Name Withheld

J.P. Beaumont #13

by J.A. Jance

As Beau wrestles at home with his own dying ex-wife and the vindictive former spouse of his best friend, his office time is spent trying to discover who murdered a very nasty bio-tech executive.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Detective, Audiobook, Thriller

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Judith Ann Jance is the top 10 New York Times bestselling author of the Joanna Brady series; the J. P. Beaumont series; three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family; and Edge of Evil, the first in a series featuring Ali Reynolds. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Series:
* J.P. Beaumont
* Joanna Brady
* Ali Reynolds
* Walker Family

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry into the Beaumont series though I still prefer her Sheriff Brady series but there are just more written about Beaumont and I do like her writing style and characters.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live near Seattle, so I love reading the J.P. Beaumont mysteries, and getting the local flavor. I love the comments detailing a bit of life in Seattle, as well as the pithy comments on life by the detective, a divorced man. I wouldn't call this the best writing in the world, but the story is one that's keeping me spellbound.

[Joanne Farley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may just be the best Beaumont book that I have read. There is a lot of upheaval for Beau and some personal growth.
This series is fantastic and well worth reading

[Cherry-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first J A Jance. What a fascinating ride. The ending blew me away. The twists and turns were unexpected and while I wouldn't classify it as a page turner, it had a mellowness that kept you interested to want to know all the pieces of the puzzle. Would definitely read her again. Liked Detective JB - he had a heart. A good read.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I’ve read by this author. It was a book club choice. I liked it. The main character is very likable but very flawed. I will definitely go back and read the first o r in this series.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid Beau--with the heartstrings pulled by emotional life passages--and Beaumont's falling off the wagon. The whole genetic engineering world fascinating, too, but the personal stories really carried this one.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm getting far too attached to J.P. Beaumont. His trials and tribulations have become at least as important as the solution to the current mystery. Despite said trials and tribulations, Beau catches the bad guys, with a little help from an unlikely source.

[Lynette Barfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Jance book in Beaumont series. I am a fan. Great series and I still have more to go.

[Linda Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like JA Jance; but never seem to grab her books when at the library; so it was nice to find a book that I really wanted to read.

This is a JP Beaumont, Seattle homicide detective book. It begins with him babysitting his best friends children, but he is called out because a floater has been found. This leads to an investigation by an ex-hippy child protection worker who stirs up tons of trouble for JP, but that is a mere snare in his troubled life, especially when he finds a second body tied to the floater. Of course, nothing comes easy to JP, before this case is through, he will have the murder weapon, a confession by an old woman he knows is lying and a third body still tied to the first two.

It’s the who-done-it from hell. Lots of actions and misdirection, but JP is diligent and knows that one thing is missing; the question is will he find the missing clue before anyone else dies?

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great blend of Beau's professional and private life that keeps your interest right up to the last page.

[Suzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this on a rainy sunday and it is the first I have listened to the whole audiobook in one day.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

JP is watching his friends daughters on New Year’s Day and enjoying it until he is called out to see a dead body. It seems no one liked the victim and some damaging video’s of him and a girl, lead JP to a elderly society lady who even though the story is grim adds humor. He has the help of his former partner, who is now in a wheelchair. Kramer is just as awful as ever.

[Kitkat405 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m enjoying the series by listening to them in audio!

[Tracie Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Name Withheld by J A Jance

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
-Print: COPYRIGHT: 1/1/1996; PUBLISHER: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition; ISBN 978-0688114602; Unabridged (Hardcover info from Amazon.com)
-Digital: COPYRIGHT: 7/2006; PUBLISHER: Harper-Collins eBooks; ISBN 9780061760907; PAGES 400; Unabridged (Kindle edition info from Amazon.com and Libby app version from LAPL)
*Audio: COPYRIGHT: 1/20/2005; PUBLISHER: Books in Motion; DURATION: 10:04:00; Unabridged (Audio info from Amazon.com and Libby app version from LAPL)
-Feature Film or tv: No

