Review: Den of Iniquity: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance

 

It is Valentine’s Day, 2020, as Den of Iniquity: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance begins. Bellingham, Washington, is clear and cold this morning. The news of Covid dominates, though the impacts have yet to be felt here. J. P. Beaumont plans on taking his wife, Mel, to a nearby restaurant for the evening. That is until J.P. and Sarah (their dog) return from a walk and find grandson, Kyle, parked in the drive.

 

It takes some time to drag out of Kyle why he made the nine-hour drive and arrived with no warning. There is a mess at home. Kyle left and brought with him his stuff and his troubles. He had a very good reason to show up as his family (J. P.’s daughter, her husband, and Kye’s sister) has, basically, imploded. While Mel and J.P. try to come to grips with what has happened and the sudden addition of a teenager to their house, Ben Weston reaches out to Beaumont.

 

Back when Beaumont was a Seattle Homicide Detective, he first met Ben as a five-year-old kid. There had been a violent home invasion leaving Ben the only survivor. Ben is now a Seattle Homicide Detective as is Scotty, J.P. Beaumont’s son, and they have desks close to each other. Ben needs a favor.

 

After Ben’s parents died, a woman at church, Matilda Jackson, always looked out for Ben. She had been good friends with Ben’s mom. Mrs. Jackson’s grandson is dead. He died of a drug overdose back in November of 2018. The police followed the medical examiners ruling of accidental death due to fentanyl overdose and closed the case. Mrs. Jackson is sure that he was sober and things were going right. She is absolutely sure it was murder.

 

 

As he talks to Mrs. Jackson, J. P. is not hearing anything that is very convincing, but Ben wanted him to look into it, because he can’t. For the cops, it is a closed case and that means Ben can do nothing. J. P. agrees, talks to her some more, and starts investigating. It isn’t long before he is sure Matilda Jackson is right. Her son was murdered.

 

He wasn’t the only one.

 

What follows is a fast moving read that switches back and forth between Kyle’s family issues, and there are many, and the Jackson case J.P. is working. Investigative skills come in handy for family and others. J.P. has a lot going on in Den of Iniquity: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance.

 

While those that have read the series to this point will get more out of the book, one could start here as there is enough background material to get new readers comfortable in the read. This reviewer, a long-time reader of the series, enjoyed it a lot.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3z5nG0F

 

My ARC digital reading copy came from the publisher, William Morrow, by way of NetGalley.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024 

Short Story Wednesday Review: Girl’s Night Out: A J.P. Beaumont Short Story by J. A. Jance

Despite the billing, Girl’s Night Out: A J.P. Beaumont Short Story is not J.P. Beaumont tale. He is referenced, but he never is actually in the tale. That fact was annoying and very disappointing as that is why I purchased the read.

 

The novella revolves around Twinkle Winkleman who as last seen in Nothing to Lose (also reviewed by Aubrey here).After considerable backstory regarding her life, we eventually get to the fact that her daughter in law, Cindy, has gone missing after being out for the evening with female friends. Cindy went out anyway, as she does every weekend, even though her best friend, Leslie, wasn’t going make it. This is shortly after Cindy had told Twinkle some concerning news about Leslie’s current boyfriend.

 

James is abusive and controlling. He could be a problem, not just for Leslie, but anyone around her. The fact that Cindy hasn’t come home by long after midnight, or answer her phone, is a worry. Twinkle soon finds Cindy’s car at where she was supposed to be though the club is dark and locked up tight. Cindy’s car is the only vehicle in the cold and desolate parking lot. The vehicle is unlocked and Cindy’s purse is inside. Then she finds Cindy’s cellphone under the car.

 

Clearly something bad is going on. With the Anchorage P.D. of no help, Twinkie goes on her own to find Cindy before it’s too late.

 

While this heavily narrated tale with very little dialogue was somewhat interesting, once it actually got going, the absence of J.P. Beaumont was disappointing. To me, I feel misled by the publisher, Witness Impulse, as Beaumont is not in the read.

