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J.P. Beaumont #17
Long Time Gone
Fifty years ago, when she was five, Sister Mary Katherine witnessed something terrible . . .
A former Seattle policeman now working for the Washington State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team, J.P. Beaumont has been hand-picked to lead the investigation into a half-century-old murder. An eyewitness to the crime, a middle-aged nun, has now recalled grisly, forgotten details while undergoing hypnotherapy.
It's a case as cold as the grave, and it's running headlong into another that's tearing at Beau's heart: the vicious slaying of his former partner's ex-wife. What's worse, his rapidly unraveling friend is the prime suspect.
Caught in the middle of a lethal conspiracy that spans two generations and a killing that hits too close to home -- targeted by a vengeful adversary and tempted by a potential romance that threatens to reawaken his personal demons -- Beaumont may suddenly have more on his plate than he can handle, and far too much to survive.
A former Seattle policeman now working for the Washington State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team, J.P. Beaumont has been hand-picked to lead the investigation into a half-century-old murder. An eyewitness to the crime, a middle-aged nun, has now recalled grisly, forgotten details while undergoing hypnotherapy.
It's a case as cold as the grave, and it's running headlong into another that's tearing at Beau's heart: the vicious slaying of his former partner's ex-wife. What's worse, his rapidly unraveling friend is the prime suspect.
Caught in the middle of a lethal conspiracy that spans two generations and a killing that hits too close to home -- targeted by a vengeful adversary and tempted by a potential romance that threatens to reawaken his personal demons -- Beaumont may suddenly have more on his plate than he can handle, and far too much to survive.
417 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 26, 2005
785 people are currently reading
1612 people want to read
About the author
J.A. Jance
117 books4,172 followersJudith 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
Series:
* J.P. Beaumont
* Joanna Brady
* Ali Reynolds
* Walker Family
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 337 reviews
June 3, 2014
Sometimes series sort of run out of gas but then other times, the series just keeps getting better. This has been the case with the J.P. Beaumont detective series. As far as I'm concerned, Long Time Gone has been one of the best if not the very best of the series so far. Beau has finally retired from the Seattle PD and gone to work for the Washington State Homicide Investigation Team. I'll leave it to the readers to recognize the unfortunate acronym for this agency. In this novel, Beau is visited by a mother superior at a small nearby convent who has been seen by a hypnotherapist for night terrors. It turns out that she had witnessed a murder at a young age and had completely repressed the memory but it eventually had bubbled near her consciousness in the form of nightly screaming sessions that had her nuns telling her she had to get treatment so that the rest of them could finally get some sleep again. Jance made this novel longer and more convoluted than most of the earlier novels of the series. Eventually, Beau's old nemesis Kramer and he are at logger heads but Beau gets to relish the fact that his new position gave him the upper hand. If you enjoy a good police procedural type of mystery that includes some nice touches of humor with well developed and likable characters, give this book a look. In my opinion, you won't be disappointed.
March 28, 2023
I have been waiting for this series to take a nose dive - as yet it has not happened.
This book was fantastic. Beau is now working with The Special Homicide Investigation Team or the SHIT squad if you prefer.
Beau is tasked with looking into a cold case now that an eye witness has come forward. The case is really interesting and it kept me guessing right up till the end - which is another way of saying I didn't put it together.
At the same time as all of this Beau's best friend and ex partner Ron Peters finds himself as the prime suspect in his ex-wives murder.
Both cases were well put together and we see of side of both Ron and Beau we have never seen before.
Another great addition to JP series.
This book was fantastic. Beau is now working with The Special Homicide Investigation Team or the SHIT squad if you prefer.
Beau is tasked with looking into a cold case now that an eye witness has come forward. The case is really interesting and it kept me guessing right up till the end - which is another way of saying I didn't put it together.
At the same time as all of this Beau's best friend and ex partner Ron Peters finds himself as the prime suspect in his ex-wives murder.
Both cases were well put together and we see of side of both Ron and Beau we have never seen before.
Another great addition to JP series.
September 28, 2022
This was an audiobook and the narration was excellente!!! JA Janice is an author I must find a way to read more stories that feature novels with J.P. Beaumont as the protagonist. This was a 50 year old cold case that involved leading socialites of the greater Seattle area. The places and references hit home as we lived on Whidbey Island many years ago.
A good plot, good characters, and a well written tale.
A good plot, good characters, and a well written tale.
February 19, 2016
I got bored with it and didn't finish - mostly because another book I had on hold came through from a "hold" and I wanted to read that.
October 4, 2017
This was so good I stayed up later than usual to finish it. I love the way she carried two separate plots through the whole book. Each was a substantial story and made the book exciting. Beau is assigned to a cold case, a murder witnessed by a young girl who is now a Mother Superior in a local convent. She had suppressed all memory of the event until it resurfaced in her nightmares. As more information is uncovered, the cold case becomes a hot one, with additional murders being committed in the present day. At the same time, Beau's best friend and former partner, Ron, is accused of murdering his ex-wife. Jance introduces all kinds of savory and unsavory characters, and it's a joy to read her stories!
September 23, 2023
Just finished .. Happy Sigh.
The Peters family is prominent in this as well as Beau’s (SHIT assigned) cold case of a 50 year old murder !
Beau crashes through the glass wall of a greenhouse while tackling a murderer. Mel takes him to the ER where he gets half his head shaved and a jagged scalp wound stitched .. as well as biggest glass pieces removed from his body.
Ralph suggests he go to Stuttgart, Germany & buy a new Porsche (since it was backed into & destroyed by an irritated lawyer in this book).
And Ralph suggests he quit working .. maybe volunteer for The Last Chance group.
This is the book where the Mel Soames romance starts :)
Honorable mention character: Sister Mary Katherine.
The Peters family is prominent in this as well as Beau’s (SHIT assigned) cold case of a 50 year old murder !
Beau crashes through the glass wall of a greenhouse while tackling a murderer. Mel takes him to the ER where he gets half his head shaved and a jagged scalp wound stitched .. as well as biggest glass pieces removed from his body.
Ralph suggests he go to Stuttgart, Germany & buy a new Porsche (since it was backed into & destroyed by an irritated lawyer in this book).
And Ralph suggests he quit working .. maybe volunteer for The Last Chance group.
This is the book where the Mel Soames romance starts :)
Honorable mention character: Sister Mary Katherine.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2020
A nun is having nightmares and after therapy she remembers seeing a murder as a small child. It is a case that was never solved and JP gets involved. At the same time his former partner is accused of murdering his ex-wife, plus his partner’s daughter has a boyfriend who isn’t any good. The author does a good job of putting the different pieces together.
October 18, 2021
Two-haiku review:
Murders old and new
Beau working on special squad
Cold case, hot murders
Always enjoy Beau
He sure has improved with age
Women still like him
Murders old and new
Beau working on special squad
Cold case, hot murders
Always enjoy Beau
He sure has improved with age
Women still like him
September 20, 2010
It's not often I use the one star rating and I reserve it for books I don't finish. This one wasn't horrible, but it read like a parking lot full of speed bumps. I got as far as chapter eight.
Short of the murder at the beginning, it is a bit light on action. There is a stab at levity with the acronym for 'Special Homicide Investigation Team' being called the SHIT squad.