SERIES: J. P. Beaumont Series, Book 13

CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Jonas Piedmont Beaumont-J.P. Beaumont (Beau)—Seattle Washington Detective
Ralph Ames – Beau’s friend and lawyer
Sergeant Watkin (Watty) – Seattle Police Sergeant
Captain Lawrence Powell – Seattle Police Captain
Ron Peters – Beau’s partner and friend
Amy Peters – Ron’s wife
Heather Peters – Ron Peterson’s daughter
Tracy Peters – Ron Peterson’s daughter
Roz Peters – Ron’s Ex-wife
Charlie – (Afghan) Dog in residence of Beau’s Belltown Terrace building.
Gail Richardson– Charlie’s owner
Dick Mathers – Manager of Belltown Towers
Audrey Cummings – Medical examiner
Chip Raymond – Detective
Johnny Bickford – Witness who called the floating body in.
Don Wolf – Victim
Lizbeth Wolf – Don’s wife
Bill Whitten – Don’s boss
Deanna Compton – Bill’s assistant
Sibyl Latona (Latty) Gibson – Rape victim
Gail Highsmith – Latty’ Great Aunt
Virginia Marks – Grace’s Private Investigator
Suzanne Crenshaw – Grace’s lawyer
Maribeth George – Television Reporter

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
-SELECTED: This was the next one in the series.
-ABOUT: Beau is called out to a dead body floating off Pier 70 with a gunshot wound to the head. Ron’s ex-wife returns from Nicaragua and wants full custody of the girls. Beau’s ex-wife Karen’s health takes a bad turn.
-OVERALL: The plot is great, and J. A. does as great a job as ever of reminding me who people are and things that have happened in the past.

AUTHOR: J. A. (Judith Ann) Jance -- (born October 27, 1944) "Jance was born in Watertown, South Dakota,[2] and raised in Bisbee, Arizona (the setting for her Joanna Brady series of novels). Before becoming an author, she worked as a school librarian on a Native American reservation (Tohono O'Odham), and as a teacher and insurance agent." -- Wikipedia

NARRATOR: Gene Engene -- "Gene Engene is an award-winning reader with an astounding catalog of audiobooks to his credit. He is best known as J.P. Beaumont in the J.A. Jance mystery series. Gene is a veteran stage actor, director, and is a retired Professor of Drama at Eastern Washington University." -- Books in Motion

GENRE:
Fiction; Mystery

SUBJECTS:
Murder; Rape; Business fraud

LOCATIONS:
Seattle, Washington

TIME FRAME:
Contemporary (1996)

DEDICATION:
“To Cessa, and also in memory of Linda Howard.”

