Long Time Gone

J.A. Jance

January in Seattle isn't pretty. J.P. Beaumont has just returned from vacation in Hawaii. It's snowing, cold, and wet. To make it worse, his best friend, Ron Peters, is suspected of killing his ex-wife in Tacoma. She was suing for custody of their younger daughter, 15-year-old Heather. Within days of Ron receiving the papers, his ex-wife is found dead in Tacoma.

Washington State's Special Homicide Investigation Team is called in on the case because Ron is a policeman for Seattle. But Beau has to stay away from the case. He is ordered to stay away from the Peters family until the case is settled, but he can't do that. He is too good of a friend of the family.

Beau is assigned to a 50-year-old cold case. A nun has childhood memories of witnessing a murder. When Beau tries to investigate roadblocks get thrown in his way both from the people who are still alive but may have been involved and from the Seattle Police, especially the captain of his old homicide division. When those same involved people start dying, Beau knows that the murder 50 years earlier still affects people today. He now has to find out who and why.

This is another of J.A. Jance's novels that I had trouble putting down once I started reading. Having read all the other books in the series, I'm invested in the characters. Having Ron Peters as a suspect is a magnet. It also seems to be my year for reading "cold case" novels. Jance has done a good job with this one. Beau's reluctance to pursue it is realistic, as is his doggedness once he accepts the assignment.

I like the fact that Jance has dealt with the passing years in Long Time Gone. Heather and her older sister Tracy are teenagers now. Beau begins to consider early retirement (he can afford it) by the end of the book. I was in Seattle this past January during a snowstorm. I had vivid pictures of the pictures drawn when Jance describes Seattle in a snow storm. We slid on the black ice more than once, too...

Until Proven Guilty
Injustice For All
Trial by Fury
Taking the Fifth
Improbable Cause
A More Perfect Union
Dismissed With Prejudice
Minor in Possession
Payment in Kind
Without Due Process
Failure to Appear
Lying in Wait
Name Withheld
Breach of Duty
Birds of Prey
Partner in Crime with Joanna Brady
Long Time Gone
Justice Denied
Fire and Ice with Joanna Brady
Betrayal of Trust

Pepper Pike by Les Roberts