Customer Reviews

Failure To Appear

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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This is the first book of the series that I read and it hooked me and spurred me on to read the rest of them. Although the author, J.A. Jance is a woman, she writes very convincingly about a male character, J. P. Beaumont. We see the struggle between his personal and his professional life as he is summoned to a Shakespeare Festival where his daughter is pregnant and soon to be married. After his arrival, two actors are murdered and Beaumont uses his professional skills as a policeman to solve the murder while trying to be civil to his prospective son-in-law and his daughter's artsy friends. Beaumont has a wry way of looking at his own foibles which endears him to readers. If you enjoy this book, there are several more in the series.

In "Failure to Appear" lone-wolf Seattle homicide detective J.P. "Beau" Beaumont finds himself a fish out of water surrounded by family in southern Oregon and on the outside of a murder investigation.

Quite often, when a mystery author tries to fit so much of a protagonist's personal life into a book, the plot drags to a halt and the investigation into the crime is treated superficially because the focus is on massive character development. Jance manages to keep things moving at a fast clip and provide a mystery that is as multi-faceted as her lead character's personal difficulties. Beau has a lot to deal with in this book: a daughter who starts out a missing person and winds up pregnant and about to be married, a re-married ex-wife and her husband, a new girlfriend, a murder suspect that awakens painful memories, the siren song of a bottle of MacNaughton's, and a couple police officers out to nail his hide to a wall - not to mention the book's three murder victims or the loved one Beau loses in the course of the investigation.

There are a few nits that could be picked (Oregon vanity plates don't have 8 letters, for instance), but the quality of the rest of the book more than compensates. All in all, a great read.

This was the first Jance book I encountered. I decided to read it because it takes place in the town I live and work in. As much as I enjoyed reading about the places and cities I know well what I really enjoyed was the character of JP Beaumont. He is an ordinary man (a Seattle Cop wih an extraordinarily inherited fortune) who is caught between his work and his family. The characters seem very real and Jance's writing gives them a life and humanity that appeals strongly and makes you really care about them. The story never lets up either and you will find yourself hard pressed to put the book down. I have read every book Jance has written now and she is always on the top of my list of series that I am waiting for the next installment of!

Failure to Appear J.A. Jance does it again in this 11th J.P. Beaumont mystery novel. Unlike most of the previous books, this one starts out, not with a crime, but with a personal mission. Detective Beaumont ("Beau" to his friends and associates) has left his Seattle home area to look for his runaway teenage daughter in an artsy community in Oregon. Of course, as anyone could have expected, violent crime soon intrudes.

For those who are familiar with this series, you can be assured that it is true Jance writing: characters who act like real people; a fast-moving story; plenty of self-deprecating humor; and a sterling protagonist who is all too aware of his not inconsiderable faults.

For those who are not familiar with J.P. Beaumont or Jance's Joanna Brady, who appears in a separate series, you have the pleasure of delightful discovery to look forward to. There are lots of books in this series. I've read 12 so far (and a bunch of the Brady ones, too) and I have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

If you're one who likes to start at the beginning of a series (which I think is not a bad idea with this one, for a number of reasons), the first is "Until Proven Guilty". However, if this isn't important to you, you can't go wrong with this or any of Jance's books, if you're in the mood for a fast-moving mystery novel with a bit more than usual in the way of character development.

I do a lot of reading and I love James Patterson's books but when I found J.A. Jance's books I thought I would give them a try and I have to admit she is the female version of James Patterson. Her books keep you in suspense and have you reading until you get to the end. So far I have gotten the whole J.P. Beaumont series and they are all have you wondering "what's going to happen next." I would recommend her books to anyone that loves to read. Believe me you won't be disappointed, they are one of the best fiction novels I've read in a long time.

Linda

I love every one of JA Jance's novels.The JP Beaumont and Joanna Brady series are my favorites. I have thoroughly been gripped by every one.

Great book by a great author. I love her writing and anyone buying her books needs to look at her website and read the books in order.

J.P. Beaumont is the cop's name and Jance has him writing the story. He is an alcoholic now on the wagon. He is divorced, has two children from their union, one a daughter, Kelly, missing. David Livingston, his ex-wife's present husband calls to tell him where Kelly is and that she is plasnning on getting married. J.P. plans to run down to see her and bring her back with him, despite her being eighteen and hence legally independent. He has a girl friend, she invites herself along and they drive down to Ashland, Oregon. Alexis is a big help, she has friends in town and gets them a room and tickets to some of the plays being presented there through her connections. J.P. runs out on her, finds Kelly-s residence, meets her landlady, they do not get along, then he meets Kelly and finds her pregnant. He had opposed the wedding and hated her fiance without meeting him, now the wedding is a must but he still hates the man. He ignores Alexis, runs into acquaintances and gets involved in murder, not in commission but in its solution. He meets a city cop, again they dislike each other and spar. He meets more people. one a former child porn flick actress and gets a sob story from her. The city cop suspects her of the murders and arrests her. Jance spends all this time in the story so we get to know the cop. He is dumb, conceited, but hard working and accomplishes a lot by going through normal police procedures. When he is working he pays little attention to events outside his case and as Jance shows he fails to catch warning signals until after the fact when it is too late. How he ever solves anything I do not understand, Jance has him acting on facts derived from insufficient evidence.
J.P. breaks the suspects sob story, he suspects her, but continues his investigation, by letting it slide and concentrating on the former porn actress. By concentrating on the actress and accepting the city cop's belief in her guilt, the two cops begin to reach an understanding. But complications appear. In meeting Kelly's landlady he also met her dog. knew its name.In investigating the murders he had enlisted some Seattle help and was send some faxes. J.P. could not see the pictures but one of the faxes commented on a woman connected to one of the characters and she had a dog with the same name as the landlady's dog. Times were juggled, the dogs might be one and the same, J.P. for some reason decided they were the same, spilled his story to the city cop. The city cop, though married, showed his love for the landlady and took J.P. with him to confront her. All the crimes were solved, the daughter was married and J.P. was able to reconnect with Alexis after some huffing and puffing.

I love book series. JA Jance keeps you interested in J.P. Beaumont as a kind of rogue cop. Every book brings a surprising plot with a surprise ending. I'd recommend this to anyone who can take the suspense, because there is always a thriller cliffhanger with lots of adventure and attitude.

I enjoy J.P. Beaumont. He's the total opposite from character Joanna Brady. It's unique to have an author who can do male and female characters. This is a good story.