DETECTIVE BEAUMONT HAS FOUND YOU A TEDDY BEAR

A maniac broke into the home of Officer Benjamin Harrison Weston–then brutally snuffed the model cop, his wife and his children. But five-year-old “Junior” Weston was hiding in a closet . . . and somehow avoided the psycho’s bloody blade.

Everyone loved and admired “Gentle Ben” –but now the brass is suggesting he was dirty. Homicide detective J.P. Beaumont isn’t about to let anyone drag his dead friend’s reputation through the mud. And he’ll trail a killer from the savage, gang-ruled streets into the upper ranks of Seattle P.D., if necessary–to save a scared little boy who knows too much to live.

At our house, writing a book has always been a group activity. As I started this one, my daughter told me about The Teddy Bear Patrol, a radio station-sponsored program that puts teddy bears in emergency vehicles–patrol cars, fire trucks, and ambulances–to give to traumatized kids. It sounded like a good idea to me, so into the book it went.

Because this book also deals with gangs, I interviewed one of the gang unit detectives. Then, when the manuscript was finished, I had him read it to make sure I hadn’t made any gang unit mistakes. He critiqued my gang unit details and told me he thought those were right. Then he went on to tell me about the first time he needed to use a Teddy Bear Patrol teddy bear. As he talked about handing over a teddy bear to a hungry three-year-old in a filthy crack house, tears rolled down the detective's cheeks. I knew without his telling me that I had that part right, too.

While my children were in school in the Seattle Public School district, they had an outstanding principal named Ed James. The fictional school principal who turns up at the Weston household in the aftermath of the home invasion case is my personal tribute to Ed.

JAJ