EXCERPT: From Prologue
" With Seattle’s New Year’s fireworks display due to begin soon, the Peters girls—nine-year-old Heather and ten-year-old Tracy—and I shut down our Uno game at twenty minutes before midnight. While Tracy put away the cards, Heather and I retreated to my penthouse condo’s kitchen to prepare our celebratory New Year’s drink—Thomas Kemper root beer floats.
This was a first for me. Back in my boozing days, if I had still been standing by the time New Year’s toasts rolled around, you can bet I wouldn’t have been swilling down root beer or champagne, either. MacNaughton’s and water would have been far more like it. Even sober, root beer wasn’t my first choice, but the girls had overruled me on that score.
Their dad, Ron Peters, is an ex-partner of mine, although we’ve been friends now for far longer than we were ever partners on the homicide squad down at Seattle P.D. He and Amy, his second wife and the girls’ stepmother, had splurged on one of those hotel sleep-over New Year’s dinner/dance affairs. With Ron in his wheelchair and Amy six and a half months pregnant, I’m sure the romance end was far more important than either the drinking or the dancing. I suppose they saw their New Year’s night on the town as one last prebaby fling.
For my part, I was glad to step in and play uncle for the evening, letting the girls spend the night in the spare bedroom of my condo in downtown Seattle. We had ordered pizza, watched a couple of videos (why someone doesn’t strangle that little brat in Home Alone I and II I’ll never know!) and played several hands of killer Uno, all of which Tracy won without even trying.
Out in the kitchen, I ladled scoops of ice cream into partially filled glasses while Heather, frowning in concentration, carefully added enough root beer to fill the three glasses with foam without ever overflowing any of them.
“Did you know my mom’s coming back from Nicaragua?” she asked pensively.
Actually, I did. Women are forever complaining about how men never talk about anything important. Loosely translated, that means anything personal. Generally, they’re right. We don’t—not to women and usually not to each other, either.
There is, however, one major exception to that rule. In the not so exclusive fraternity of divorced-wounded men, when it comes to comparing notes on the unreasonableness or capriciousness of ex-wives, man-to-man discussions can and do take place. They tend to turn into impromptu contests—sort of “My ex-wife did this and can you top it” kinds of competitions.
With what was going on down in California, where my ex-wife, Karen, was battling cancer, I wasn’t really playing that game anymore. That fact hadn’t kept Ron from crying on my shoulder when his ex-wife, Roslyn, had resurfaced after a two-year hitch with some far-out “Holy Roller” commune down in Central America.
Earlier that week, minutes after opening a letter from his ex-wife, an agitated, grim-faced Ron Peters had wheeled his chair into my office on the fifth floor of the Public Safety Building.
“Damn it!” he had grumbled, waving the paper in the air. “Roz is coming back.”
“So?” I had returned. It’s easy to be unconcerned when the ex-wife in question bears no relation to you whatsoever.
Actually, that isn’t true. I did have a remote connection to Roslyn Peters—as a benefactor. Years earlier, I had stepped in to provide a large chunk of the initial seed money that had shipped her and some of her New Dawn associates off on a mission. They had left Broken Springs, Oregon, and headed down to Nicaragua to establish an outpost for their particular brand of religion among the urban poor in the city of Managua. I provided fully deductible mission “grant money.” At least that’s what my tax return said.
Realistically, my “grant” was nothing more or less than a bribe. In return for a sizable check to the charity of her choice, Roz Peters had relinquished custody of the girls to Ron, their father. Ralph Ames, my Mr. Fix-It attorney, had brokered the deal with the attorney from New Dawn. On the face of it, that sounds pretty heartless—as though the kids went up for grabs, as though they were wrested from a caring, loving mother and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The reality was a little different from that.
New Dawn isn’t the worst cult there’s ever been. As far as I know, nobody’s died in it, or because of it, so far. And when I came up with the idea of getting the girls back and asked Ralph to see what he could do, he set off for Broken Springs, muttering a string of weasel words and saying the whole scheme didn’t stand a chance in hell. But once he got there and saw how things were—the primitive housing and sleeping arrangements as well as what passed for hygiene, food, and medical care—he turned into a regular legal tiger. He raised so much hell that the New Dawn attorney couldn’t get him out of town fast enough. When Ralph came back to Seattle from Oregon, the girls came with him.
“Well,” I had said to Peters the previous week, “I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. You didn’t expect her to stay down there forever, did you?”
“I had hoped,” Ron said, his black look telling me that he had much preferred having the better part of a continent between himself and his ex-wife.
“According to her, New Dawn is planning to start a mission down in Tacoma,” he continued. “They’re taking over a derelict old church down in Hilltop.”
In recent years, Hilltop has turned into a volatile multiracial neighborhood, the kind every American city seems to have these days. Similar in racial and socioeconomic makeup to Seattle’s Rainier Valley, Hilltop has been plagued with more than its fair share of violence and gang warfare. It shows up in newspaper articles and on television news broadcasts, usually in conjunction with stories recounting the sad aftermath of yet another drive-by shooting or drug deal gone bad. It’s the kind of place where armed kids insist on using other kids—preferably unarmed ones—for target practice.”

RATING:
4 stars

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
1-22/2024 to 2-9-2024

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beau hasn't changed. He is still a technophobe, but is learning to like the lights turning on, the cell phone and hates the pager. He is on the trail of the killer of the man found floating in the river with a bullet hole in his head. First, they have to identify him. When the transvestite
who finds the body takes a liking to Beau, he is teased at the police station. They finally find the name's name, Wolf. When they go to search his home, they find his wife dead in bed. The man's boss shows Beau a video of Wolf raping his girlfriend. This makes the girlfriend a suspect. Tracing her leads to her crazy Great Aunt who admits to killing Wolf. This is a good mystery with lots of emotion and good detective work.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I read one of Jance's JP Beaumont books, I think that is my favorite. This was no exception. Beaumont is his usual no-nonsense self. He has to leave the children of his friend, Ron Peters, alone,when he is called out to a crime scene. Mistake #1. The person whose body was discovered in the water at the pier turns out to be a jerk. Then he receives a call from Dave, the husband of his ex-wife, Karen. When it rains it pours! as usual, it took me clear to the end of the book to see whodunnit .

[Donna Mcnab · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the body of a man is found floating by a pier, Beaumont is put on the case without a partner because his current partner, Sue Danielsen, is away sick with chickenpox, and the department is in short supply of detectives. This suits Beau to a tee, but the discovery of another body which would seem to be connected, soon puts Beau working with his least favourite person, Detective Paul Kramer. Meanwhile, Beau's ex, Karen, is fighting the last stages of cancer, and Beau is strongly affected by that. His attorney and friend, Ralph Ames, again is on the scene to be his usual helpful self.

