J.P. Beaumont Books In Order
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The J.P. Beaumont is a long-running series of books by J.A. Jance. The series began in 1985 with Until Proven Guilty. The books focus on a retired Seattle Police Department Detective named J.P. Beaumont.
She is also the author of the of the Ali Reynolds series that focuses on a former Los Angeles news anchor turned mystery solver, the Sheriff Brandon Walker series, and the Joanna Brady series about an Arizona County Sheriff. There are two books in the J.P. Beaumont series that crossover with the Joanna Brady series. Those books are Partner in Crime and Fire and Ice.
J.A. Jance, the J.A. is short of Judith Anne, was born in South Dakota and grew up in Arizona. She attended the University of Arizona where she earned her bachelor’s degree in education in 1966. She would then earn her Judith master’s in library science in 1970. Her alma matter would award her with an honorary doctorate in the year 2000. Judith worked as a school librarian on a Native American reservation, a teacher, and an insurance agent before becoming an author.
Jance splits her time between Arizona and Seattle. She made the decision to use her initials as her pen name after a publisher told her that disclosing her gender would be a liability if she was writing about a male detective. The name has stuck throughout her career and the numerous books she has written. She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the field of crime fiction by Strand Magazine in 2018.
The first book in the J.P. Beaumont series is Until Proven Guilty. The story sees a little girl who is only five years old, too young to die, who instead has been murdered. The awful crime really shakes J.P. Beaumont as they know it could’ve been their own kid. Now, the determined Seattle homicide detective finds himself obsessed with find the killer and making sure they pay dearly for what they’ve done. The search for the killer leads Beaumont to places that he hadn’t really planned on going, into a dark world of of religious fanaticism, and toward a beautiful, perilous obsession all his own. He’ll soon find out that faith can be dangerous, love can kill, and that he is a target.
The series continues with Injustice for All. The story starts with what is meant to be a restful vacation for J.P. Beaumont, but turns out to be anything but. It starts off like a movie. There is a beautiful blond screaming for help on the beach, a dead man on the ground next to her, and a dashing Homicide detective named J.P. Beaumont arriving to offer kindness and solace to the woman. He soon finds himself in a murderous mix of politics and passion that turns what was meant to be a holiday into a nightmare. The dedicated detective is on the path of a killer who threatens to strike again.
Another great book in the J.P. Beaumont series of books is A More Perfect Union. The tabloids are out with a shocking photo of a woman’s last moments of life. Her look of sheer terror is frozen on the paper as she makes a fatal fall from the upper story of a Seattle skyscraper. Her face is one that will haunt J.P. Beaumont forever and he knows that it was no suicide. He sets out on a hunt for answers and justice, but only finds more death. His search takes him to some dark place where terrible secrets are guarded behind the locked doors of a powerful union that extracts its dues payments in blood.
The fourteenth book in the series and another great book in the series is Breach of Duty. J.P. Beaumont looks around to see that the Seattle that he used to know is disappearing. The city has been replace by coffee shops, art galleries, and hipsters. However, the glam is surface level and underneath the hood it is dirty and caked with blood. Beau and his new partner know this and that fact hits them in the face when they are assigned the murder of an elderly woman torched to death in her bed. The investigation sees them embroiled in a perilous series of events that will leave them and their case shattered. Before this book is over, nothing will be the same for Beau or Seattle.
Partner in Crime is a monumental book in the series at is the first crossover with Jance’s Joanna Brady series. A dead woman on a cold slab in the morgue in Arizona had recently arrived to town from Washington state. Joanna Brady is on the case, but the Washington State Attorney General’s office thinks this investigation is too big for a small-town female law officer to handle. The help they send comes in the form of J.P. Beaumont. Brady resents the intrusion and J.P doesn’t want to be here either, but the two will need each other if they hope to survive and solve this case.
Another crossover event happens in Dance of the Bones which sees Beaumont meet up with Brandon Walker. Sheriff Brandon Walker made an arrest years ago after a prospector was murdered. The alleged killer John Lassiter has been in prison for years, but now is refusing a plea deal to get released early. Now, Lassiter asks Brandon to find the “real” killer and clear his name. His investigation will lead him to a cold case in Seattle and J.P. Beaumont is there to help. The two cases become hot when two young boys go missing. Can the two seasoned cops work together to solve the case before more turn up dead?
The twenty-second book in the series is Sins of the Fathers. J.P. Beaumont is now a former Seattle homicide cop who is enjoying his new reality of retirement. He is doing the morning crossword, playing with his dog, and having lunches with his wife. His retirement is going well until the day that his past comes calling on him. An old acquaintance named Alan Dale shows up on his doorstep asking for help locating his missing daughter. Beaumont knows that he has to help, but this investigation will turn his life upside down. His rough past will look to derail his pleasant present as murder once again enters his life.
Book Series In Order » Characters »
Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Or is there an author or series we don’t have? Let me know!
I am up to book 13 in this series, and I always read them in order as they do reference the previous books.
I am very disappointed that they changed the narrator for the book Breach of Duty.
I admit at first I didn’t like Gene Engene; but he grew on my and now he is J.P.Beaument.
Hello,
Do I need to read these books in order or each book, though a series, can be independent from each other?
Thank you,
Virna
It’s always better to read in order I feel for character/author growth but this series from what I remember when I read it, you could read them independent from each other.
Thank you!