"Night Passage" by Robert B. Parker

Jesse Stone has been dismissed by the LAPD because of his escalating drinking problem after the breakup of his marriage. Surprisingly, even to Jesse, he is recruited to be police chief in Paradise, Mass. It is especially surprising, because he was drunk during the interview.
As you get to know Paradise, it doesn't live up to its name. There is an armed white supremacist militia, a triple homicide, a town run by a single man with his own twisted agenda, the town psychopath who has set his sights on Jesse, gun running and much more.
Parker's chapters are short, the language is to the point and yet the plot and the characters are well developed and the story moves along quickly, mainly because the book is hard to put down.

Watered your mind? Yes. e