A KILLER WITH NOTHING TO LOSE IS WAITING TO TAKE ANOTHER LIFE

Years ago, when he was a homicide detective with the Seattle PD, J. P. Beaumont’s partner, Sue Danielson, was murdered. Volatile and angry, Danielson’s ex-husband came after her in her home and, with nowhere else to turn, Jared, Sue’s teenage son, frantically called Beau for help. As Beau rushed to the scene, he urged Jared to grab his younger brother and flee the house. In the end, Beaumont’s plea and Jared’s quick action saved the two boys from their father’s murderous rage.

Now, almost twenty years later, Jared reappears in Beau’s life seeking his help once again—his younger brother Chris is missing. Still haunted by the events of that tragic night, Beau doesn’t hesitate to take on the case. Following a lead all the way to the wilds of wintertime Alaska, he encounters a tangled web of deadly family secrets.

J.P. Beaumont has been retired for a while. He’s done some PI work on occasion, but he’s playing second fiddle to his wife, Mel, who’s a police chief in her own right. One winter’s day, Beau’s past comes calling. A young priest named Father Jared Danielson shows up on Beau’s doorstep, asking for help looking for his missing younger brother, Chris.

Unfortunately, this is a case Beau can’t refuse because Jared and Chris are the sons of Beau’s one-time partner, Sue Danielson, who died of gunshot wounds at the hands of her estranged husband, the boys’ father. Sue’s death was in large measure responsible for Beau’s abrupt exit from Seattle PD, and vivid nightmares about that terrible night have haunted him ever since.

Within a day, Beau is headed for wintertime Alaska, on a quest that will solve a mystery and ultimately help heal his own soul.

I like Beau in this one. He’s the same character I met forty years ago when I wrote the first Beau book, Until Proven Guilty, but he’s a lot older and wiser now. And a lot more mellow, too.

JAJ