Minor in Possession

J.A. Jance

9/26/2004

J.P Beaumont has been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. He gave in to his friend and lawyer, Ralph Ames, and has entered a rehab ranch in Arizona, away from Seattle. He has made it through the initial withdrawal period from alcohol. Now he is sharing a room with a young man who doesn't really seem as if he is getting rehabbed. Instead Joey, "the punk" appears to still have access to drugs and is in and out of bed with unknown women.

It is family week at the ranch for Beau. His ex-wife, daughter, and son are at the ranch to help him confront his alcohol addiction. After dinner he sees "the punk" kissing his teen age daughter. He stays up past curfew to confront the punk and warn him to stay away from his daughter. He is joined by the father of a fifteen-year-old girl who entered the ranch at the same time as Beau. She is pregnant, and claims it is Joey's baby.

But Joey never returns to the room. Instead his body is found in the flooded river. He had been shot. Now Beau is a suspect. His daughter hates him once again. He has to leave the ranch because they suspect them. In addition to the murder, his lack of police privileges in Arizona, and being a suspect himself, he has to continue the rehab therapy on his own - or not.

Minor in Possession is easy reading with a good mystery. Jance's portrayal of members of a dysfunctional family is poignant. Beau's character matures through the fight of withdrawal from alcohol. It's able to stand alone, but also fits well in with the series.

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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
Long Time Gone
Justice Denied