"Parker may be the finest prose stylist in the genre." Chief of Police Jesse Stone returns to investigate the murder of a troubled teenager in a seemingly bucolic New England town. The Paradise Men's Softball League has wrapped up another game, and Jesse Stone is lingering in the parking lot with his teammates, drinking beer, swapping stories of double plays and beautiful women in the late-summer twilight. But then a frightened voice calls out to him from the shore of a nearby lake. There, two men squat at the water's edge. In front of them, face down, is something that used to be a girl. The local cops haven't seen anything like this before, but Jesse's L.A. past has made him all too familiar with floaters. This girl hasn't committed suicide, she hasn't been drowned: she's been shot and dumped, discarded like trash.