But the whole time I read it, I felt that the main character came across as female. It was in all the subtleties, such as referring to the color of a car as sand dollar instead of tan. Mostly, though, it was in all the florid thought processes. I had a hard time thinking of this main character as Jonas Piedmont Beaumont. The MC, in my mind, seemed more like a sheltered, middle aged, lower middle income female. So every time something in the story would come along to disspell that sense, it acted as a speed bump in the reading.
A third of the way through, at chapter eight, I had had enough. There are other worlds than these.
Short of the murder at the beginning, it is a bit light on action. There is a stab at levity with the acronym for 'Special Homicide Investigation Team' being called the SHIT squad.
But the whole time I read it, I felt that the main character came across as female. It was in all the subtleties, such as referring to the color of a car as sand dollar instead of tan. Mostly, though, it was in all the florid thought processes. I had a hard time thinking of this main character as Jonas Piedmont Beaumont. The MC, in my mind, seemed more like a sheltered, middle aged, lower middle income female. So every time something in the story would come along to disspell that sense, it acted as a speed bump in the reading.
A third of the way through, at chapter eight, I had had enough. There are other worlds than these.
July 15, 2015
Long Time Gone delivers a double murder: J.P. Beaumont is on a cold case from 50 years ago when he hears that his partner's ex-wife has been murdered. What follows is the tumult of working through a complicated case while trying his best to help his friend in any way. The plot is interesting and moves quickly.
The characters, however, didn't work for me. J.P. gives a lot of random detail - about cars or women - that is completely unnecessary and has nothing to do with the plot. It felt like Jance was trying too hard to convince me that her narrator was a male; this is the only book of hers that I've read, so I'm not sure if her other male-narrated novels have this problem. J.P.'s character is irksome after a while as he asserts his manliness over and over. What doesn't help is the speed of the plot - it moves so quickly that a lot of character development is stifled, and J.P. doesn't grow much beyond the man trying too hard to prove he's a man.
I haven't read the other books in the J.P. series, so fans of it may like this book better than I did.
The characters, however, didn't work for me. J.P. gives a lot of random detail - about cars or women - that is completely unnecessary and has nothing to do with the plot. It felt like Jance was trying too hard to convince me that her narrator was a male; this is the only book of hers that I've read, so I'm not sure if her other male-narrated novels have this problem. J.P.'s character is irksome after a while as he asserts his manliness over and over. What doesn't help is the speed of the plot - it moves so quickly that a lot of character development is stifled, and J.P. doesn't grow much beyond the man trying too hard to prove he's a man.
I haven't read the other books in the J.P. series, so fans of it may like this book better than I did.
December 31, 2013
#17 in the J.P. Beaumont series. In #2,Injustice For All (1985), Beau's lawyer help Beau's partner, Ron Peters, regain custody of his daughters. In #13, Name Withheld (1996), Peters' ex-wife seeks custody of the girls and a social worker accuses Beau of being a deviant when he babysits them. Now in #17, Long Time Gone (2005), Peters' ex-wife is still trying to gain custody of the younger daughter. That's literary time, a custody battle for a minor that goes on for 20 calendar years over a spread of 16 books in the series. It's still a good read and series fans will be pleased.
J.P. Beaumont inherits the case when a nun recalls the grisly details of an unsolved murder she witnessed as a child 50 years ago. Former partner Ron Peters' ex-wife is killed after trying to regain custody of their younger daughter and Ron is the prime suspect. Beau may be developing a romantic interest in his new partner, Melissa Soames.
J.P. Beaumont inherits the case when a nun recalls the grisly details of an unsolved murder she witnessed as a child 50 years ago. Former partner Ron Peters' ex-wife is killed after trying to regain custody of their younger daughter and Ron is the prime suspect. Beau may be developing a romantic interest in his new partner, Melissa Soames.
June 29, 2012
What can I say, even though I don't love the books, I do like Beaumont, and I'm nearing the end of the series. I'm gonna guess another 2 star book...
Done. Beaumont is heading a 50 year old cold case with a new eyewitness. Then his former partner Ron Peters is the suspect in his ex-wife's murder. I do like Beaumont and find the books entertaining enough for the most part, the thing that gets me in almost everyone is that it is just too obvious who the killer is. Jance tries to distract you by outlining almost all of the suspects and why they could have done it. Omitted in this list is one other suspect that I guess the reader is supposed to forget about and then in the end they are the killer. So I wasn't surprised when it happened again and I knew who did halfway through the book. I'm gonna say 2 1/2 stars cause I like Beau
Done. Beaumont is heading a 50 year old cold case with a new eyewitness. Then his former partner Ron Peters is the suspect in his ex-wife's murder. I do like Beaumont and find the books entertaining enough for the most part, the thing that gets me in almost everyone is that it is just too obvious who the killer is. Jance tries to distract you by outlining almost all of the suspects and why they could have done it. Omitted in this list is one other suspect that I guess the reader is supposed to forget about and then in the end they are the killer. So I wasn't surprised when it happened again and I knew who did halfway through the book. I'm gonna say 2 1/2 stars cause I like Beau
July 14, 2015
The incessant and inane social commentary throughout this book seriously detracted away from what could have been a good story. Shame, too, because the first few pages of this book were absolutely gripping.
Yes, I get it- JP Beaumont is a grouchy old man. But the random thoughts he had about women, cars, and everything else he came across were unnecessary and irritating. I'd like to chalk it up to Jance not being able to write from a male perspective, but she's managed to do it with other books. I felt like with this one she was trying too hard to be clever with a book she was just writing to write. The story really could have been great but it ended up being a mess of a book that was poorly written.
In saying that, it was a quick read and a time killer for my morning train ride, which is what I was after. Still, I think I'll skip any other books in this series.
Yes, I get it- JP Beaumont is a grouchy old man. But the random thoughts he had about women, cars, and everything else he came across were unnecessary and irritating. I'd like to chalk it up to Jance not being able to write from a male perspective, but she's managed to do it with other books. I felt like with this one she was trying too hard to be clever with a book she was just writing to write. The story really could have been great but it ended up being a mess of a book that was poorly written.
In saying that, it was a quick read and a time killer for my morning train ride, which is what I was after. Still, I think I'll skip any other books in this series.
July 10, 2016
Good J. P. Beaumont novel that includes a mystery surrounding his friend Ron's family as well as one for the S. H. I. T. squad.
Read
July 17, 2010I enjoyed this mystery. There were several layers to the plot, the characters were well developed, and there was humor and charm in the telling. I will be reading more books by this author.
April 7, 2017
By the time authors get to the 17th book in a mystery series, they often got into overdrive, trotting out familiar characters and a formulaic plot. That is the danger of Jance's J.P. Beaumont series. Beau has largely gotten past his struggles with booze and the successive losses of wives and partners. Jance gives this entry a new boost by having Beau retire from the Seattle PD and join the State Attorney General's Special Homicide Investigating Team which, as you might expect from the title, investigates special homicides. As a state agency it outranks the local police, a source of great satisfaction to Beau as he is able to override his old nemesis, Seattle PD Captain Kramer in reopening a 50 year old very cold case. (Thank heaven for Kramer; without him as a foil this book would die for lack of conflict.)