 

Based on the ratings and reviews I have seen many folks did not have that issue with the read. If I was doing the stars/cups of coffee/flaming suns/whatever deal here, I would go with three stars—at best. If I could have returned it for a refund, I would have, and I never do that.

 

My recommendation would be either to read it for free via your local library, if they get it, or wait for the free book sale when they do it through Amazon.

 

The final quarter of this eBook is publicity material and an excerpt from the next Beaumont series, Den of Iniquity, currently scheduled to be released in September. Based on the synopsis, it would appear that Beaumont is actually in that book.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3AglCmr

 

 

My reading copy was a wasted purchase by way of funds in my Amazon Associate account.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Review: Blessing of the Lost Girls: A Brady and Walker Family Novel by J. A. Jance

Blessing of the Lost Girls: A Brady and Walker Family Novel by J. A. Jance is an engrossing read currently scheduled to be published on September 19^th.  One should make sure to read both of the afterwords as they are very important to the context of the story.

Readers are first introduced to Charlie Milton and it is clear very soon that he is a really bad guy. One of those guys that neighbors always say afterwards during media interviews that the guy was odd and just didn’t fit in right with other folks.

It is February 2019 as the book begins and Charlie Milton is in town for the Tucson Rodeo. Charlie Milton is a serial killer. He likes to hunt for the right victim. He has a type. He prefers women of color, especially those from Indian reservations. He counts on law enforcement arguing over which agency should handle the missing person case which means the case went cold long before it ever started. That works well for serial killers like Charlie Milton. Once he has killed, he soon hits the road in his RF and drifts to the next place.

What he didn’t count on was that fact that DNA from a kill he did several years ago would make its way into the system in 2022. It did. Field Officer Dan Pardee works for a new federal agency, Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Task Force. Known as “MIP,” they are part of the Department of The Interior. Their mission is to work cases involving the disappearances and deaths of Native Americans.

Dan Pardee, an investigator with a background in Border Patrol, is assigned the case of Rosa Rios. With the DNA match, it makes it clear to everyone that it was her charred body was found three years ago on a rancher’s land in the jurisdiction of Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County. He is going to work the case. He will need Sheriff’s Brady’s help in bringing justice and, hopefully, a little peace to her family.

What follows is a complicated read. Dan Pardee is the focus, but Brady and her family make a number of appearances in this very enjoyable read. A tale that also, in addition to providing a complicated and enjoyable mystery, brings attention to what has been going on for decades for missing indigenous women. Complicated and fast moving, Blessing of the Lost Girls: A Brady and Walker Family Novel by J. A. Jance is well worth your time and attention.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4jTBEUQ

 

My reading copy came by way of a NetGalley ARC with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Nothing to Lose by J. A. Jance

Any long-time reader of mysteries can determine the chronological setting of a book from the technology references that are slipped into the narrative. If anyone needing a telephone has to go to the post office to make a call, then the book is set in the early 20^th century. If the police are checking fingerprints against a national database, the story takes place no earlier than the last decades of the 20^th century. A PI driving around looking for a phone booth is almost certainly doing it in the 1950s, 1960s, or 1970s. I think the technology marker for crime fiction published in the 2020s will be the ubiquity of DNA analysis.

Nothing to Lose by J. A. Jance (William Morrow, 2022) is the third book I read in July in which DNA analysis plays a prominent part. This 25^th book about J. P. Beaumont finds the former Seattle homicide detective retired and a bit at loose ends. Jared Danielson, the son of his long-ago partner from the SPD, who was killed on duty, appears at his door, asking for help in finding his younger brother Chris. Chris went to Alaska to stay with paternal relatives years ago after an argument with his mother’s family in Ohio and Jared thought that’s where he was. Relatives in Alaska report that he left Alaska to visit his Ohio kin and they believed he was in Ohio. Since everyone assumed he was safe somewhere else, he was never reported missing. Beau uses his contacts with the Seattle police to link up with the Alaska police and travels to Juneau to trace Chris from his last known location. He uncovers enough information to show that Chris had been killed. Beau’s inquiry becomes a cold case murder investigation.

