Proof
of Life by J. A. Jance (William Morrow, 2017) is the 23rd
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.
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