For the second case (we always have to have at least two) Beau's disabled former partner Ron Peters is a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife with whom he is engaged in a custody battle (unlikely after all these years). As a possible case of domestic violence by a law officer, Ron's case also falls into the SHIT squad's jurisdiction. Although Beau is ordered to stay out of it he naturally gets involved with it and along the way with fellow investigator Mel Soames. Is she aware of the fates that have befallen his previous partners?
For the second case (we always have to have at least two) Beau's disabled former partner Ron Peters is a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife with whom he is engaged in a custody battle (unlikely after all these years). As a possible case of domestic violence by a law officer, Ron's case also falls into the SHIT squad's jurisdiction. Although Beau is ordered to stay out of it he naturally gets involved with it and along the way with fellow investigator Mel Soames. Is she aware of the fates that have befallen his previous partners?
April 12, 2021
I had it figured out pretty early. First JA Jance book though. Good Story and we'll written enough that I didntnknow I was in the middle of a series
November 25, 2023
3 Stars
Not horrible, and nowhere near fantastic. A run-of-the mill detective story that felt very formulaic.
Not horrible, and nowhere near fantastic. A run-of-the mill detective story that felt very formulaic.
July 2, 2024
I found this book too long and a bit of a drag.
December 30, 2024
Decent read.
March 24, 2025
“Long Time Gone” by J. A. Jance
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS
PRINT:
© 2005, July 7; 978-0688138240; William Morrow; 352 pages; unabridged (Info from Amazon)
DIGITAL:
© 2009, October 13; William Morrow; Reprint edition; ISBN: 0688138241; ASIN: B000FCKBIE; 448 pages; unabridged. (info from Amazon)
(this one)-AUDIO:
© 2008, February 18; Books in Motion; 12 hours (approx.); unabridged. (info from Amazon)
FILM:
No.
SERIES:
J. P. Beaumont Book 17
CHARACTERS: (Not Comprehensive)
Jonas Piedmont Beaumont-J.P. Beaumont (Beau)—Seattle Washington investigator for Seattle Homicide Investigation Team
Ralph Ames – Beau’s friend and lawyer
Ron Peters – Beau’s former partner and friend
Amy Peters – Ron’s wife
Heather Peters – Ron Peterson’s youngest daughter
Tracy Peters – Ron Peterson’s oldest daughter
Roz Peters – Ron’s Ex-wife
Bonnie Jean Dunleavy – A nun trying to cure a sudden nightmare problem that awakens everyone in the middle of the night. (Beau’s former school acquaintance)
Madeline (Mimi) Marchbank – A murder victim
Alpert P. Marchbank – Madeline’s brother- Seattle attorney
Elvira Marchbank – Alpert’s wife
Melanie (Mel) Soames – Unit B of the Seattle Homicide Investigative Team’s newest detective
Frederick MacKinzie – A hypnotist (Beau’s former school acquaintance)
Ross Conors – Washington State Attorney General—Beau’s boss’s boss.
Harry Ignatius Ball – Beau’s boss who prefers to be called Harry I Ball (Harry eyeball)
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
SELECTED:
Don and I enjoy this series and this was the next book in the chronological order we are following.
ABOUT:
A nun whose been having nightmares that wake everyone up has sought help to discover the source of the nightmares. She contacts and old school friend whose become a hypnotist, who believes that as a very young child, she may have witnessed a murder. The hypnotist and nun manage to get Beau on the case, as the murder may involve a prominent/wealthy local family.
Meanwhile, Beau’s former partner, Ron Peterson, is accused of murdering his x-wife.
OVERALL OPINION:
It kept my attention. I like the characters, and their personal stories.
AUTHOR:
J. A. Jance (From Wikipedia)
“Judith Ann (J. A.) Jance (born October 27, 1944) is an American author of mystery novels. She writes three series of novels, centering on retired Seattle Police Department Detective J. P. Beaumont, Arizona County Sheriff Joanna Brady, and former Los Angeles news anchor turned mystery solver Ali Reynolds. The Beaumont and Brady series intersect in the novel Partner in Crime, which is both the 16th Beaumount mystery and the 10th Brady mystery.[1] They intersect again in Fire and Ice.
Biography
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.
Jance attended University of Arizona, graduating with a bachelor's degree in education in 1966, then a master's in library science in 1970. In 2000, University of Arizona awarded Jance an honorary doctorate.[3]
In July 2018, The Strand Magazine gave Jance its Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize her contributions to the field of crime fiction.[4]
She lives part of the year in Arizona and part of the year in Seattle.[5] Jance uses her initials for her pen name because a publisher told her that disclosing her gender would be a liability for a book about a male detective. At signings, Jance asks bookstores to donate a percentage of their earnings from her appearances to various causes. Over the past 10 years, she has raised more than $250,000 for charity.”
NARRATOR
Gene Engene (From the Chicago Tribune)
“A MASTER`S VOICE: GENE ENGENE THE LATEST TO PROVE chicagotribune.com/1990/08/30/a-maste... By Chicago Tribune UPDATED: August 10, 2021 at 4:08 PM CDT Every time I hear a great new reader, it`s like getting another friend. Gene Engene (pronounced EN-gun-ee) is my most recent acquaintance. Engene, a professor of drama at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., has a compelling, now-hear-this voice, but he still manages to sound friendly. He`s serious, yet expressive and conversational, the Walter Cronkite of narrators. He gives a dramatic, crisp delivery without being too tense or tight. A master of the pause, he creates suspense by drawing out some of the words, as in: ”aaaaaand, theeeeen, the man bit the dog.” Engene reads for Books in Motion, a Spokane, Wash., company with 100-plus titles in its most recent catalog. I listened to him narrate ”White Fang,” one of the Jack London adventure stories set in the Far North (eight hours; $10.50 rental, $29.95 purchase). The novel tells the story of a wolfdog named White Fang who is eventually domesticated. It is a counterpoint to London`s ”The Call of the Wild,” in which a family pet is stolen and forced to adapt to the frigid climate and harsh conditions of sled-dog life. At the end, he takes off with the wolves, so White Fang could very well be his son. The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard An expert at bringing out the darker elements of a story, Engene also reads some of Books in Motion`s other mystery, adventure and classic titles. They include ”The Call of the Wild,” two Ken Follett spy novels, Richard Henry Dana`s ”Two Years Before the Mast,” Rudyard Kipling`s ”Captains Courageous,” Joseph Conrad`s ”Lord Jim,” Jules Verne`s ”The Mysterious Island,” Nathaniel Hawthorne`s ”The Scarlet Letter” and Henry David Thoreau`s ”Civil Disobedience.” 3/24/25, 12:24 PM A MASTER`S VOICE: GENE ENGENE THE LATEST TO PROVE – Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/0... 1/11
A Mark Twain reader, he`s not. For the element of spine-tingling gloom and doom, Engene is right up there in my estimation with Frank Muller, who reads somberly and dramatically for Recorded Books. . . . More and more companies are discovering the power of a good reader. In fact, just this year Books on Tape began to index its recordings not just by title and author, but also by reader. Recorded Books has profiled some of its more popular readers in a newsletter to subscribers. Engene started reading for Books in Motion President Gary Challender before the company even existed. Challender had a long drive as a regional businessman, and he started out getting local readers to record books for his own use. Gradually, he accrued a stock of titles, friends began to ask if they could borrow them, and, he said, ”it just grew from there.” Engene, who is prominent in the eastern Washington acting community, seems to have prepared thoroughly. He sounds not so much as if he`s reading, but more as if he`s telling a favorite story that he knows well. Surprise! Challender said Engene is just naturally ”surefooted.” Even reading a book for the first time, his mind is about a sentence ahead of his mouth. Unlike most of the rest of us, who do it the other way around. Some guy. A cautionary note: If you send for the Books in Motion (9212 Montgomery, Suite 501, Spokane, Wash. 99206; phone 800-752-3199) catalog, don`t be put off by its appearance (it is littered with dippy little drawings). Look beyond to some pretty good titles. And some great prices. For the budget-conscious, the company offers about 40 titles that are short stories or excerpts rather than abridgments-such as some of the Mowgli stories from Kipling`s ”The Jungle Book” and ”The Trail of the Meat,” excerpted from four chapters of ”White Fang.” These titles retail for $4.95 to $8.95 and are available as rentals for $1.50 to $3. Originally Published: August 30, 1990 at 1:00 AM CDT”
GENRE:
Hard Boiled Mystery; Fiction; Police Procedural
SUBJECTS (Not comprehensive):
Nuns; Murder; Repressed memories; Hypnosis; Corruption; Child witnesses; Murder investigation
LOCATION:
Seattle, Washington
TIME PERIOD:
Current (2005)
DEDICATION:
“To the General and his dedicated crew, who made writing this book not only interesting but possible.
