Somewhere, at this very moment, someone's dad is probably watching one of the Jesse Stone movies on DVD, and that man is having a great afternoon. After this, he might pop in "Ford v. Ferrari" for the seventh time.

The character of Jesse Stone began his life in a series of airport novels written by the late Robert B. Parker. The first Jesse Stone novel, "Night Passage," was published in 1997 and it followed the titular former LAPD detective (and divorced recovering alcoholic) as he investigated money laundering and murder in Paradise, Massachusetts. Parker had a hit on his hands with "Night Passage," and proceeded to writer eight additional Jesse Stone novels from 1998 up until his death in 2010. Jesse Stone had become an institution at that point, and other authors began writing Stone novels in Parker's style. There have been 11 additional Jesse Stone novels written after Parker's death. 

Starting in 2005, Jesse...