"Parker may be the finest prose stylist in the genre." --The Denver post. "Jesse Stone is one of Robert B. Parker's finer inventions." --USA today. In Stone cold, Police Chief Jesse Stone has a problem. Actually, several problems: dead bodies turning up, and no clues. A man takes his dog out for a run on the beach, only to be discovered hour later--with two holes in his chest. A woman drives her Volvo to the mall to do some grocery shopping, and is found dead, and never makes it back to her house. Investigating a serial killer in an affluent suburban town is difficult, and with the added pressures from the town selectmen and media, the heat is turned up on Jesse. The harder these outside forces push against him, the more Jesse retreats into himself, convinced--despite all the odds--that it's up to him alone to stop the killing.