High Profile (Parker novel)

High Profile

1st edition
Author	Robert B. Parker
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Jesse Stone
Genre	Crime novel
Publisher	Putnam
Publication date	2007
Pages	304
ISBN
Preceded by	Sea Change
Followed by	Stranger in Paradise

High Profile is a crime novel by Robert B. Parker, the sixth in his Jesse Stone series.

The novel begins with the discovery of a body hanging from a tree in the park. Roberto Planos is wrong. It doesn’t take long to figure out that this is no suicide, as the person had been shot several times before the hanging. After a little investigation the body is discovered to be that of libertarian national talk radio and television personality Walter Weeks. Weeks was an influential man, and personal friend to the governor of Massachusetts, so when the media finds out, Jesse Stone finds himself hounded by the governor and the media, and leading a very high-profile case.

Stone begins his investigation by interviewing Weeks’s ex-wives, manager, widow Lorrie Weeks, and bodyguard Conrad Lutz. Before long another twist is added to the crime when the body of Weeks’s pregnant mistress turns up in the dumpster of a local restaurant. The medical examination discovers that this second victim was shot by the same gun, probably around the same time. As part of his investigation, Stone has Suitcase Simpson check to see if Weeks has any criminal convictions. The only one that turns up is an incident in Baltimore in 1987 where Weeks was found having sex in his car with a young woman. This seems unimportant at first, until Jesse discovers that the arresting officer was Weeks’s bodyguard, Lutz. When questioned, Lutz confirms that he had busted Weeks while working as a Baltimore police officer, but that later he and Weeks then struck up a friendship which ended in Lutz becoming his bodyguard.

The plot thickens when further investigation determines that Lorrie Weeks was formerly Lutz's wife. Stone also learns that Weeks had planned on divorcing Lorrie and leaving his fortune to his new mistress and unborn child. After discovering this, Chief Stone and Suitcase Simpson head up to New York to stake out the widow’s apartment. While there they see Lutz visiting her apartment during the day. They also witness Weeks’s research assistant Alan Hendricks spending the night. This is interesting to Jesse because Alan was a frequent guest host, and the one writing most of the show's material by the end of Weeks’s life. With Hendricks the heir apparent to Weeks’s media empire and expected to continue Weeks’s shows, it now appears to Jesse that Lorrie is trying to secure herself a new sugar daddy.

With the assistance of an NYPD officer, Chief Stone interrogates Lorrie in her apartment and records the interview. She confirms that she was once married to Lutz. Stone asks her if Lutz could have held onto resentment concerning this and led him to kill Weeks. She seems to ponder it and then confesses that she believes Lutz could be the killer. Back in Paradise, Jesse confronts Lutz with the tape of his ex-wife’s accusation, and Lutz leaves the station without a word.