EXCERPT
From Prologue:
“BY STANDING ON the tips of her toes on a kitchen chair, five-year-old Bonnie could just see out over the sill of the window in the tiny daylight basement apartment where she lived with her parents. The sun had finally burned through the low gray clouds, and now splashes of sunlight cast a crazy-quilt pattern across the rain-dampened grass of the yard and the cracked concrete of the crumbling sidewalk and driveway. Sunlit spring afternoons were rare in western Washington, and Bonnie longed to be outside, but she didn’t dare, not with Mama and Daddy gone.
When they went away on those long Saturday afternoons, they’d tell her that she’d better stay inside and be good until they got home, or else…Bonnie knew what “or else” meant. If they found Bonnie had been outside while they were off drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, Daddy would take off his belt and light into her. Or Mama would go outside and cut a switch from the weeping willow tree and use that on Bonnie’s bare legs or the thin, raggedy panties that covered her equally thin behind.
The outside door was unlocked. Bonnie could have gone up the stairs and let herself out if she had wanted to. She would have loved to run barefoot through the grass, chasing the butterflies that drifted in and out of Mimi’s garden, or to play a solitary game of hopscotch on the smooth surface of her neighbor’s driveway. But she didn’t. No matter how well she tried to hide what she had done, Mama always seemed to know exactly when Bonnie was telling fibs.
So Bonnie stayed where she was, watching and waiting, sometimes shifting her weight from side to side and holding on to the windowsill to help keep her balance. Then something interesting happened. A big car came creeping up Mimi’s driveway. Her driveway was far nicer than theirs. It was smooth and clean with no gaping cracks where grass and weeds and dandelions squeezed through.
The car stopped a few feet from Bonnie’s window perch. It looked new and shiny, and it was red. Not fire-engine red, but a funny kind of red Bonnie had never seen before. She watched as a man got out, a big man wearing the kind of dress-up clothing Daddy never wore, not even on holy days when Mama made him go to church. The man slammed the car door shut. He hurried over to the steps and pounded on the back door. After a while, Bonnie’s friend Mimi opened the door and stepped out onto the porch and stood with her back to the screen door.
During the week when Mimi went to work, she wore dresses and heels and had her hair pulled into a bun at the back of her neck. Today, though, her long dark hair was in a ponytail, which made her look much younger. She wore light green pedal pushers with a matching top along with white sandals. Even from where she stood, Bonnie could see the bright red polish that Mimi wore on her toenails. Mimi had even offered to paint Bonnie’s toenails once, but Daddy had said, “No. Absolutely not.” And Mama had said Bonnie was too young for nail polish. So all Bonnie could do was look at Mimi’s brightly colored toes and wait to grow up.
Since Saturday was housecleaning day, Mimi wore a flowery full-length apron. As she talked to the man on her porch, Mimi crossed her arms under the bottom of the apron as though her arms were cold and covering them with the cloth of her apron might help warm them.
Bonnie couldn’t hear any of the conversation, but from the bright red splotches of color on her friend’s cheeks Bonnie knew that Mimi was angry. So was the man. He waved his arms. His face turned red. And every time he stopped talking, all Mimi did was shake her head. Whatever the man wanted, Mimi’s answer was no.
One of the car doors opened and another woman stepped out. This one looked familiar. Bonnie thought she might have seen the woman before, coming to the house with a vase of flowers or maybe a covered dish for supper. Bonnie had seen Mimi’s mother occasionally. The woman was old and sick. Sometimes she was in a wheelchair, but mostly she stayed in bed. Mimi worked in an office all day. The rest of the time she was at home taking care of her mother.
As the second woman walked toward the porch, she opened her purse, reached inside, and pulled something out. Only when the sun glinted off the blade did Bonnie realize it was a knife. That seemed odd. Most of the women Bonnie knew used their purses to carry lipstick and hankies and compacts and change purses. Never a knife.
Why a knife? What was going on?
The woman stepped up onto the porch beside the man. She looked angry, too. Bonnie wondered what was wrong. Why were those two people yelling at Mimi? Bonnie didn’t have to hear the words to know they were saying mean and nasty things. At last Mimi turned and started to go inside. That’s when the man reached out and grabbed her. Catching her by the arm, he pulled her off the back porch.
Bonnie watched in horror as Mimi fell all the way to the sidewalk, where she lay still for a moment, as though the force of the fall had knocked the wind out of her. Bonnie knew how that felt. The same thing had happened to her once when she had fallen out of the apple tree.
Then, instead of helping Mimi up, the man dropped on top of her, with his knee in her stomach. There was a brief struggle. The man seemed to be hitting her. The woman was standing in the way, so Bonnie couldn’t see everything that happened. She wanted to scream out at him, “Stop! Stop! You’re hurting her.” But her voice froze in her throat. The words wouldn’t come.
At last the woman reached down and helped the man up. The two of them stood there for a moment, looking down at Mimi. Even from where she was standing, Bonnie could see that the man’s hands were bloody. So was his shirt. After a moment, the man and woman hurried into the house, closing the door behind them and leaving Mimi lying on the sidewalk.”
RATING:
5 stars.
STARTED-FINISHED
3/3/2024-3/9/2024
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS
PRINT:
© 2005, July 7; 978-0688138240; William Morrow; 352 pages; unabridged (Info from Amazon)
DIGITAL:
© 2009, October 13; William Morrow; Reprint edition; ISBN: 0688138241; ASIN: B000FCKBIE; 448 pages; unabridged. (info from Amazon)
(this one)-AUDIO:
© 2008, February 18; Books in Motion; 12 hours (approx.); unabridged. (info from Amazon)
FILM:
No.
