SEATTLE INVESTIGATOR J. P. BEAUMONT UNCOVERS A DARK AND DEADLY CONSPIRACY THAT REACHES DEEP INTO THE HALLS OF STATE GOVERNMENT.

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 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.

Fortunately, the governor is able to turn to an old friend, J. P. Beaumont, for help. The Seattle private investigator has witnessed many horrific acts over the years, but this one ranks near the top. Even more shocking is that the crime’s multiple perpetrators could be minors.

Along with Mel Soames, his partner in life as well as on the job, Beaumont soon determines that what initially appears to be a childish prank gone wrong has much deeper implications. But Mel and Beau must follow this path of corruption to it's very end, before more innocent young lives are lost.

I finished writing Fatal Error on a Friday afternoon and e-mailed it to my editor. That evening my husband took me out to dinner to celebrate.  In our house, I write the books and he writes the checks. While I had been dealing with plot and character and pacing, he had been watching the cash flow. Because the Ali book was delivered later that we expected, he could see that the cash flow was coming to a very tight place. So at dinner he asked me in what he thought was a completely inoffensive manner, "Have you given any thought to the next Beaumont book."  

As in, "No pressure. Take the whole weekend off."

"Yes," I told him. I think I want the next Beaumont book to have something to do with the Washington state governor.  

Bill looked at me, made a face, and said, "That's a terrible idea!"

I started writing Betrayal of Trust on Monday morning. I wrote the whole thing in just at two months. There's nothing like being mad as a wet hen to build up a good head of steam!!

JAJ