Judy Jance is a mainstay in crime fiction, creating four distinct series, starting with the Beaumont books in 1985. She isn’t the only creator of an aging detective who has had to find ways to involve the character in active investigations. Ian Rankin has had the same difficulty with Rebus. Both have fallen back on cold cases, where the characters’ knowledge of long-ago situations is essential to resolving the present-day problem.

A series this old could reasonably begin to falter but I found no sign of it here. The characters are fresh and rounded, the premise intriguing, the forensic tools cutting edge. A subplot addressing elder abuse is all too realistic. A satisfying story. Recommended.

 

·         Publisher: ‎ William Morrow (February 22, 2022)

·         Language: ‎ English

·         Hardcover: ‎ 368 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎ 0063010062

·         ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0063010062

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Review: Field Of Bones: A Brady Novel of Suspense by J. A. Jance

The plan had been to win the election and then start maternity leave about three weeks later as Butch would be back from his short but intense book tour then. That had been the plan for Sheriff Joanna Brady. But, whether it happened due to the stress of election night, the campaign, recent events, or a million other things, Eleanor Sage decided to arrive much earlier. In fact, she decided to make her appearance early on election night before all the votes were tallied. Winning the election was grand and all that, but having a healthy baby was far more important.

At nearly the same time and unknown to all, a young teenager and his friends recently found a human skull. One that is later found by the teen’s mother, June Carver, when she was cleaning out her son’s closet so that it could be painted. With Sheriff Brady out on her maternity leave, June Carver and her son, Jack Carver, come in to see Acting Sheriff Tom Haddock about the skull. There is no doubt that the skull is human and it appears to one and all that a bullet was fired through it at some point. That is not all Jack Carver and his friends saw in the desert out in the San Bernardino Valley.

It is a very good thing the killer did not see them.

One thing leads to another, and soon a multi-jurisdictional investigation is underway with Sheriff Brady supervising and Acting Sheriff Tom Haddock supervising folks out in the field and doing the legwork. They are on the hunt for a serial killer and it is all hands on deck at home and as much help as they can round up from others. They are chasing a serial killer who just might have some victims still alive if they can find him and them. Time is against law enforcement as once the media knows and the small town grapevine gets going, not to mention social media, it will be all over for those they hope to save.

Shifting in point of view between the captives, the captor, and the numerous investigators, the book rolls along at a steady pace. A significant portion of Field Of Bones: A Brady Novel of Suspense is in the point of view of the main victim who learns what has been going on to others for months. How she copes with the trauma of her imprisonment and degradation is a major part of the read. As a result, some of those sections are not easy reading as they are a bit graphic at times. As those sections are in essence nothing more than the classic naked woman chained in the basement with nothing to eat but dog food kibble as she is repeatedly raped over the course of weeks, one could easily skip those sections and lose nothing at all in reading the tale.

Overall, despite the usual --drop into the mind of the nutjob as he is a smart crazy dude at it quite a while—sections that all such books seem to have these days, the overall read is an average one. The book flows fairly well and numerous secondary characters long known to readers are again given attention in this read. Much is at work here in a personal as well as professional way for Sheriff Joanna Brady and that results in a ton of backstory in many different ways. Despite being billed as a novel of suspense, there really is not much suspenseful about the book at all.

Field Of Bones: A Brady Novel of Suspense plows along and gets the job done. It certainly is not J. A Jance at her best, nor is it her at her worst. Instead, this is an average read that occasionally scores political points that will no doubt offend some readers who will swear to never read another book by her ever again while also managing to do the classic smug nutjob serial killer shtick. Yes, it gets complicated in a paint by numbers sort of way. Despite its noted flaws, Field Of Bones: A Brady Novel of Suspense holds reader interest and continues the saga of Sheriff Joanna Brady.

