Review: Partner in Crime

Partner in Crime Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
J. A. Jance
Class/Genre: Mystery Police Procedural
Series: J. P. Beaumont # 16
J. A. Jance writes 2 mystery series. The first stars J. P. Beaumont
who starts out as a Seattle Police Detective. Her second series
stars Joanna Brady. When her husband who is running for Cochise
County Sheriff in Arizona is killed, she runs for sheriff and wins.

Joanne is remarried to Butch and has a 7th grade daughter from her first husband. They live at High Lonesome Ranch but are building a new house.

In this book, she brings the 2 characters together. At first I didn’t like this as there was a lot of tension between the characters, but in the end I think she did a superb job.

Deidre Canfield is an art gallery owner in Bisbee, Arizona. Her gallery is Castle Rock Gallery. Her boyfriend Warren Gibson assists her with the gallery. She has discovered a great artist Rochelle Baxter and is going to have her first showing at her gallery.

The day of the showing Rochelle is found dead. It appears she was violently ill. Poisoning is suspected. When the coroner is notifying next of kin, it is discovered that she was in the Washington State Witness Protection Program. Her real name was Latisha Wall. No other information is forthcoming from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.

Joanna notifies Bobo Jenkins, Rochelle’s boyfriend, of her death. He is very upset when he finds out Deidre still plans to hold the showing that night. He takes off running to the gallery. Joanna follows and calls for backup. Luckily Bobo does not need to be restrained when he is talking to Deidre. He takes the portrait Rochelle had done of him and leaves.

The next day it is discovered that the showing was canceled and no one knows the location of Deidre and Warren are.

Joanna finally gets through to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office and is told that J. P. Beaumont, Special Investigator for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, will be hand carrying the file on Latisha Wald and will be staying to oversee the investigation. This does not get them off on a good foot. Joanna does not like someone watching over their investigation. When she meets J. P., she does not share any information with him.

He gets quite upset. So he ends up talking to various people in town and finding out most of the pertinent data about the investigation. He starts showing up at the most inopportune times for Joanna. Finally she agrees to have him assist them.

I like where J. A. Jance is taking Joanna and J. P. in their respective series. I think they each have a great base to continue building on. It was interesting to see the 2 characters interact, but I think they are better in their separate series.

I like the settings in Arizona. I like the small town sheriff’s office and all its problems/politics. It is very true to what I believe a small town sheriff’s office would be like.

I also liked this book because it brought to light a substance that is all around us but in this book is used for a deadly purpose. It is not widely known that this substance is deadly. I think this is great when an author can use a good story to bring awareness of a problem.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dawn Dowdle

Book Review: Partner in Crime