightly phone calls from his ex-wife in the other, the burly lead character would quickly come face to face with the corruption that plagues this small town. From going head-to-head with thrill killers and gangsters, Stone had nine small-screen adventures over 10 years, ranging from 2005 to 2015.

While this line of exciting movies is very easy to follow if tracking them by release date, chronological order, on the other hand, needs some explanation. Let’s first take a look at every single Jesse Stone feature and arrange them in a way that would be most suitable for those who want emphasis on long-term storytelling (in a way that the original author Robert B. Parker would be proud of).

Jesse Stone: Night Passage (2006)

If you are looking to prioritize Stone’s character arc above all else, Jesse Stone: Night Passage is the first movie in the Jesse Stone franchise that you need to see. Viewers not only come to learn why the titular character has arrived in the small town of Paradise, Massachusetts but also become acquainted with his sympathetic flaws. Which includes still having daily phone conversations with his ex-wife and slowly stepping into being a functioning alcoholic. Within the 89-minute runtime, Stone becomes entangled in numerous cases that involve domestic abuse, racketeering, and a hint of the mob that is practically running everything behind the scenes. He also becomes involved with a local lawyer. Of course, there is usually a romance angle in every entry.

Stone Cold (2005)

Released before Night Passage​​​​​​, but taking place after the first movie that was released, Stone Cold follows a more set-in-his-ways Jesse Stone, who is no longer surprised at the possible secrets and menacing crimes that this town holds. Suddenly, a series of murders start to occur that all have the same technique of murder surrounding them. Even though the film reveals who the murderers are early on and Stone knows that it’s them as well, the plot revolves around our main police chief figuring out law-abiding ways to catch them and take them down.

Jesse Stone: Death In Paradise (2006)

This third installment, Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise, pits the disgraced Los Angeles police department cop against a more harrowing Boston mob presence, particularly mobster Leo Finn and his muscle, Lovey Norris. With a teenage girl’s body found in a lake at the very start of this 2006 Jesse Stone entry, viewers are then brought to more locales in Paradise than ever before. These include a Catholic shelter, a mobster-owned real estate firm called Development Associates, and the rich home of Norman Shaw, a bestselling writer who uses his wealth and influence in some very wrong ways.

Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007)

As the overarching storyline of the Jesse Stone franchise is now corresponding with the actual release date of the films, Luther has just now mustered up enough strength to leave the hospital in Jesse Stone: Sea Change. While that is good news, it seems as though the chief of police is not doing too well with his inner demons. His ex-wife is now seeing someone who demands they stop their nightly conversations and thus, Stone is back to drinking — more than ever before. After obtaining some advice from his psychiatrist to distract himself, he sets out to solve a cold case that happened in 1992 regarding a supposedly murdered female bank teller during a robbery.

Related: Every Jesse Stone Movie, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes' Audience Score

Even though this entry took a risk and delved more into the emotional turmoil of Tom Selleck’s character, the more perilous storyline risk brought a great reward. Selleck received an Emmy Award nomination for this film, as did Sea Change’s cinematographer Rene Ohashi with a nomination in the movie/miniseries/pilot category by the American Society of Cinematographers.

Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009)

Released in 2009, Jesse Stone: Thin Ice is the first of these to not be based on a Robert B. Parker novel, Stone seems to be getting over his hysteria about his ex-wife’s new partner. This doesn’t mean all is well though, as both he and police Captain Healy are shot by an unknown figure while doing an unauthorized stakeout on Healy’s nephew. In order to get to the bottom of why Healy was shot, Stone has to converse with some unsavory characters who are always in tense situations themselves. While there is a conclusion, the ending of Thin Ice proves that the heroes don’t always get the justice they want.

Jesse Stone: No Remorse (2010)

Jesse Stone: No Remorse finally pits Tom Selleck’s Jesse Stone against a character that has been in the franchise for a few movies now but never given the lead antagonistic role, and that is William Sadler’s Gino Fish. The now-suspended police chief has to resort to moonlighting due to his conflict with the town council from Thin Ice. Stone’s pursuit of Gino puts the mob boss’s reputation in the underworld at stake and this makes for a very tense situation for the two throughout the entire 87-minute movie. Since his ex-wife has now found someone else and has abandoned her calls to him, he’s not only fighting against the devious criminals of Paradise but also a returning bout of alcoholism and his weakness for the opposite sex. Related: 10 Highly Convincing Portrayals of Alcoholism in American Movies

Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (2011)

Released in 2011 and one of the longer Jesse Stone movies (an hour and a half), Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost goes even deeper into his downhill slide as the town council in Paradise actually brings someone in to take over his position as chief of police. As much as this film in the small screen detective series was well received by fans, there was more of an inner arc to Innocents Lost as his personal problems (longing for his ex-wife, Fish still chasing after him, and, of course, the drinking) possibly overshadow the two featured investigations in this movie: a friend of his that has gone missing and collaborating independently with the Massachusetts homicide division about a fatal robbery case.

Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt

In Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt, Stone has to step out from the shadows when the person who had replaced him in Innocents Lost was killed in a malicious car explosion. Even though the new chief was given the position only because he was the son-in-law of the town president, Stone steps up at this crucial low point in Paradise’s history. The funny thing is, Viola Davis and Kohl Sudduth’s characters left after Stone was dismissed, so he must go at this case alone.

Even though this movie has a slower pace than most modern-day crime fans are used to, Stone also takes one more crucial step to the truth, since it is revealed that Fish is not at the top of the food chain. There seems to be an enigmatic mastermind who is pulling all the strings (and who ordered the car to blow up).

Jesse Stone: Lost In Paradise (2015)

Released on October 18th, 2015, Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise is the ninth and final (for now) Jesse Stone movie. With the conclusion of the last movie finally setting Stone on the right path, he once again finds himself in a dangerous investigation that is puzzling the police in Boston. A serial killer (played by Luke Perry) has admitted to fatally wounding and dismembering three prior victims, but not a new body that has popped up. With a case of morals plaguing his mind, Stone believes the man behind bars and goes about solving a suitably crazy whodunit.

Jesse Stone Movies In Order of Release Date