Related Item of Interest:

CrimeReads spoiler filled interview with J. A. Jance from last September:  http://crimespreemag.com/interview-with-j-a-jance/

Field Of Bones: A Brady Novel of Suspense

J. A. Jance

http://www.jajance.com

Harper Luxe (imprint of Harper Collins Publishers)

http://www.hc.com

September 2018

ISBN# 978-0-06-285949-5

LARGE PRINT (also available in hardback, audio, and digital formats)

496 Pages

$27.99

Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019

Saturdays With Kaye: Downfall by J. A. Jance

Downfall by J. A. Jance

I was so happy to receive this Joanna Brady mystery for review. It’s been some time since I read one, not for lack of desire, but for lack of time. “Downfall” is fully as good as the last one I read.

It’s the last day of August in the Mule Mountains of SE Arizona. Sheriff Brady, an already busy county official, has a daughter heading to college for the first time, a five-year-old starting kindergarten, and baby girl due in early December. And now she gets word that her parents have been in a serious car wreck. Her stepfather is dead and her mother is in the hospital, victims of a kid with a rifle on the overpass. The kid soon crashed his 4x4 fleeing authorities and she finds herself kneeling next to him, comforting her parents’ shooter as he dies.

Then she’s on to the next crisis, two dead bodies at the base of a steep cliff called Geronimo by some, Black Knob by others, but officially Gold Hill. It’s a place local kids climbed as a rite of passage, situated in rugged terrain that has to be hiked to, making the investigation of the unknown women even more complicated.

When Joanna’s mother dies of her injuries, she mourns their relationship. It was never good, but Joanna felt they were moving toward improvement and now will never get to achieve that.

Who the seemingly unrelated women were and why they are both dead in the same spot is the basis for the mystery that Joanna must untangle against the backdrop of her complicated family life.

A truly satisfying read.

Reviewed by Kaye George, author of Death on the Trek, for Suspense Magazine

CrimeSpree Magazine: INTERVIEW WITH J. A. JANCE

CrimeSpree Magazine: INTERVIEW WITH J. A. JANCE

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Proof of Life by J. A. Jance

Proof of Life by J. A. Jance (William Morrow, 2017) is the 23^rd title in the long-running series that follows the career of J. P. Beaumont, first as a Seattle homicide detective and then as he works in other agencies. This is the first title in which Beau is completely retired from paid employment. He is bored, restless, and not sure what to do with his time. His younger wife Melissa (Mel) is now Chief of Police in Bellingham and works long days so he must rely on his own resources.

A former crime reporter for the local newspaper approaches him at a restaurant one night. The retired reporter is writing a book on the crimes he covered during his long career and he wants to consult Beau about a murder that Beau investigated and that continues to haunt him. Beau reluctantly agrees and before they have a chance to meet, the reporter dies in what appears to be an accident. The timing seems off and when he’s asked to investigate the death, Beau becomes convinced it was deliberate murder.

In the meantime Mel is called to the scene of ongoing domestic violence and manages to imprison the abusive husband and to move the mother and her children to safety. The shelter will not take the family dog so Mel brings the Irish wolfhound home temporarily. Beau knows nothing about dogs and his education as a canine caretaker is a significant story line.

Between calling in favors to get information about the reporter’s death, as his access as a private citizen is restricted to Google, and integrating his new dog into his home, Beau’s days are suddenly full. When the fingerprints of a ruffian from a local gang are found in the reporter’s home, Beau starts looking for him. Within days, the gangbanger is killed in a hit and run, which helps Beau convince the Seattle police to investigate both deaths as suspicious.  

