Product Description

The murder of an ex-drug dealer ex-con—gunned down on his mother's doorstep—seems just another turf war fatality. Why then has Seattle homicide investigator J.P. Beaumont been instructed to keep this assignment hush-hush? Meanwhile, Beau's lover and fellow cop, Mel Soames, is involved in her own confidential investigation. Registered sex offenders from all over Washington State are dying at an alarming rate—and not all due to natural causes.

A metropolis the size of Seattle holds its fair share of brutal crime, corruption, and dirty little secrets. But when the separate trails they're following begin to shockingly intertwine, Beau and Mel realize that they have stumbled onto something bigger and more frightening than they anticipated—a deadly conspiracy that's leading them to lofty places they should not enter . . . and may not be allowed to leave alive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36562 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Released on: 2008-06-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 448 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060540937
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
In bestseller Jance's complex, overlong 18th J.P. Beaumont novel (after Long Time Gone), the Seattle special homicide investigator works three cases simultaneously. The first involves the murder of a wrongly imprisoned ex-con, the second the disappearance of a whistle-blowing electronics engineer who vanished the day Mount Saint Helen's erupted in 1980, the third the deaths of several former felons. Meanwhile, Mel Soames, Beau's female colleague and lover, looks into the unexplained deaths of recently released sex crimes perpetrators as well as the disappearance of a childhood friend's abusive father. Unbelievably, all Beaumont's and Mel's assignments meld into one, except for the case of the missing engineer. The detectives are helped by the delightful Todd Hatcher, a young forensic economist and statistical analyst, but the exceptionally busy plot, host of characters, incredible coincidences, ignored clues and red herrings add up to a less than stellar effort from the usually reliable Jance. (July)
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From Booklist
It's been a couple of years since we last saw him (Long Time Gone, 2005), but Seattle cop J. P. Beaumont hasn't changed much. He has the same job, working with the city's Special Homicide Investigation Team; the same girlfriend, fellow investigator Mel Soames; the same straight-shooting, stick-to-it, never-say-quit attitude. Jance's success, not to mention the longevity of the Beaumont series (more than 20 years and still going strong), lies in the strength of her characters and the craftiness of her stories. This one, involving the death of an ex-con, has plenty of twists and more than enough hard-boiled banter to keep fans reading. Pitt, David

About the Author

J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, and three stand-alone thrillers. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, she lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Customer Reviews

Worth the wait
It seems that there is more time between installments of the J.P. Beaumont series than there used to be but, as usual, this book is worth the wait. J.P. is given a top-secret special assignment by his boss which involves the murder of an ex-con who had been released from jail when DNA evidence exonerated him. Meanwhile his live-in girlfriend, Mel, has been given her own assignment in investigating released prisoners who have died under suspicious circumstances. Things get tense when J.P. is forced to keep his case a secret from Mel and their relationship goes through its ups and downs in this book. J.A. Jance is a master at constructing plots and she also excels at tying up all the loose ends at the climax of her novels. It also amazes me how a female author gets into the mind of her male lead character and makes him so believable. Hopefully, this long-running series will continue for many more years.

Justive Denied
My favorite of all of Jance's books are the Beaumont series, but this was not very entertaining. It read like the end of the career of J P Beaumont. There was a lot of back history of the family and not very much action. I had the feeling that the author was trying to put an end to this series.

A fun, involved and Beaumont sarcasm read.
I spent the ususal day reading this book. OInce I start I
cannot put one of J.A, Jances books down.
This is an involved mystery, full of twists, tuns and unsuspected
suspects.
First of all I enjoy J.P.BEaumonts asides and thoughts. This time
he gets himself in trouble with his partner (lady friend) by his
sexist macho reactions. And you laugh.
I enjoy the Beaumont series thoroughly and even tho there is a great
deal going on, you never get lost. Confused, but not lost.
A very FUN read.