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

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.

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.

More than 20 New York Times best-selling authors team up to create a first-rate serial novel -- a collaboration that combines the skills of America’s greatest storytellers to produce a gripping, spellbinding mystery.

Chuck Brewster, the former business partner of Ali Reynolds’s husband B. Simpson, once carried on an affair with Clarice, B.’s first wife. So when he’s found murdered with Clarice standing nearby covered in blood, it seems an open and shut case. But Clarice swears she’s innocent and begs for Ali’s help. At the same time, someone is targeting Camille Lee while she’s on the road for High Noon. Ali is swiftly running out of time to find the real killer and keep her employee safe in this high-octane thrill ride.

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

The body lies amid the garbage behind a Seattle grocery store. He was a high-school basketball coach - and J. P. Beaumont discovers he was lynched.

A brutal, psychopathic murderer is released from prison - and stalks his prey with intent to kill.

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.

When too many bodies start showing up around a skeletal skyscraper structure, the iron workers' union comes under suspicion. And J. P. Beaumont must solve the case.

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.

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.

J. P. Beaumont's teenaged daughter has run off. Her tracks lead to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a case of murder.

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.

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.

Brandon Walker, once the sheriff of Pima County, Arizona, no longer feels he has purpose. A reluctant retiree living in the long shadow of his wife, Diana Ladd, a successful author of true-crime books, he is bored with life. Salvation comes with an invitation to join The Last Chance, an exclusive fraternity of former cops and forensic experts who look into unsolved murders.

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

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

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.

Driven by a compulsion that challenges his self-control, the man calling himself Charles Milton prowls the rodeo circuit, hunting young women. He chooses those he believes are the most vulnerable, wandering alone and distracted, before he strikes. For years, he has been meticulous in his methods, abducting, murdering, and disposing his victims while leaving no evidence of his crimes—or their identities—behind. Indigenous women have become his target of choice, knowing law enforcement’s history of ignoring their disappearances.

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.