I find the inventive methods authors use to handle the aging of the main characters in their long-running series intriguing. Some authors slow the aging process so much that it is almost nonexistent, Robert B. Parker’s Spenser for instance. Spenser refers to his Korean War experience in his early outings. If he aged realistically, he would likely not be working out at Henry Cimoli's gym in the current releases. Others try to create situations in which the character can convincingly continue to investigate beyond the point at which the character formally retires from the role he or she filled at the inception of the series. Ian Rankin has said several times that he did not know the mandatory retirement age within the English police at the time he created John Rebus or he would have made the character younger to begin with. As it is, Rankin retired Rebus at the correct age and then brought him back as a member of a special team that investigates cold cases.

We first met J.P. Beaumont in 1985 in the Seattle Police Department. Jance gave him a logical career progression, moving him into more senior positions and then finally retiring him. Now it seems he’s on the brink of a new career as a private investigator. I look forward to his next adventure in this reliably readable series.

·         Hardcover: 368 pages

·         Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition (September 5, 2017)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0062657542

·         ISBN-13: 978-0062657541

Aubrey Hamilton © 2018

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal IT projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Review: Downfall: A Brady Novel of Suspense by J. A. Jance

The last days of August would have been hard enough for Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady, as it was. She has to make funeral arrangements for her mom, Eleanor, and her stepfather, George. What was initially believed to be a simple motor vehicle accident involving their RV as they returned to Bisbee, Arizona was actually a crash caused by a sniper. George died at the scene and Eleanor was airlifted to Phoenix where she soon passed as well. The killer was taken down and dealt with just a few days ago. Now Joanna has to deal with funeral arrangements and other family matters all made more complicated by the recent arrival into her life of her adopted brother whom she had known nothing about.

When you are in charge it means your personal situation often has to take a backseat to your job. Moments after finalizing the numeral arrangements, she is called by her Chief Deputy Tom Hadlock. He wants to make her aware that there has been a discovery of two bodies at the base of a nearby rock formation known as “Geronimo.” It may have been a murder/suicide or a double murder. Haddock wants her to take a look. Quickly it becomes clear this was no suicide and it was a double murder. That means everyone on staff including Sheriff Brady, the FBI, and law enforcement in neighboring counties are hard at work on a case that escalates in complexity seemingly by the hour as evidence is uncovered.

The latest in the series, Downfall: A Brady Novel Of Suspense, is a really good read by author J. A. Jance. The author works the heartstrings of the reader to great effect as Brady is faced with a number of personal issues. At the same time, the overarching mystery is complicated with tentacles that go off in many directions. The result is a mighty good book that powers along on all levels to one very suspenseful conclusion. 

Downfall: A Brady Novel of Suspense

J. A. Jance

http://www.jajance.com

William Morrow (Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers)

http://www.harpercollins.com

September 2016

ISBN# 978-0-06-229771-6

Hardback (currently also available in audio and eBook formats)

400 Pages (more like 385)

$26.99

I was able to read and review this book because I was able to get it by way of the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

Book Reviews: As Night Falls by Jenny Milchman and Dance of the Bones by J. A. Jance (Buried Under Books Blog)

Book Reviews: As Night Falls by Jenny Milchman and Dance of the Bones by J. A. Jance (Buried Under Books Blog)

Via Crime Watch: 9mm: An interview with JA Jance

Crime Watch: 9mm: An interview with JA Jance: One of my favourite things about being a keen reader is discovering new-to-me authors who have written many books that I haven't tried...

Review: "Remains Of Innocence: A Brady Novel Of Suspense" by J. A. Jance

It begins far from Bisbee,Arizona in Great Barrington, Massachusetts where the daughter of a reclusive hoarder is forced to return to the home she hated. Selma Machett's life is ending and it is up to Liza, as the only living relative around, to deal with the latest installment of a dysfunctional and tragic family. Amidst the filth in the debris filled house she finds a small fortune. A small fortune, primarily in one hundred dollar bills, that belongs to folks determined to get it back regardless of the body count.

