Paradise, Massachusetts police chief Jesse Stone is back in Robert B. Parker's 8th installment of the Jesse Stone series.

Apache hit man, Wilson "Crow" Cromartie returns to Paradise after ten years to take Amber Francisco back to her father in Florida; but before returning, he is supposed to kill her mother Fiona, per her father's orders. But Cromartie doesn't kill women. And now it's up to police chief Jesse Stone to provide all of them with protection.

What initially appears to be a low-level mob hit takes on new meaning when a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach. Jesse Stone and private investigator Sunny Randall team up to solve two cases involving the gunshot murder of Petrov Ognowski and a religious cult holding an 18-year-old girl against her will.

The adoring wife of a senatorial candidate has a smile as sweet as candy and dots her "i's" with little hearts. A blond beauty, she is the perfect mate for an ambitious politician, but she has a little problem with sex and drugs -- a problem someone has managed to put on videotape. The big boys figure a little blackmail will put her husband out of the race. Until Spenser hops on the candidate's bandwagon.