SERIES:
J. P. Beaumont Book 17
CHARACTERS: (Not Comprehensive)
Jonas Piedmont Beaumont-J.P. Beaumont (Beau)—Seattle Washington investigator for Seattle Homicide Investigation Team
Ralph Ames – Beau’s friend and lawyer
Ron Peters – Beau’s former partner and friend
Amy Peters – Ron’s wife
Heather Peters – Ron Peterson’s youngest daughter
Tracy Peters – Ron Peterson’s oldest daughter
Roz Peters – Ron’s Ex-wife
Bonnie Jean Dunleavy – A nun trying to cure a sudden nightmare problem that awakens everyone in the middle of the night. (Beau’s former school acquaintance)
Madeline (Mimi) Marchbank – A murder victim
Alpert P. Marchbank – Madeline’s brother- Seattle attorney
Elvira Marchbank – Alpert’s wife
Melanie (Mel) Soames – Unit B of the Seattle Homicide Investigative Team’s newest detective
Frederick MacKinzie – A hypnotist (Beau’s former school acquaintance)
Ross Conors – Washington State Attorney General—Beau’s boss’s boss.
Harry Ignatius Ball – Beau’s boss who prefers to be called Harry I Ball (Harry eyeball)
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
SELECTED:
Don and I enjoy this series and this was the next book in the chronological order we are following.
ABOUT:
A nun whose been having nightmares that wake everyone up has sought help to discover the source of the nightmares. She contacts and old school friend whose become a hypnotist, who believes that as a very young child, she may have witnessed a murder. The hypnotist and nun manage to get Beau on the case, as the murder may involve a prominent/wealthy local family.
Meanwhile, Beau’s former partner, Ron Peterson, is accused of murdering his x-wife.
OVERALL OPINION:
It kept my attention. I like the characters, and their personal stories.
AUTHOR:
J. A. Jance (From Wikipedia)
“Judith Ann (J. A.) Jance (born October 27, 1944) is an American author of mystery novels. She writes three series of novels, centering on retired Seattle Police Department Detective J. P. Beaumont, Arizona County Sheriff Joanna Brady, and former Los Angeles news anchor turned mystery solver Ali Reynolds. The Beaumont and Brady series intersect in the novel Partner in Crime, which is both the 16th Beaumount mystery and the 10th Brady mystery.[1] They intersect again in Fire and Ice.
Biography
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.
Jance attended University of Arizona, graduating with a bachelor's degree in education in 1966, then a master's in library science in 1970. In 2000, University of Arizona awarded Jance an honorary doctorate.[3]
In July 2018, The Strand Magazine gave Jance its Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize her contributions to the field of crime fiction.[4]
She lives part of the year in Arizona and part of the year in Seattle.[5] Jance uses her initials for her pen name because a publisher told her that disclosing her gender would be a liability for a book about a male detective. At signings, Jance asks bookstores to donate a percentage of their earnings from her appearances to various causes. Over the past 10 years, she has raised more than $250,000 for charity.”
NARRATOR
Gene Engene (From the Chicago Tribune)
“A MASTER`S VOICE: GENE ENGENE THE LATEST TO PROVE chicagotribune.com/1990/08/30/a-maste... By Chicago Tribune UPDATED: August 10, 2021 at 4:08 PM CDT Every time I hear a great new reader, it`s like getting another friend. Gene Engene (pronounced EN-gun-ee) is my most recent acquaintance. Engene, a professor of drama at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., has a compelling, now-hear-this voice, but he still manages to sound friendly. He`s serious, yet expressive and conversational, the Walter Cronkite of narrators. He gives a dramatic, crisp delivery without being too tense or tight. A master of the pause, he creates suspense by drawing out some of the words, as in: ”aaaaaand, theeeeen, the man bit the dog.” Engene reads for Books in Motion, a Spokane, Wash., company with 100-plus titles in its most recent catalog. I listened to him narrate ”White Fang,” one of the Jack London adventure stories set in the Far North (eight hours; $10.50 rental, $29.95 purchase). The novel tells the story of a wolfdog named White Fang who is eventually domesticated. It is a counterpoint to London`s ”The Call of the Wild,” in which a family pet is stolen and forced to adapt to the frigid climate and harsh conditions of sled-dog life. At the end, he takes off with the wolves, so White Fang could very well be his son. The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard An expert at bringing out the darker elements of a story, Engene also reads some of Books in Motion`s other mystery, adventure and classic titles. They include ”The Call of the Wild,” two Ken Follett spy novels, Richard Henry Dana`s ”Two Years Before the Mast,” Rudyard Kipling`s ”Captains Courageous,” Joseph Conrad`s ”Lord Jim,” Jules Verne`s ”The Mysterious Island,” Nathaniel Hawthorne`s ”The Scarlet Letter” and Henry David Thoreau`s ”Civil Disobedience.” 3/24/25, 12:24 PM A MASTER`S VOICE: GENE ENGENE THE LATEST TO PROVE – Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/0... 1/11
A Mark Twain reader, he`s not. For the element of spine-tingling gloom and doom, Engene is right up there in my estimation with Frank Muller, who reads somberly and dramatically for Recorded Books. . . . More and more companies are discovering the power of a good reader. In fact, just this year Books on Tape began to index its recordings not just by title and author, but also by reader. Recorded Books has profiled some of its more popular readers in a newsletter to subscribers. Engene started reading for Books in Motion President Gary Challender before the company even existed. Challender had a long drive as a regional businessman, and he started out getting local readers to record books for his own use. Gradually, he accrued a stock of titles, friends began to ask if they could borrow them, and, he said, ”it just grew from there.” Engene, who is prominent in the eastern Washington acting community, seems to have prepared thoroughly. He sounds not so much as if he`s reading, but more as if he`s telling a favorite story that he knows well. Surprise! Challender said Engene is just naturally ”surefooted.” Even reading a book for the first time, his mind is about a sentence ahead of his mouth. Unlike most of the rest of us, who do it the other way around. Some guy. A cautionary note: If you send for the Books in Motion (9212 Montgomery, Suite 501, Spokane, Wash. 99206; phone 800-752-3199) catalog, don`t be put off by its appearance (it is littered with dippy little drawings). Look beyond to some pretty good titles. And some great prices. For the budget-conscious, the company offers about 40 titles that are short stories or excerpts rather than abridgments-such as some of the Mowgli stories from Kipling`s ”The Jungle Book” and ”The Trail of the Meat,” excerpted from four chapters of ”White Fang.” These titles retail for $4.95 to $8.95 and are available as rentals for $1.50 to $3. Originally Published: August 30, 1990 at 1:00 AM CDT”
GENRE:
Hard Boiled Mystery; Fiction; Police Procedural
SUBJECTS (Not comprehensive):
Nuns; Murder; Repressed memories; Hypnosis; Corruption; Child witnesses; Murder investigation
LOCATION:
Seattle, Washington
TIME PERIOD:
Current (2005)
DEDICATION:
“To the General and his dedicated crew, who made writing this book not only interesting but possible.
EXCERPT
From Prologue:
“BY STANDING ON the tips of her toes on a kitchen chair, five-year-old Bonnie could just see out over the sill of the window in the tiny daylight basement apartment where she lived with her parents. The sun had finally burned through the low gray clouds, and now splashes of sunlight cast a crazy-quilt pattern across the rain-dampened grass of the yard and the cracked concrete of the crumbling sidewalk and driveway. Sunlit spring afternoons were rare in western Washington, and Bonnie longed to be outside, but she didn’t dare, not with Mama and Daddy gone.
