While there is a mystery in the story, there is more about Jesse Stone, his ex-wife Jenn and their complicated on-again-off-again romance, and the other relationships in his life, including his relationship with alcohol.
Jesse is getting used to being the chief of police of this small town with it's quirks and the way he has to be more one-on-one with people. The first event that happens is the burning down of a gay couple's house. They find the boys who do it and throw a scare into them. This has repercussions that I suspect will carry over, the mother of two of the three boys has it in for Jesse.
Then a group of armed men take over a local island connected by a bridge to the mainland. The setup for this takes most of the book.
It's quite a quick read, more people than hard plot but interesting.
