Her stars Beaumont & Brady united in Jance fan club Dream!Think how much fun it would be if Grafton's Kinsey Millhone went to visit Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski and they solved a crime together. Jance has done it with her two leading characters! After 15 Seattle-based (Jance's home) Detective-extraordinaire J.P Beaumont stories, and 9 Arizona-based (Jance's former home) feisty Sheriff Joanna Brady stories, our author has brought the two crime solvers together in a suspenseful and complex plot spanning both locales, with most of the action in Bisbee AZ. Early on, "Rochelle Baxter", an aspiring Bisbee artist getting ready for her first exhibit, suddenly turns up dead. As Sheriff Brady's team deploys, before long foul play is suspected. Soon it turns out Baxter is really Latisha Wall, in the witness protection program of the Washington State Attorney General. Enter Beaumont, who is now a member of the AG's special homicide team - he's sent to "observe" the proceedings in Bisbee and protect the interests of the Washington case. Of course, this goes over like a cement cloud with the whole Brady team and at first the hostilities between Jance's co-stars are pretty hilarious. Then as the investigations proceed, and another murder crops up, together with some sinister implications of a mole having led to the witness to begin with, Brady and Beaumont unite out of mutual respect and form an effective team. Some rather surprising developments at the end of the book, including a moment of pretty high romantic tension between our two leads, is plenty to keep even the skeptics entertained and turning pages rapidly throughout.As icing on the cake, Beaumont's brief marriage to a woman hailing originally from (coincidentally) Bisbee is discussed and illuminated in considerable detail as a very intriguing human-interest sub-plot. Reprised from Jance's (and Beaumont's) "Until Proven Guilty" is Anne Rowland Corley. In "Partners", we get to learn all the background of this fascinating and unusual woman and what lead to the deaths she caused, including her own.As yet another gem, the murder "weapon" turns out to be sodium azide, a horrible and deadly poison found in unexploded car air bags. Jance uses her story to lobby for controlling this substance, which at the moment is totally uncontrolled and hence readily available for acts of terror. She doesn't beat us over the head with this issue, but does create a compelling case for action, with a short plea in an "Author's Note" as an afterward that gets our attention. We think this is one of Jance's greatest efforts. The only worry is that it looks a little like a swan song, bringing together her great stars, her great locales, and weaving a story hard to put down. Little wonder we hail this as a dream gift to the Jance fan club, which must number in legions anyway! Those that haven't spent 24 or so books rev'ing up for this one may not be quite as enthused, but we suspect we speak for those same legions in telling Jance thank you again and again for this 5-star outing!
Crossover story as former detective J P Beaumont—now a member of the federal Special Homicide Investigation Team—is sent to Bisbee upon the death of an artist in the Witness Protection Program. His job is to find his department’s leak. Sheriff Joanna Brady isn’t at all thrilled when believing the Feds don’t think her department is good enough to solve the case, but short on manpower, eventually accepts his help. Readers of the Beaumont series will no doubt get a kick out of following his exploits in Bisbee.What’s a little different about this story is that Joanna’s series, while following her, is written as third person POV. Beaumont’s—I haven’t read any books in that series—apparently is written in first person. At least I believe so based on his angle being written that way in this story. I found that somewhat jerky, jumping back and forth between the styles.We do get what’s going on in the personal lives of both main characters. At his request, Joanna digs up information on Beaumont’s wife of one day who’d been a vigilante killer who grew up in Bisbee for a time. An uncomfortable scene is provided when Joanna and Beaumont are attracted to the other and need to put the brakes on to prevent anything from happening. Readers might not be too happy with her, but I guess it makes her seem more human, and out of it, she does have a better appreciation for what she does have. I can say that while I enjoyed the story, the mystery and the characters we’ve come to know, it’s probably my least favorite of the series which I’ve been reading back-to-back. I think I would have enjoyed it more if Beaumont’s character had been told in the third person like the rest of the story. Unlike Beaumont readers, I had no vested interest in his history.
What do You think about Partner In Crime (2003)?
Imagine two of JA Jance's popular main characters joining forces to solve not one but two murder crimes. When aspiring artist Rochelle Baxter turned up dead one day before her gallery showing, Special Homicide detective JP "Beau" Beaumont was sent to oversee the situation. Sheriff Joanna Brady, of course, was insulted and hurt by the procedure mandated by Washington State, until it was discovered that the murder victim was actually Latisha Walls, a whistle-blower who was under the Witness Protection Program. Joanna, on the other hand, had solved crimes way before Beau came to Arizona. She really didn't like it when someone questioned her detective skills. A few days later, Dee, owner of the gallery where Wall's artworks were supposed to have been shown, was found dead. This second murder case finally united the two main characters. Although Beaumont is a seasoned detective, he let Joanna Brady take the limelight for a while and helped her get out of serious trouble. Soon enough, the two started respecting each other, hence partnering on the case with ease and trust. I liked how the main characters held their viewpoints on this collaboration-story. Joanna's viewpoint is narrated by third person while JP Beaumont maintains his first person voice. The writing was flawless, as expected from JA Jance. She introduced a chemical used in air bags and made this a weapon for murder. I think that was a brilliant idea. I also liked how the story lines were expertly intertwined. I wouldn't be surprised if there will be more collaborations between these two characters in the future.
—Ruth Elward
This was an audio book that I wouldn't recommend, unless you really like a dramatized format. The two readers, one male and one female, were just a little over the top. I didn't like their affected voices or accents (the drunk guys were particularly bad). There were even sound effects like burping! The readers also switched off too often. When they were in conversation with each other it was like he said, she said. Ew.I thought that this story just took itself too seriously. There was no humor or even anything very interesting going on. A very formulaic whodunnit. Not my favorite genre to begin with.One thing that did interest me; apparently, the two detectives in this story were the main characters in two separate series by this author, and in this story she brought them together to solve a case. I had never read any of the titles in either series, but for an author to have that option seems rare and is interesting to me.
—Jenifer
This book was not absolutely horrible but I can't think of much good to say about it. I guess there were a few interesting parts, but I never got into the story. I haven't read any other books by J.A. Jance so it is possible I am missing the depth of the characters because this is part of a series, although it seemed like the novel was written so it could stand alone. My major complaint is one of the two main characters: Sheriff Brady. Why is it that any time a woman is law enforcement that she has to snap at everybody and bite their heads off in a demonstration of how tough she is? And why do 90% of men who come into contact with her disrespect her and treat her like she isn't up to the job? I'm not saying this kind of thing doesn't happen, but it is greatly exaggerated all the time. I'm tired of that setting and circumstance and was annoyed by it throughout the book. My second complaint is that the storyline just kind of rolled along. The book was never really boring but it was never really exciting either.
—Keith