When they went away on those long Saturday afternoons, they’d tell her that she’d better stay inside and be good until they got home, or else…Bonnie knew what “or else” meant. If they found Bonnie had been outside while they were off drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, Daddy would take off his belt and light into her. Or Mama would go outside and cut a switch from the weeping willow tree and use that on Bonnie’s bare legs or the thin, raggedy panties that covered her equally thin behind.
The outside door was unlocked. Bonnie could have gone up the stairs and let herself out if she had wanted to. She would have loved to run barefoot through the grass, chasing the butterflies that drifted in and out of Mimi’s garden, or to play a solitary game of hopscotch on the smooth surface of her neighbor’s driveway. But she didn’t. No matter how well she tried to hide what she had done, Mama always seemed to know exactly when Bonnie was telling fibs.
So Bonnie stayed where she was, watching and waiting, sometimes shifting her weight from side to side and holding on to the windowsill to help keep her balance. Then something interesting happened. A big car came creeping up Mimi’s driveway. Her driveway was far nicer than theirs. It was smooth and clean with no gaping cracks where grass and weeds and dandelions squeezed through.
The car stopped a few feet from Bonnie’s window perch. It looked new and shiny, and it was red. Not fire-engine red, but a funny kind of red Bonnie had never seen before. She watched as a man got out, a big man wearing the kind of dress-up clothing Daddy never wore, not even on holy days when Mama made him go to church. The man slammed the car door shut. He hurried over to the steps and pounded on the back door. After a while, Bonnie’s friend Mimi opened the door and stepped out onto the porch and stood with her back to the screen door.
During the week when Mimi went to work, she wore dresses and heels and had her hair pulled into a bun at the back of her neck. Today, though, her long dark hair was in a ponytail, which made her look much younger. She wore light green pedal pushers with a matching top along with white sandals. Even from where she stood, Bonnie could see the bright red polish that Mimi wore on her toenails. Mimi had even offered to paint Bonnie’s toenails once, but Daddy had said, “No. Absolutely not.” And Mama had said Bonnie was too young for nail polish. So all Bonnie could do was look at Mimi’s brightly colored toes and wait to grow up.
Since Saturday was housecleaning day, Mimi wore a flowery full-length apron. As she talked to the man on her porch, Mimi crossed her arms under the bottom of the apron as though her arms were cold and covering them with the cloth of her apron might help warm them.
Bonnie couldn’t hear any of the conversation, but from the bright red splotches of color on her friend’s cheeks Bonnie knew that Mimi was angry. So was the man. He waved his arms. His face turned red. And every time he stopped talking, all Mimi did was shake her head. Whatever the man wanted, Mimi’s answer was no.
One of the car doors opened and another woman stepped out. This one looked familiar. Bonnie thought she might have seen the woman before, coming to the house with a vase of flowers or maybe a covered dish for supper. Bonnie had seen Mimi’s mother occasionally. The woman was old and sick. Sometimes she was in a wheelchair, but mostly she stayed in bed. Mimi worked in an office all day. The rest of the time she was at home taking care of her mother.
As the second woman walked toward the porch, she opened her purse, reached inside, and pulled something out. Only when the sun glinted off the blade did Bonnie realize it was a knife. That seemed odd. Most of the women Bonnie knew used their purses to carry lipstick and hankies and compacts and change purses. Never a knife.
Why a knife? What was going on?
The woman stepped up onto the porch beside the man. She looked angry, too. Bonnie wondered what was wrong. Why were those two people yelling at Mimi? Bonnie didn’t have to hear the words to know they were saying mean and nasty things. At last Mimi turned and started to go inside. That’s when the man reached out and grabbed her. Catching her by the arm, he pulled her off the back porch.
Bonnie watched in horror as Mimi fell all the way to the sidewalk, where she lay still for a moment, as though the force of the fall had knocked the wind out of her. Bonnie knew how that felt. The same thing had happened to her once when she had fallen out of the apple tree.
Then, instead of helping Mimi up, the man dropped on top of her, with his knee in her stomach. There was a brief struggle. The man seemed to be hitting her. The woman was standing in the way, so Bonnie couldn’t see everything that happened. She wanted to scream out at him, “Stop! Stop! You’re hurting her.” But her voice froze in her throat. The words wouldn’t come.
At last the woman reached down and helped the man up. The two of them stood there for a moment, looking down at Mimi. Even from where she was standing, Bonnie could see that the man’s hands were bloody. So was his shirt. After a moment, the man and woman hurried into the house, closing the door behind them and leaving Mimi lying on the sidewalk.”
RATING:
5 stars.
STARTED-FINISHED
3/3/2024-3/9/2024
November 9, 2013
I love this series. The character development has been wonderful to chart over the 18 books Jance has written about Beaumont. I actually thought she was done with this series, so was pleasantly shocked when this crossed my desk to be cataloged a couple of months ago. Of course I reserved it right away.
One of the off-putting parts of long-term series is that the characters don't seem to age, but they move through time rather fluidly. They age with each book (so Beau is probably 6-10 years older than he was a the beginning of the series), but time goes speeding past them. So we readers have had to wait 20 years to go from typewriters and extensive hands-on searches in the government records departments, while Beau has only had to wait those 6-10 years. Weird. The only author I'm aware of who deals with this in 'real time' is Sue Grafton, whose Kinsey Millhone stories find her aging properly in the 1980s, still plodding through microfilm and paper records, nary a http:// in sight.
But anyway, in this book Beau finally exorcises the ghost of his second wife, the wacky Anne. The Jag she gave him is laid to rest, not through choices he makes, but he finally sees the reality of keeping it going would be counter-productive. The case he's working on relies on 'recovered memory' from a 60ish nun who has suddenly rediscovered the knowledge that she witnessed a murder when she was 4 or 5. Finding out the victim and likely killers isn't difficult, but trying to understand why more bodies are turning up now is a bit more challenging. It's not exactly microsurgery to figure out the plot points, but it is a joy to watch Beau trying to protect both his old partner and his new one from his "curse" of endangering anyone who works with him.
His old partner is in the midst of trying to prove his innocence when his first wife is found murdered after stirring up the custody issue in his family. While we are sure from the start that Ron could easily--and cheerfully--have killed her, we know he didn't. So why does all the evidence point to his involvement? Well, the answer involves the same themes as the 50-year-old murder: jealousy, greed, and general meanness and secret-keeping.
Good book. Can't wait for the next one....
One of the off-putting parts of long-term series is that the characters don't seem to age, but they move through time rather fluidly. They age with each book (so Beau is probably 6-10 years older than he was a the beginning of the series), but time goes speeding past them. So we readers have had to wait 20 years to go from typewriters and extensive hands-on searches in the government records departments, while Beau has only had to wait those 6-10 years. Weird. The only author I'm aware of who deals with this in 'real time' is Sue Grafton, whose Kinsey Millhone stories find her aging properly in the 1980s, still plodding through microfilm and paper records, nary a http:// in sight.
But anyway, in this book Beau finally exorcises the ghost of his second wife, the wacky Anne. The Jag she gave him is laid to rest, not through choices he makes, but he finally sees the reality of keeping it going would be counter-productive. The case he's working on relies on 'recovered memory' from a 60ish nun who has suddenly rediscovered the knowledge that she witnessed a murder when she was 4 or 5. Finding out the victim and likely killers isn't difficult, but trying to understand why more bodies are turning up now is a bit more challenging. It's not exactly microsurgery to figure out the plot points, but it is a joy to watch Beau trying to protect both his old partner and his new one from his "curse" of endangering anyone who works with him.
