Akron Public Library

The murder of a spouse-abusing dentist who enjoyed inflicting pain has detective J.P. Beaumont looking not for a motive, but for the one person who was finally pushed past the point of endurance.

The Arizona alcohol rehab ranch was no picnic for J.P. Beaumont. First they stuck him in a room with a sleazy, teenage drug dealer named Joey Rothman. Then they sicked the local law on him when the punk was discovered shot dead with Beaumont's own .38. But the party responsible for Joey's early check-out wasn't satisfied with simply framing Beau for murder. Suddenly the Seattle detective faced a choice of fates far more unpleasant than cold turkey:...

J.P. Beaumont's friend has been murdered along with most of his family. He tries to save a man's reputation and find his killers.

The sky above Puget Sound blazes orange, as a burning fishing boat fills the air with acrid smoke . . . and the sickening odor of charred flesh. The terrible death of a Seattle fisherman has raised more questions than answers, opening a Pandora's Box of evil that was kept tightly closed for more than half a century. Now a dark cloud is descending over the dead man's frightened widow, and she must turn for help to an old friend, Detective J.P. Beaumont,...

At first, the cops had little to go on -- a paycheck stub from Starlight Productions, a matchbook from the Edgewater Inn. Oh, and a body. Definitely male and decidedly dead, covered with strange little puncture wounds. Then they showed Beau what they had found in the blackberry bush. A woman's cobalt-blue shoe with a five-inch stiletto heel caked with blood and hair. "We have a bingo," the cop said. Detective J.P. Beaumont had his corpse. He had his...

The Starfire Breeze steams its way north toward the Gulf of Alaska, buffeted by crisp sea winds blowing down from the Arctic. Those on board are seeking peace, relaxation, adventure, escape. But there is no escape in this place of unspoiled natural majesty. Because terror strolls the decks even in the brilliant light of day . . . and death is a conspicuous, unwelcome passenger. Former Seattle policeman J.P. Beaumont-a damaged homicide detective who...

The dead woman was an artist recently arrived from Washington State, cruelly cut down in the early stages of a promising career. Now all that remains of Rochelle Baxter lies on a cold slab in the Cochise County morgue, and Sheriff Joanna Brady knows that murder has once again infected her small desert community. But there is more to this homicide than initially meets the eye and more to the victim, who dies while supposedly under the conscientious...

After more than twenty years of distinguished service with the Seattle Police Department, Jonas Piedmont Beaumont is now working for the Washington State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team or, as it's more commonly referred, the SHIT squad. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. An eyewitness to a fifty-year-old murder has just come forward, and Beau has been hand-picked to lead the investigation. While undergoing hypnotherapy,...

Seattle detective J.P. Beaumont investigates a murder case that intersects with a cold case being pursued by his lover, Mel. The tension levels are high as Beaumont and Mel unravel a conspiracy involving prominent city officials.