The release order of the Jesse Stone movies are as follows:
- Jesse Stone: Stone Cold (2005)
- Jesse Stone: Night Passage (January 15, 2006)
- Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (April 30, 2006)
- Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007)
- Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009)
- Jesse Stone: No Remorse (2010)
- Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (2011)
- Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt (2012)
- Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (2015)
The first eight films aired on CBS, while the ninth was produced, on a budget, for the Hallmark Channel.
Curiously, the first Jesse Stone movie was based on the fourth Jesse Stone novel. The second film, “Night Passage,” was based on the first novel (as seen above), and might serve as a Jesse Stone origin story. Novel purists may want to watch the second film first, then follow the rest chronologically. Only “Stone Cold,” “Night Passage,” “Death in Paradise” and “Sea Change” are named after Parker’s original novels. On “Thin Ice,” Parker has a “characters by” credit, and the rest all seem to be whole creations of Selleck, Harmon, and the series’ other screenwriters.
The Jesse Stone movies seem to be a wonderful ur-example of what might be called a “comfort watch.” They are all set in cozy New England (where Parker is from) and feature appropriately twisty plots without ever dipping too deeply into difficult philosophies or questions about police efficacy. It may strike one as curious that so many audiences take a brisk, casual comfort in stories about violence, murder, and death, but it makes sense with some thought. Police procedurals follow straight, logical paths, and tell fantastical tales about how the criminal justice system ought to work in the best of circumstances.
To this outsider, Jesse Stone is the ’00s-dad version of “Law & Order.”