His old partner is in the midst of trying to prove his innocence when his first wife is found murdered after stirring up the custody issue in his family. While we are sure from the start that Ron could easily--and cheerfully--have killed her, we know he didn't. So why does all the evidence point to his involvement? Well, the answer involves the same themes as the 50-year-old murder: jealousy, greed, and general meanness and secret-keeping.
Good book. Can't wait for the next one....
January 29, 2011
I had been reading Jance's Joanna Brady series for a while before I discovered her Seattle detective J. P. Beaumont. It took a bit though for Beaumont to grow on me; now I like him almost as much as Brady.
How many fictional detectives are recovering alcholics? It seems to me there are quite a few, and Beaumont is yet another AA member in good standing. He has also suffered through tragedies such as the shooting death of his female partner and the "death by cop" of his last wife on their wedding day. He was raised by his grandmother who is still "the" woman in his life even though she has married his AA sponsor. Enough drama? Beaumont thinks so and has remained single and partnerless for a while.
Long Time Gone begins with a five year old girl, home alone, who witnesses the murder of the nice lady next door. The woman is stabbed multiple times in the driveway and after the little girl hides until she is certain the murderers are gone, she returns to the window to see that the body and the blood are gone. Then we jump to years later when she is an adult, a nun, and suddenly is waking up screaming in the night. She is mother superior of a convent and her nuns are anxious for her sanity.
Not only is Beaumont drawn into that cold case, his best friend Ron Peters and his family are undergoing tension that threatens to pull them apart. When both Peters and one of his daughters come to Beaumont for advice and help, he can't help being involved in their problems.
For a loner, Beaumont ends up being so involved with these two issues that he has trouble even finding time for his grandmother who is ill. This is hard for him to handle but the story is fun for the reader to attempt to figure out. As I said, Beau has grown on me so I enjoyed this adventure into relationships for him. I don't worry about him falling off the wagon anymore; he seems quite comfortable as a nondrinker now and ready for a new relationship. Since this book is five years old, I see I have some fun ahead catching up.
I recommend this one. Even if you haven't cared for Beau in the past, give it a try.
How many fictional detectives are recovering alcholics? It seems to me there are quite a few, and Beaumont is yet another AA member in good standing. He has also suffered through tragedies such as the shooting death of his female partner and the "death by cop" of his last wife on their wedding day. He was raised by his grandmother who is still "the" woman in his life even though she has married his AA sponsor. Enough drama? Beaumont thinks so and has remained single and partnerless for a while.
Long Time Gone begins with a five year old girl, home alone, who witnesses the murder of the nice lady next door. The woman is stabbed multiple times in the driveway and after the little girl hides until she is certain the murderers are gone, she returns to the window to see that the body and the blood are gone. Then we jump to years later when she is an adult, a nun, and suddenly is waking up screaming in the night. She is mother superior of a convent and her nuns are anxious for her sanity.
Not only is Beaumont drawn into that cold case, his best friend Ron Peters and his family are undergoing tension that threatens to pull them apart. When both Peters and one of his daughters come to Beaumont for advice and help, he can't help being involved in their problems.
For a loner, Beaumont ends up being so involved with these two issues that he has trouble even finding time for his grandmother who is ill. This is hard for him to handle but the story is fun for the reader to attempt to figure out. As I said, Beau has grown on me so I enjoyed this adventure into relationships for him. I don't worry about him falling off the wagon anymore; he seems quite comfortable as a nondrinker now and ready for a new relationship. Since this book is five years old, I see I have some fun ahead catching up.
I recommend this one. Even if you haven't cared for Beau in the past, give it a try.
November 20, 2008
I picked up a handful of pocketbooks at the clubhouse last week when JoanEllen & I went over for the annual Barbara Chicken dinner, and I made the mistake of sticking my nose in this one one morning – and had to finish it before I could continue to do the things that had to be done that day; actually, I read several chapters, stopped to do something, came back to read another few chapters, etc. I never had heard of J.A. Jance, but I am happy to report that she is one great writer. The characters and dialog are great (doubly so because I had made the mistake of spending most of the previous day reading Amanda Quick’s The Third Circle), the writing is crisp, and the plot is extremely complex around simple things, which is just what I like best. The book starts with a prologue in which a 5-year-old girl witnesses a friend of hers being murdered. The plot is that she represses this until fifty years later, when she starts to have bad dreams. By happenstance, she has a friend who is a hypnotist, who uses time regression to help her remember what’s bothering her, and they then dump the problem in the lap of the protagonist, a former Seattle policeman now working for the Washington State Attorney’s Special Homicide Investigation Team, impolitely called the SHIT squad. Investigator Beaumont (called Beau by his friends) also gets involved in an investigation of the vicious murder of the ex-wife of his best friend, whom the police are happy to consider their chief suspect, and by the time the book ends, with both crimes being solved very neatly once you thread through all the twists and turns, the bodies are piled up on all sides and Beau has found a new love. This is a terrific book, and I definitely will be looking for more novels by J.A. Jance. (I later found out that there is a series of novels about J.P. Beaumont.)
October 6, 2007
The kind of enjoyable mystery/thriller I was looking for. Such books are diversions from heavier reading and busy life. Having done my fix of Harold Adams, I was ready to find a detective to enjoy in Carl Wilcox’ stead (no sign of him in nearly seven years), and since Thomas Perry has seemed to abandon Jane Whitefield, I was looking for someone to join James Sallis’ thoughtful protagonists. Beau, J.P. Beaumont, retired Seattle P.D. officer now working for the state attorney’s office, proves to be that detective. Here, he is involved in two cases. One is the one he’s assigned, the murder recalled under hypnosis by a former high school classmate of his turned convent Mother Superior. Fifty years later, the case is very cold until she comes forth. The other case is one in which a good friend and former partner of Beau’s, Ron Peters, appears to be the prime suspect in Peters’ ex-wife’s murder. Conflict of interest prevents Beau from participating in this one, but friendship supersedes direct orders to stay out of it. In both cases, Beau ends up working with fellow investigator Melissa Soames, and the loner Beau re-considers having a partner as a result. They make a good pair. Beau himself is human, with a background that includes his previous employer, two former wives, some bad habits and times, and more. He ends up being a thoughtful, compassionate man doing a tough job with insight and feelings. The combination works in him and helps him with the cases. This is a good read. Beau is especially well fleshed-out, but the other characters are three dimensional, even the teenagers. The plot line is fun, with just the right amount of clues to keep the reader investigating alongside Beau, and a pace that keeps things moving. Ms Jance, I’ll be back!
July 23, 2009
This was the Branigan BookClub selection for December 2005.
LONG TIME GONE, Jance's 17th Jonas Piedmont Beaumont novel has Beau trying to sort out a number of disturbing cases. First, there is the middle aged nun who, in hypnotherapy recalls a gruseome murder she witnesseed as a 5 year old. Then, Beau's old partner, in a nasty child custody fight with his ex-wife is fingered as the chief suspect in her vicious murder. As if that were not enough, someone in the Seattle PD is obstructing Beau's investigations and soon is trying to kill him, and he feels an intensely distracting attraction to Melissa Soames, his new colleague in the WA State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team. But then, if things were easy and smooth for characters in books, who would bother to read them?!
