Showing results by author "J A Jance" in All Categories

Who is J. P. Beaumont? A very human Seattle police detective who is hardened but hopeful, dispirited but diligent - the kind of cop who has experienced personal tragedy but still remains faithful to his duty. When J.P. Beaumont and his new partner, Sue Danielson, are assigned the murder of an elderly woman torched to death in her bed, Beaumont finds himself distracted by Sue's difficulties at home.

From New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance, a suspenseful mystery from the creator of Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady and Seattle homicide detective J. P. Beaumont.Getting old is hell. J. P. Beaumont is finally taking some time off to have knee-replacement surgery. But instead of taking his mind off work, the operation plunges him into one of the most perplexing and mind-blowing mysteries he's ever faced.

J. P. Beaumont's trip to Arizona turns into a nightmare when he is framed for the murder of a sleazy, teen-aged drug dealer.

J. P. Beaumont has a dead dentist on his hands. His suspects include a sexually abused dental assistant, a brutalized wife, and her ex-con lover.

Homicide Detective J. P. Beaumont had little to go on: a body, definitely male and decidedly dead, with strange little puncture wounds.

J. P. Beaumont investigates the death of a Japanese-American businessman, which appears to be a Samurai suicide.

The Statfire Breeze steams its way north toward the Gulf of Alaska, buffeted by crisp sea winds blowing down from the Arctic. Those on board are seeking peace, relaxation, adventure, escape. But there is no escape here in this place of unspoiled natural majesty. Because terror strolls the decks even in the brilliant light of day...and death is a conspicuous, unwelcome passenger. And a former Seattle policeman, a damaged homicide detective who has come to heal from fresh, stinging wounds...

This case draws J. P. Beaumont into the cutting edge of biotechnology, where business as usual means ruthless betrayal of personal and trade secrets.

Lurking in the dark corners of J. P. Beaumont's bizarre case was not just a demented mind obsessed with murder, but secrets so deadly that even a street-tough cop could die guessing.

Sheriff Joanna Brady has a lot on her plate - she is up for reelection as sheriff, she's pregnant with her third child, and her eldest is packing up to leave for college. Then Joanna is woken in the middle of the night by a call reporting a motor vehicle accident. Her mother and stepfather's RV ran off the road at high speed and hit the pillar of an overpass. Something about the accident seems suspicious, though, and when Joanna gets a call from Ali Reynolds, a journalist turned investigator, she accepts her offer to help.

A shadow from J. P. Beaumont's past shows up after 30 years, an ex-girlfriend whose husband has been brutally murdered.

At first glance, the video appears to be showing a childish game: a teenage girl with dark wavy hair smiles for the camera, a blue scarf tied around her neck. All of a sudden things turn murderous, and the girl ends up dead. It’s as bad as a snuff film can get, and what’s worse, the clip has been discovered on a phone that belongs to the grandson of Washington State’s governor. However, the boy, who has a troubled background, swears that he’s never seen the victim before.

The end of her high-profile broadcasting career came too soon for TV journalist Alison Reynolds - bounced off the air by executives who wanted a "younger face". With a divorce from her cheating husband of 10 years also pending, there is nothing keeping her in L.A. any longer.

A skilled mechanic and certified spitfire, Twinkle Winkleman is as hard as nails; she has to be with a name like hers. Twinkle learned everything there is to know about cars from her time in her daddy’s garage in Anchorage, and when her father dies, she gains ownership of the shop and Maude, her dad’s prized 1973 International Harvester Travelall. Life has not been kind to Twinkle: she grew up without her mother, her daddy’s gone, her ex-husband betrayed her, and her son Tad was killed after a trip to Seattle to handle some “unfinished business.”

Lance Tucker, an incarcerated juvenile offender and talented hacker in his own right, is set on fire one night and severely burned while hanging Christmas decorations in a lockup rec room. B. Simpson, Ali Reynolds's fiance and the man who helped put Lance in jail, feels obliged to get to the bottom of what happened. With Ali off in England to help Leland Brooks at a reunion with his long-estranged family, B. turns to someone else to help out - Ali's good friend and Taser-carrying nun, Sister Anselm.

A survivor of childhood trauma, two marriages, 20 hard years with the Seattle PD, and the bottle, Jonas Piedmont Beaumont has spent far too much time trolling the darker waters of human nature. In the wake of a devastating professional tragedy, he has decided, at long last, to pull the pin. But there is no safety in semiretirement for a man who long ago chose to make a violent world his home.

J. P. Beaumont must find the killers of an entire family before they get to his five-year-old eyewitness, who was hiding in a closet at the murder scene.

After more than 20 years of distinguished service with the Seattle Police Department, Jonas Piedmont Beaumont is now working for the Washington State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team or, as it's more commonly referred, the SHIT squad. But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The blonde on the beach was screaming. A dead man lay at her feet. But the murder is only the first ingredient J. P. Beaumont discovers in a deadly mixture of politics and passion.

J. P. Beaumont may be an old homicide hand now, but back when he was a rookie working with his first partner, Milton Gurkey—a.k.a. Pickles—things took a turn for the worse.