Robert B. Parker

Boone Adams: He was so smart he wrote half the English papers for the freshman class, when he wasn't getting drunk at night and waking up hung over in the morning. To him life was full of promise . . . just the ones it didn't intend to keep.
 
Jennifer Grayle: She was the campus golden girl, so rich, so pretty, that every boy wanted to take her out. Except Boone. He wanted to marry her.
John Merchent: He was tall and blond with blue...

When a body is found at the lake in Paradise, police chief Jesse Stone is surprised to find he recognizes the murder victim. The man had been at the same AA meeting as Jesse the evening before. But otherwise, Jesse has no clue as to the man's identity. He isn't a local, nor does he have ID on him. Their single lead is from a taxi company that recalls dropping off the mysterious stranger outside the gate at the mansion of one of the wealthiest families...

After the bloody confrontation in Appaloosa, Everett Hitch ends up in Resolution. He takes a job as lookout at Amos Wolfson's Blackfoot Saloon and protector of the ladies who work the backrooms and is a man unafraid to stand up to the enforcer sent from the O'Malley copper mine. Though Hitch makes short work of hired gun Koy Wickman, tensions continue to mount. Hitch is relieved by the arrival of his friend Virgil Cole. When greedy mine owner Eamon...