J.P. Beaumont has always been one of my favorite detectives. J.P. was raised by a single mother who got pregnant at the age of seventeen. J.P’s grandfather, who was immersed in a religion that didn’t tolerate pregnancy before marriage, threw his daughter out of the house and forbade his wife to have any contact with her. J.P.’s mother kept J.P. and raised him on her own. They lived a hard life but in spite of the hardships, J.P. grew up to be a man that made his mother proud. The successful J.P. decided to get in contact with his grandparents and was able to make peace and establish a family with them. In this series with J.P.’s mother and grandfather dead, grandmother and grandson become close. Grandmother asks J.P. to take her to the place where his grandfather wanted his ashes scattered. He does and they have a soul-searching talk on the way.J.P’s police captain resigned to care for his dying wife. J.P.’s partner believes he should be the next police captain while J.P’s grandmother believes he should be police chief but J.P. isn’t interested in either position. Meanwhile J.P.’s partner is stressed out because her no good, no child support paying husband wants visit their child. J.P. is called into the office late one night to meet with a witness. The witness is an American Indian is concerned about something her father told her about the bones discovered in a case J.P. and his partner, Sue Danielson, is working on. The woman told J.P. that there are dire consequences for anyone who has touched the bones as they were moved from their resting place. Bodies are stacking up and J.P. is worried about his partner because she handled the bones. J.P. is concerned about what will happen if his partner’s ex-husband shows up. J.P. tells her about a ceremony that she can participate in that will cleanse her of bad spirits. His partner laughs. The interim police captain removes J.P. and his partner from all but one of the connected cases. J.P. ignores him and continues working on the case. While J.P. is trying to solve the case, his partner’s kid calls him and tells him that his mother has been shot! There is so much going on in this book that it’ll make your head swim and that’s exactly how I like my thrillers.If you’re a fan of the J.P. Beaumont thrillers, you’ll enjoy this one. If you’re not, you’ll become a fan after reading this book.If you’re new to audio books, I recommend reading the printed page rather than listening to it because Gene Engene was not successful in capturing the personalities nor emotions of the characters.
In Breach of Duty, once again, Seattle homicide detective J.P. Beaumont finds himself investigating murders without his supervisor's consent.Beaumont is working two unrelated cases--the death of a retired woman by suspected arson and a grisly Seward Park case involving role-playing gamers acting out games with real human remains. At first, it is thought the Agnes Ferman case was another sad statistic of a person falling asleep smoking in bed, but further investigation of the scene reveals traces of accelerant. For a retired housekeeper and personal nurse, Agnes Ferman has a lot of money stashed away in her garage in an old refrigerator--$300,000. Many of the bills are uncirculated even though they were printed decades ago. Interviewing those closest to Ferman reveals others thought her a mean woman, and everyone seems to have a motive to want her dead, from her sister to her sister-in-law to the rich and powerful Considine family who used to employ Agnes.Warned by the granddaughter of an Indian shaman, J.P. is told that the Seward park bones belong to a dead shaman and anyone handling the bones had better beware of a shaman's curse. The shaman's curse seems to be coming true as one-by-one individuals who handled the bones are suddenly striken very ill or killed. Beaumont fears for the safety of the informant who tipped the police and that of his partner, Sue Danielson, who orginally removed the bones from the park scene.Once again, Jance brings us to Seattle in a gripping tale of murder, blackmail, and mystery. Jance's characters ring true and one can't help but root for Beau as he unravels his latest cases.
What do You think about Breach Of Duty (1999)?
Because I had read some of the later JP Beaumont mysteries, I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen. It was a weird story - there was too much going on and too many references and explanations about Beaumont's life. I guess I prefer the mysteries like Poirot and Miss Marple where there's a straight mystery and not all this background about the character that just slows things down.And Jance never really explains what happens in the mystery behind the Seward Park bones; again, a weird book with too much going on.
—Jenny
Homicide detective J.P. Beaumont is faced with new challenges these days: the murder of a woman who’s been torched to death in her home plus the sudden resignation of respected Captain Larry Powell. Powell’s temporary replacement is a man J.P. can’t stand. Compounding the plot is the discovery of human bones which could be those of a shaman with great powers; powers that could mean disaster for anyone who touches them. And so begins the fourteenth installment in J.A. Jance’s popular series.This is a story about friendship and families; loneliness, love, and revenge. What I love most about Breach of Duty are the many levels of angst, uncertainty, regret, sorrow, and anger portrayed in vividly drawn characters. The threads tied up nicely, but perhaps the most compelling question for me was, did everyone deserve the fate handed to them? Read this excellent book to reach your own conclusions.
—Debra
Enjoyed this fast read. No plot summary here, as you can easily find that elsewhere. I must have idiom OCD, as I found several "off" (to my ear) sayings: grey around the gills (should green around the gills), six ways to Sunday (six ways from Sunday), and one more another reader spotted before I did. I appreciated having traffic patterns and jams as a slightly diminished story-line intrusion, but kind of resent the growing reliance of cell phones (although in one instance it is absolutely pivotal and warranted).
—Nancy
