Customer Reviews

Justice Denied (Unabridged, Unabridged)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It seems that there is more time between installments of the J.P. Beaumont series than there used to be but, as usual, this book is worth the wait. J.P. is given a top-secret special assignment by his boss which involves the murder of an ex-con who had been released from jail when DNA evidence exonerated him. Meanwhile his live-in girlfriend, Mel, has been given her own assignment in investigating released prisoners who have died under suspicious circumstances. Things get tense when J.P. is forced to keep his case a secret from Mel and their relationship goes through its ups and downs in this book. J.A. Jance is a master at constructing plots and she also excels at tying up all the loose ends at the climax of her novels. It also amazes me how a female author gets into the mind of her male lead character and makes him so believable. Hopefully, this long-running series will continue for many more years.

My favorite of all of Jance's books are the Beaumont series, but this was not very entertaining. It read like the end of the career of J P Beaumont. There was a lot of back history of the family and not very much action. I had the feeling that the author was trying to put an end to this series.

First of all I want to say that I have met J A Jance in the author/reader book signing and reading events. I had the opportunity to speak with her at length at a Walden Books store when she was autographing her poetry book. She is a real person and it was a pleasure to talk with her and perhaps one of the reasons I am a #1 fan of all Jance's novels. Having lived in Seattle (1970-2002) I read the books and visualize the area, the restaurants from the Doghouse to the El Gaucho and fisherman's terminal, and the freeways and the commutes. I can tell you that inside knowledge adds to the charm of the novels but it is not necessary to get caught up in the motion, the characters, the developments of the story line. I am so tickled that Beau and Mel have finally made it official and I cheered that they got married in Vegas and Mel's wedding gift brings tears to the eyes. The story lines in this one are quite intricate and there are many threads that come together in a believable way. I was totally hooked from the beginning and I was very satisfied in the way it all came together. This was a very satisfying novel and I give it a very definite 5 stars. J A Jance has done it again. Thank you.

I spent the ususal day reading this book. OInce I start I
cannot put one of J.A, Jances books down.
This is an involved mystery, full of twists, tuns and unsuspected
suspects.
First of all I enjoy J.P.BEaumonts asides and thoughts. This time
he gets himself in trouble with his partner (lady friend) by his
sexist macho reactions. And you laugh.
I enjoy the Beaumont series thoroughly and even tho there is a great
deal going on, you never get lost. Confused, but not lost.
A very FUN read.

disappoint....on the contrary, I find this series is getting better and better as it ages (like fine wine-only smoother!). And I have to say how happy I am to feel this way. I have been discovering that far too many of my "used to be favorite authors" just can't seem to maintain the superior story lines, strength in the characters, etc. for very long (meaning the author's talent peters out early - with the books becoming tedious, boring and mundane). Ms. Jance has not only maintained J.P. Beaumont and friends with strength and dignity, but try her other two series and I have no doubt you, too, will be hooked.

Back to Justice Denied for just a moment...I loved it, couldn't put it down til the end and now I pant for my next dose of Beau!!! Susan

J. P. Beaumont has been given a top-secret special assignment by his boss to look into the murder of an ex-con released when DNA evidence proved him innocent. Mel, J.P.'s live-in girlfriend and partner, has been given an assignment to investigate released sex offenders who have died under suspicious circumstances. Life at home gets very tense when J. P. has to keep his investigation from Mel.

Soon their cases collide and there are lots of strains put on their relationship as well. Can they untangle the web of these deaths and put things right at home as well?

There was a point I didn't like this series as much as I used to. That has long since passed. This series just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait for the next book. Unfortunately since she writes three series, it'll be a bit of a wait. Luckily I like the other two series as well.

J. P. Beaumont has really grown over the years. I'm glad. I didn't like it when he was an alcoholic. He has gotten his life together and his family as well. I really like Mel and hope that she will be around for quite a while. I can't wait to see where this series goes next!

I highly recommend this book and series as well as her other two series, too.

J. P. Beaumont earned his stripes as a Seattle cop. He didn't always follow the rules and often succeeded in pushing the buttons of his command officers long before he retired. Washington State's Attorney General has found his unorthodox approach to law enforcement exactly what he's looking for to chase down the bad guys --- especially the ones who thought they got away.

When a recently released prisoner, cleared of all charges in a robbery, is cold-bloodedly gunned down in his aged mother's living room, the Attorney General takes a special interest in the case. He asks J. P. to investigate the killing but requests that it be kept quiet from local law enforcement. He also asks J. P. not to tell his own partner, or partner plus, the lovely Mel Soames. Since the two are now living together, this proves difficult, especially when the circumstances of the young man's murder and a cold case investigation into a serial killer that Mel is working on seem to intertwine.

When Mel uncovers the fact that several of the men convicted in sexual abuse crimes are dying at an abnormal rate after being released from prison, suspicion arises that may involve Mel's pet charity, a support group for abused women. As J. P. begins to suspect some of them of being involved in a crime, possibly murder, his relationship with Mel becomes strained.

In another case, Mel encounters a missing accountant who disappeared on the same day Mount Saint Helen's blew up, presumably lost in the volcanic eruption. Is his disappearance related to the serial killers instead of an accident?

As Mel and J. P. gradually cross paths in their separate investigations, they begin to work together in one of the most complicated mysteries in J. P.'s career.

J. A. Jance is fond of creating mischievous acronyms and naming characters after actual people, places and things. When J. P. joined the Special Homicide Investigation Team in the Attorney General's office (you can supply the short name), she poked fun at the government's propensity for cumbersome names and the bad habit of calling them by their acronyms. Two of her continuing characters are named (tongue planted firmly in cheek) Harry I. Ball and Kendall Jackson.

At one point in Jance's career, she would auction off at Seattle charity auctions the naming of characters by giving the highest bidder a role in her next book. The winner never knew if he or she would be a good guy or bad guy, but it was worth big dollars to Jance's pet charities to wind up between the pages of a J. P. Beaumont mystery. Whether Kendall Jackson, the winery, was the winner in one of those auctions is anybody's guess, but Lt. Jackson continues regularly in the series.

JUSTICE DENIED is rife with red herrings and plot twists and turns, and offers a full accounting of J. P.'s rather dysfunctional extended family. It's a fun summer read, and some niggling family issues will be resolved for fans along with all the bad guys getting what they deserve.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea

I wait for the Beaumont novels by J.A. Jance. I like them better than the Brady novels, maybe partly because I live in the Seattle area and the places in this area that are portrayed are very real. Maybe partly because J.P. Beaumont has always seemed to have more depth to his character than Brady. This book, however, seemed contrived. I couldn't believe everything was dovetailing so neatly between what J.P was supposed to do and what Mel was assigned to do. The murders seemed unlikely to have occurred as they did and most of the characters seemed unlikeable as well as unlikely. I'll still get the next one in the series but I think this one misses the mark.

I am a J.A. Janice fan, I own all of her books. This was a let down, too much backstory and not enough of what we expect from J.P Beaumont. Mel is a terrific partner, but the story read as this is the end of the series. The death of Beverly Jenssen, Beau's grandmother and the funeral events seem contrived to catch everyone up on his family to fill pages for a story gone dry and contributed nothing to the plot.
Twisted around all the biography is an intricate tale that melds three story lines together in smooth police work with lots of help by other Beaumont series characters, but without their former exuberant personalities being exposed. Fair ending to a good series.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Sins of the Fathers."

Ms. Jance outdid herself with this one.Very fast read. Couldn't put it down. When you read her novels, you feel as though you are right there solving the mystery. You can tell she has lived in the cities she writes about.