I gave this one three stars not because of any glaring flaws, it's just a bit like so many other thrillers, or if you prefer, suspense novels. It's good, but I'd balk at calling it great. I will admit, though, that that might be because I am reviewing it based on a short skim through 3 years plus after I read it the first time.
--Mark Pendleton
http://chile.las-cruces.org/search/t?...
LONG TIME GONE, Jance's 17th Jonas Piedmont Beaumont novel has Beau trying to sort out a number of disturbing cases. First, there is the middle aged nun who, in hypnotherapy recalls a gruseome murder she witnesseed as a 5 year old. Then, Beau's old partner, in a nasty child custody fight with his ex-wife is fingered as the chief suspect in her vicious murder. As if that were not enough, someone in the Seattle PD is obstructing Beau's investigations and soon is trying to kill him, and he feels an intensely distracting attraction to Melissa Soames, his new colleague in the WA State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team. But then, if things were easy and smooth for characters in books, who would bother to read them?!
I gave this one three stars not because of any glaring flaws, it's just a bit like so many other thrillers, or if you prefer, suspense novels. It's good, but I'd balk at calling it great. I will admit, though, that that might be because I am reviewing it based on a short skim through 3 years plus after I read it the first time.
--Mark Pendleton
http://chile.las-cruces.org/search/t?...
May 20, 2014
I really need to go back and start from the beginning with this character. I know I've read a book with J.P. Beaumont before and really enjoyed it. I liked this one a lot too. I actually stayed up til midnight last night finishing it even though I had to be up for work at 5am!
I say that I need to read these in order because the author alludes to former wives and partners which makes me want to know more about those past histories. I found it doesn't detract too much from the overall story to throw them in and with this novel you didn't HAVE to read the last one to figure out what was going on.
I liked all of the characters and how they interacted. They seemed believable. The only part I didn't like was how Jance seemed to take some liberties with Beaumont's abilities as a detective. Early on he makes a pretty big assumption as to the identity of Mimi with no proof to back it up. Turns out he was right but what if he had been barking up the wrong tree? The ending seemed to go a little too quickly as well, as if Jance just wanted to wrap things up and call it a day. And it ticks me off when I know who the bad person is but it takes a while for the detective to catch up. Still it was an enjoyable easy read.
I say that I need to read these in order because the author alludes to former wives and partners which makes me want to know more about those past histories. I found it doesn't detract too much from the overall story to throw them in and with this novel you didn't HAVE to read the last one to figure out what was going on.
I liked all of the characters and how they interacted. They seemed believable. The only part I didn't like was how Jance seemed to take some liberties with Beaumont's abilities as a detective. Early on he makes a pretty big assumption as to the identity of Mimi with no proof to back it up. Turns out he was right but what if he had been barking up the wrong tree? The ending seemed to go a little too quickly as well, as if Jance just wanted to wrap things up and call it a day. And it ticks me off when I know who the bad person is but it takes a while for the detective to catch up. Still it was an enjoyable easy read.
February 12, 2008
Book Review:Beaumont has finally retired from the Seattle Police Department. The author's been toying with what to have him do next, but for the moment he works as an investigator for the State Attorney General, as part of the Special Homicide Investigation Team. I'll let you work out the acronym on your own. This is a family website. Needless to say the book is replete with jokes about this, and it's pretty fun. Two mysteries run through the plot, not exactly connecting but crossing one another in "Beau" Beaumont's mind. On the one hand there's the case he's supposed to be investigating, involving a middle-aged nun who thinks now that she saw, and suppressed the memory of, a murder fifty years ago. On the other hand, there's the case he's *not* supposed to be investigating, in which his friend, wheelchair-bound Ron Peters, is suspected of killing his ex-wife in a custody dispute involving their 15-year old daughter.
My review: She is so good at character development and scene building that I always feel I'm right there in person. I'm especially fond of the Beaumont Series in Seattle.
My review: She is so good at character development and scene building that I always feel I'm right there in person. I'm especially fond of the Beaumont Series in Seattle.
August 27, 2007
LONG TIME GONE (Police Procedural-Seattle-Cont) – G+
Jance, J.A. – 17th in series
Morrow, 2005-Hardcover
J.P. Beaumont is now a member of the Special Homicide Investigation Team, ignominiously known as the SHIT squad, and has two cases to solve. First is a nun who, through hypnotherapy, remembers witnessing a murder 50 years ago. Second, and very personal, the ex-wife of his former partner and best friend, Ron Peters, is murdered and the initial evidence points to Ron.
*** Jance has given Beaumont two, distinct cases to be solved and it's done cleanly and without confusion. Favorite characters from the past are there and I particularly like the way Jance handles the passage of time in their lives. The cases are interesting with good suspense and twists along the way. I would like the dialogue to have been a bit more crisp, but that's a small complaint. I've missed J.P. and am glad to see him back. If you've not read the series, definitely start with the first. If, as I am, you're a fan, you'll definitely enjoy this new entry.
Jance, J.A. – 17th in series
Morrow, 2005-Hardcover
J.P. Beaumont is now a member of the Special Homicide Investigation Team, ignominiously known as the SHIT squad, and has two cases to solve. First is a nun who, through hypnotherapy, remembers witnessing a murder 50 years ago. Second, and very personal, the ex-wife of his former partner and best friend, Ron Peters, is murdered and the initial evidence points to Ron.
*** Jance has given Beaumont two, distinct cases to be solved and it's done cleanly and without confusion. Favorite characters from the past are there and I particularly like the way Jance handles the passage of time in their lives. The cases are interesting with good suspense and twists along the way. I would like the dialogue to have been a bit more crisp, but that's a small complaint. I've missed J.P. and am glad to see him back. If you've not read the series, definitely start with the first. If, as I am, you're a fan, you'll definitely enjoy this new entry.
March 15, 2011
It's been a while since I've read one of Jance's Beaumont novels, and this one made me wonder why that is. I used to consume them like candy. I've always preferred Beaumont to the Joanna Brady series. Beau has left the Seattle PD and moved to the state AG's special homicide investigative unit, but he still has to deal with the PD politics. He's working two cases in this outing, one a 50 year old cold case, the other a murder in which his former partner is a suspect.
One of the things I always enjoyed about this series was the way Jance almost makes Seattle a character in the books. That's the case again in this book, with the extra added attraction that I have more familiarity with the locations since we moved to the area. And yes, we really do disdain umbrellas, drive like idiots on the rare occasion that we actually have snow, and try to stay off the roads entirely on sunny days because of the distraction of Mt. Rainier coming out to play and show itself off in the sunlight (to say nothing of causing snow blindness).
One of the things I always enjoyed about this series was the way Jance almost makes Seattle a character in the books. That's the case again in this book, with the extra added attraction that I have more familiarity with the locations since we moved to the area. And yes, we really do disdain umbrellas, drive like idiots on the rare occasion that we actually have snow, and try to stay off the roads entirely on sunny days because of the distraction of Mt. Rainier coming out to play and show itself off in the sunlight (to say nothing of causing snow blindness).
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