J.A. Jance: Birds of Prey

William Morrow & Co. (Hardcover), ISBN 038097407X

As a reader of mystery series, I view the arrival of a new book in a favorite series like a visit from an old friend. I experienced that feeling again when I opened the newest mystery by J.A. Jance, Birds of Prey. My dear friend J.P. Beaumont just dropped in for a visit.

As a Seattle resident, I cherish a strong attachment to all of the J.P. Beaumont mysteries. At one time, I worked in the same building where Beaumont lives, right across the alley from the Labor Temple at the north edge of downtown. I feel a connection to this man. Hence, I opened the latest installment in Beau’s life with great anticipation. When I last saw my favorite Seattle PD detective, he’d just quit his decade’s old job. Considered himself a jinx to his partners. Where in the world would his life lead him next?

To Alaska, apparently, to take a cruise with his grandmother and her new husband. From the opening chapter, it appears that the birds of the book’s title refer to the group of women at Beau’s dinner table. The first night at dinner called to my mind a vision of throwing fresh meat into a shark tank. Poor Beau, accused of being something he isn’t just because he’s handsome and light on his feet.

Now one would think that in the middle of the Inside Passage, Beaumont would certainly get a true vacation. But when one of the four women at his table falls overboard, Beau finds himself back on the job. The fall, caught on the ship’s security cameras, appears to be no accident. Beau’s only witness: an Alzheimer’s patient who does nothing but sit in his cabin and watch the views from the ship’s cameras on television.

While Beau investigates the murder of his dinner companion, he discovers more predators aboard than he previously thought. People prey on others for the sake of money, prestige or religious fervor. The deeper he digs, the stranger it gets.

Jance brings to this out-of-town mystery beautifully crafted tension mixed with wonderfully drawn characters and sly humor. Over the course of 14 novels, she sent Beau through some of life’s biggest hurdles: marriage, death of loved ones, alcoholism and recovery. With the aid of Jance’s skillful writing, Beau saw a lot, lived through a lot. He emerges as human and real as all of her characters. Occasionally I expect to walk down the streets of downtown Seattle and see him behind the wheel of his Porsche or walking from his condo to the courthouse.

In Birds of Prey, the 15th J.P. Beaumont mystery, J.A. Jance puts up more hurdles for my favorite detective, and Beau clears them like a pro. I hope he comes to visit again soon, and once you meet him, you will too.

Jenny Buehler

Jenny always keeps her irons in many creative fires, from arranging music for and singing with the a cappella trio Bodacious Ladyhood to performing in the Seattle theater community to writing short stories, working on a novel or two and making the occasional wedding cake for friends. Even she wonders how she finds time for a day job.