[Kitty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the only JP book I haven't liked so far. I know 1997, when this was written, was 20 years ago, but at the same time... 1997 wasn't the dark ages. The trans-phobia made me queasy, and I was tempted to put this down after every "he/she" reference. I know we've come lightyears on trans issues in the past few years, but I really don't recall thinking it was appropriate to call a trans woman "he" anymore twenty years ago than it is today. I'm surprised I'm the only reviewer bothered by this.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have read several j.p. beaumont mysteries and enjoyed them, so i was glad to have the chance to encounter him again. my sister lives in bellevue, which is one of the settings for this novel, primarily set in seattle. it gets involved, with lots of suspects and policemen working on the case. besides the case, there are two other matters to concern beau. it is a little thicker than some paperbacks, and quite enjoyable.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A New Year's floater is found in Seattle and Homicide detective J.P. Beaumont is assigned to work the case alone. As bodies accumulate, he gets paired with Detective Krammer, his worst enemy in the department. Beaumont also becomes the subject of a Child Protective Services investigation over his relationship of his former partner's children during a child custody fight.

[Doug Branscombe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy fun read. Going back quite a ways in this series, a body is found floating in the water on New Year's Day. Eventually it is traced back to be an executive at a new Bioengineering Company. As JP Beaumont investigates he uncovers some unusual and wide ranging connections, while dealing with an assortment of other mini-crises that come up. Fast paced, lot of action.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

J. A. Jance is one of my favorite mystery writers for a number of reasons: her plots are skillful and full of twists, they don't have explicit sex and foul language, and her characters are realistic and believable. The reader of the Beaumont series does a very good job.

[Mary Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have read most of Jance's Seattle detective books; have read all of her Brady books. Good reads all

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ex-Wife Karen is terminally ill.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

THIS SUMMARY/REVIEW WAS COPIED FROM OTHER SOURCES AND IS USED ONLY AS A REMINDER OF WHAT THE BOOK WAS ABOUT FOR MY PERSONAL INTEREST. ANY PERSONAL NOTATIONS ARE FOR MY RECOLLECTION ONLY
**
Beau, an independently wealthy, high-rise-dwelling, Porsche-driving Seattle homicide cop, draws a floater one day when he’s babysitting for a friend. The corpse is quickly identified as biotech executive Don Wolf, a man whose demise no one seems to lament. When Beau visits Designer Genes International, Wolf’s employer, to get a positive ID, the company’s CEO surprises him by announcing he will be the prime suspect, as he and Wolf were bitter enemies. It seems, however, that at least one other suspect exists, lovely young Latty Gibson, who was caught on tape being raped by Don Wolf in his office. Beau gets stonewalled in his attempts to talk to the young woman by her great aunt, an old money paragon who rather unconvincingly confesses to the murder.

The investigation gets even more interesting when Don Wolf’s wife Lizbeth and a private investigator who had been digging into his past both turn up dead. Beau pursues the Latty Gibson angle while his personal nemesis looks into the biotech company that employed Wolf. Meanwhile, a couple of California cops do a little digging of their own, adding a few more facets and suspects to the mystery.

Typical of Jance, a mishmash of clues are floating around out there, and they all start coming together when suddenly, in a flash, that one vital clue comes to light. The meandering, distracted pace suddenly gets focused and goes into overdrive into the climax. The ending is a trifle too sentimental for my taste, but some people might find it moving.

**
Beau hasn't changed. He is still a technophobe, but is learning to like the lights turning on, the cell phone and hates the pager. He is on the trail of the killer of the man found floating in the river with a bullet hole in his head. First, they have to identify him. When the transvestite
who finds the body takes a liking to Beau, he is teased at the police station. They finally find the name's name, Wolf. When they go to search his home, they find his wife dead in bed. The man's boss shows Beau a video of Wolf raping his girlfriend. This makes the girlfriend a suspect. Tracing her leads to her crazy Great Aunt who admits to killing Wolf.