That fortune soon puts Liza on the run to Bisbee Arizona where Sheriff Joanna Brady has a complicated and tragic case to solve. Junior Dowdle went missing from his parent's house after several weeks of increasingly worrisome behavior. Developmentally disabled and in his early sixties, he had recently been diagnosed with some form of dementia that resulted in erratic moods and some violence. Found dead in old mining hole along with a number of dead pets and a clearly tortured but alive kitten, Sheriff Brady believes somebody shoved him into the shaft to fall to the limestone floor twenty feet below. She also believes that same person is responsible for what happened to the pets and will do it all again.

Gradually the two story lines weave together to form a compelling tale of family dysfunction and murder in Remains Of Innocence: A Brady Novel Of Suspense. Scheduled to be released late next month, this latest one in the series by J. A. Jance is another good one. Strong and evolving characters that have become old friends as well as multiple plot lines involving primary and secondary situations that blend action with psychological analysis result in a complicated read that also moves forward at a rapid pace.

The only issue this reader has with the book is the often stated premise that people don't stare at scarf wearing cancer patients. Shaved bald and wearing a scarf to hide the baldness as cancer patients do, Liza is sent across the country in the custody of various adults so that she can reach her brother in Bisbee. It is stated again and again that no one stares at cancer patients dressed this way and therefore Liz will escape the notice of anyone as she gets rides from various strangers driving 18 wheelers.

As the spouse of a terminal cancer patient who has fought cancer since her initial diagnosis in November 2011 and experienced a horrendous amount of chemotherapy in the months since, the idea that nobody stares at scarf wearing cancer patients could not be further from the truth.  The idea is simply ludicrous. Wearing a scarf draws massive amounts of attention these days and, in our experience, is the equivalent of hanging a flashing neon sign around the patient's neck. Not only is the scarf a massive attention getter, the scarf also creates an invisible force field that often repels all but medical staff and fellow cancer patients. People will actually step back and shield the faces of their children as you pass by as if you are highly contagious all the while staring at you. Some will actually go so far as to get back off the elevator they just got on in front of you because they don’t want to ride up a floor or two with you. Fellow cancer patients will walk up and out of the blue embrace you and talk for a moment before letting you go on your way while other folks cross the sidewalk to be as far away as possible.

This is a very well-known issue for cancer patients and is a frequent topic of discussion during chemotherapy and other multi hour infusion procedures. The reaction of those in public to the appearance of a cancer patient is one that takes considerable time to get used to both for the patient and the family. An otherwise good story was marred by this error which threw this reader out of the story each time it came up.

Other than that issue which was a large stumbling block for this reader, Remains of Innocence: A Brady Novel Of Suspense is a good one.

Remains Of Innocence: A Brady Novel Of Suspense

J. A. Jance

http://www.jajance.com

William Morrow (Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers)

http://www.harpercollins.com

July 22, 2014

ISBN# 978-0-06-213470-7

Hardback

400 Pages

$26.99

ARC received from the publisher in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Via Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Author Work-Spaces: Crider, Benedict, Jance

 Please notice how Bill Crider is typing while looking at his screen saver. I knew the man was talented but that is beyond impressive.....

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Author Work-Spaces: Crider, Benedict, Jance: Author Work-Spaces: Crider, Benedict, Jance | Crimespree Magazine

Review: "Second Watch: A J. P. Beaumont Novel" by J. A. Jance

The 21^st book in this long running series finds J. P. Beaumont surrendering to the inevitable. It is 2010 and after years of increasing pain in both knees he is on medical leave in order to have double knee replacement surgery at the Swedish Orthopedic Institute in the Seattle area. He’s plenty scared as is his wife and fellow officer of the Special Homicide Investigation Team, Mel Soames. It is one thing to be injured suddenly in the line of duty and therefore given little time to prepare for the medical event. With a planned surgery like this, both J. P. and Mel have had plenty of time to think about the procedure and what could go wrong.

J. P. is soon reminded of the power of painkillers and the threat they pose to his hard won sobriety. Those same painkillers powerfully awaken deep memories long repressed in his mind. As initial recovery and physical therapy begins post-surgery, J. P. is deeply haunted by the memories of things unresolved.

Not surprising one intense dream/vision is of what became his first case in Homicide with the Seattle PD. A naked woman found dead in grease barrel by two boys back in 1973. It was eventually determined she was Monica Wellington.  J. P. Beaumont was in a radio car back then with Rory MacPherson and they were the first two officers to arrive on scene. They helped out with the initial investigation on the first day. After J.P. came back to work after his off days he discovered that both he and Mac had been promoted to the jobs they had long coveted. Mac was now in motorcycle patrol and J.P was now a detective. That meant he would be learning the ropes from more experienced detectives while assisting on the Monica Wellington case. A case that never really went anywhere and was eventually closed without J.P. ever knowing it.

The second intense dream/vision that haunts J. P. post-surgery is of second Lieutenant Lennie Davis appearing in his hospital room. J.P. knows that sight can’t be real because Lennie D. led J.P.’s unit back in Vietnam. Thanks to Lennie D. way back when J. P. eventually made it home.  Lennie didn’t. J. P. realizes there is unfinished business in a story line that is based on real people and events powerfully detailed in the closing chapter “The Story Behind Second Watch.”

As J. P. works to regain the use of his legs, he also works to resolve the homicide case as well as the personal matter. The story lines gradually weave together resulting in a powerful novel that looks back as well in time as considers the future. Time is said to heal all wounds, but sometimes it needs a little help from good people pulling together to do good things. A prequel in a sense for, at least part of the book readers are in the memories of J.P., this novel is also about the cost of war and the pain of those who remain at home. Deeply moving, J. A. Jance has an incredible read that is far more than a mystery. It tells a tale that honors the dead and their survivors, not just in military service, in a way that few authors can achieve.

Second Watch: A J. P. Beaumont Novel is another very good book in this long running series. While it could be read as a stand alone, it would be best to read these books in order.

Second Watch: A J. P. Beaumont Novel

J. A. Jance

http://www.jajance.com

William Morrow (Harper Collins Publishers)

www.harpercollins.com

2013

ISBN# 978-8-06-213467-7

Hardback (also available as an e-book)

371 Pages

$26.99

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

Review: "Judgment Call: A Brady Novel Of Suspense" by J. A. Jance

High school Principal Debra Highsmith was difficult at best for many and flat out hated by some in the local community. First missing and then found dead by Jenny Brady, the daughter of Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady, there is a personal angle to the case. Sheriff Brady has her hands full with the case because

now a search for a killer in the Bisbee area begins.

Not only will that investigation reveal some unpleasant truths about the victim and some of the students she tried to help every day, Joanna will be again reminded that no one is perfect. Everyone shows a public face to the world. Their private face is often darker and for very good reason.

With things at home rough and work with its own problems the last thing Brady needs is a second murder. She quickly gets one and before is chasing a killer who clearly has a mission in mind. Old scores are being settled and the killer is not through just yet.

Judgment Call: A Brady Novel Of Suspense is another good read featuring plenty about Joanna Brady and her family at home as well as her extended police family at work. Those various personal issues and conflicts add spice to the series while not interfering as the chase intensifies for a killer bent on a powerful sense of payback for secrets long buried. A quick read well worth your time and another very enjoyable installment of the series that also manages to tie up a couple of ongoing loose ties.

Judgment Call: A Brady Novel Of Suspense

J. A. Jance

http://www.jajance.com

William Morrow (imprint of Harper Collins Publishers)

http://www.harpercollins.com

July 2012

ISBN# 978-0-06-173116-7

Hardback

388 Pages

$25.99  

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System. Again this year the summer reading challenge for adults and kids is now underway. For more information go to

http://www.plano.gov/Departments/Libraries/Pages/default.aspx

Kevin R. Tipple ©2012