**

This is a JP Beaumont, Seattle homicide detective book. It begins with him babysitting his best friends children, but he is called out because a floater has been found. This leads to an investigation by an ex-hippy child protection worker who stirs up tons of trouble for JP, but that is a mere snare in his troubled life, especially when he finds a second body tied to the floater. Of course, nothing comes easy to JP, before this case is through, he will have the murder weapon, a confession by an old woman he knows is lying and a third body still tied to the first two.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

library ebook

beau was supposed to be babysitting his friends 2 daughters, but he had to go out when a body floated up. the girls were later blamed for putting detergent in the tub, which they didnt do. their cult mom wants to get custody and is going to use the neglect of leaving them alone in her favor. the cps worker is saying beau is a bad person and shouldnt have been in charge of the girls. she is trying to get them removed from their dad and give custody to their crazy cult mom. she also got beau in trouble at his work.

beau id's the body, and finds his wifes body in the mans apt. he checked with the mans boss, who caught him in his office in surveillance raping a girl. no one liked the man

the girls rich aunt confessed, she even had the murder weapon, but beau knew she didnt do it

the bad man was at the aunts house, kidnapping her when beau showed up. she ran her car into the house killing the bad man but she died too. i was sorry that happened. she left the valuable statue to her niece who looked like she was getting a cop boyfriend

the secty of the co was also in on it with her boss and she was arrested

beau made it down to see his x wife before she died. that was so sad when she died.
the girl didnt do it either

the man had no past, beau could find nothing on him other than a string of rapes found by his fingerprints

he need to go to calif , his x wife is going to die in the hospital soon, but he wants to finish the case

all this, 3 murders, the cps thing and his x wife on her death bed all led beau to drink again. his sponsor met him at a meeting he didnt want to go to

the bad man got killed when he tried to kidnap the aunt and she ran her car into the house. she left the statue to her niece, who was going to get a cop for a boyfriend

the secty was arrested

beau managed to get to see his x wife before she died. it was so sad

cps was the sister of the man beau had arrested for growing pot so that child endangering was dropped

[Cara W · Rating 5 out of 5]

A JP Beaumont book. JP is still a detective. He's babysitting his former partner's kids over New Year's Eve, and gets a call out first thing Jan 1st. There's a "floater" just down the road, in Elliott Bay. The floater turns out to be a murder victim. The floater is quickly identified by his boss (Bill Whitten) as Don Wolf. Further investigation shows no one liked Don. And he seems a despicable guy as the investigation goes further and further. Including a rape film that the boss captured in Don's office.

Don's wife is found murdered in their bed. Finds out Don was trying to get out of the marriage.

The raped women (Lotty) is looked at, and her guardian, Grace Highsmith, tries to take the blame for the murder (not convincing). Grace had also had a private investigator find out more about Don. That investigator is also murdered. Because she has found info on Don.

Turns out Bill had murdered Don, and the investigator had figured it out. Then told Grace. A gun battle at Grace's house results in Grace driving her car into her own house to kill Bill (she dies).

This author builds is A LOT of side stories (JP gets investigated for child molestation for leaving the kids at his place alone - turns out the child services investigator was the sister of a guy JP put away) - the charges are dropped. But I guess that's more of how life happens. And - JP's ex wife dies of cancer at the end of the book...

I like these novels.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent addition to the series. Unlike the Ali Reynolds series, which I’ve referenced in other reviews, this one continues to be on point and to deliver stellar entertainment on every page.

Seattle Cop J.P. Beaumont is watching his former partner’s daughters on a New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s Day. He gets a call that they’ve found a floater in the river, and he leaves the young girls alone in his apartment while he works that case. That’s going to create serious problems for him later in the book.

The dead guy is a tech executive newly moved to Seattle. As Beaumont digs into his past, he determines the dead guy had lots of critics and detractors, and for good reason. There’s a rape scene here that will leave you queasy and unsettled unless you like such things. The rapist is the dead guy they found in the river.

There are numerous subplots I’ve failed to describe, but this is easily a three-star book that edges dangerously close to four stars.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are those who don’t deserve to live—and the corpse floating in Elliott Bay may have been one of those people. Not surprisingly, many individuals, too many in fact, are eager to take responsibility for the brutal slaying of the hated biotech executive whose alleged crimes ranged from the illegal trading of industrial secrets to rape. For Seattle Detective J.P. Beaumont—who’s drowning in his own life-shattering problems—a case of seemingly justifiable homicide has sinister undertones, drawing the haunted policeman into a corporate nightmare world of double deals, savage jealousies, and real blood spilled far too easily, as it leads him closer to a killer he’s not sure he wants to find

Heather's Notes
Poor JP. This book was hard on him. I did like the story and the case. I always enjoy watching JP figure out who the killer is.