Partner in Crime

Crossover story as former detective J P Beaumont—now a member of the federal Special Homicide Investigation Team—is sent to Bisbee upon the death of an artist in the Witness Protection Program. His job is to find his department’s leak. Sheriff Joanna Brady isn’t at all thrilled when believing the Feds don’t think her department is good enough to solve the case, but short on manpower, eventually accepts his help. Readers of the Beaumont series will no doubt get a kick out of following his exploits in Bisbee.

What’s a little different about this story is that Joanna’s series, while following her, is written as third person POV. Beaumont’s—I haven’t read any books in that series—apparently is written in first person. show more At least I believe so based on his angle being written that way in this story. I found that somewhat jerky, jumping back and forth between the styles.

We do get what’s going on in the personal lives of both main characters. At his request, Joanna digs up information on Beaumont’s wife of one day who’d been a vigilante killer who grew up in Bisbee for a time. An uncomfortable scene is provided when Joanna and Beaumont are attracted to the other and need to put the brakes on to prevent anything from happening. Readers might not be too happy with her, but I guess it makes her seem more human, and out of it, she does have a better appreciation for what she does have.

I can say that while I enjoyed the story, the mystery and the characters we’ve come to know, it’s probably my least favorite of the series which I’ve been reading back-to-back. I think I would have enjoyed it more if Beaumont’s character had been told in the third person like the rest of the story. Unlike Beaumont readers, I had no vested interest in his history. show less

Beau meets Joanna in this mystery with J A Jance’s two top detecting protagonists. Beau really doesn’t want to be in the town where his second wife had lived, and Joanna doesn’t want him there, either. But the two have no say in the matter: Beau has been sent by his boss to oversee and “help out” the local small-town sheriff. Things start out badly. Joanna is prickly, and Beau is resentful of her attitude. It’s not his fault he’s there. (Yes, I am a member of Team Beau.) Eventually, both come to realize that each has something to offer, and mutual respect grows slowly but surely. The mystery is a pretty good one, with some false leads to keep things interesting. The audio version has two readers, with the male characters show more being voiced by Gene Engene, and the female characters being narrated by Stephanie Brush. Both give excellent performances, which adds to the enjoyment of the story. show less

Combines characters from two of Jance’s ongoing series – Sheriff Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont.

Beaumont is dispatched from Seattle when a woman murdered in Brady’s jurisdiction turns out to have been under a witness protection program overseen by Washington state authorities. There’s a bit of clashing before the two settle down to work together and the somewhat overplotted situation is resolved by the convenient death of the major bad guy, which only momentarily seems to leave some questions unanswered.

Like most of the Brady series, the real attraction of the plot is watching the main character navigate a complicated personal life while treading a non-traditional career path. There’s a brief, distracting, and totally show more unnecessary what-if scene between Brady and Beaumont which comes out of nowhere and then goes back to the same place over the space of just a few pages, but it’s enough to distract and detract. Better each of these characters should remain in their own wheelhouse and do their own things, separately. show less

Combines characters from two of Jance’s ongoing series – Sheriff Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont. As always, the main character navigates a twisted personal life while trying to accommodate a complex work life. Fun crossover.

I have always enjoyed all the Joanna Brady novels by J.A. Jance. I find her description of Bisbee, Arizona accurate. Her characters are realistic and interesting. Each story is unique. This book met all my expectations and then some. Because she has one of her fictional characters meet up with another one of her fictional characters from another story, I had expected that to be a little stilted. However, the story line flowed well. She was able to have part of the book in 1st person and the other in 3rd person without it sounding like an uncomfortable cut and paste job.

Jance's inclusion of Sodium azide in her plot was educational and frightening.

In Partner in Crime J.A. Jance brings together the lead characters from two of her series - J.P. Beaumont and Joanna Brady. This book was a hand-me-down and the first Jance novel for me. It might not be the last, but I'm not ready to jump into either series headfirst.

Joanna Brady is a sheriff in the small city of Bisbee, AZ. She and her teenage daughter live with her second husband (an aspiring mystery-writer/househusband) on their ranch. Her mother is annoying and irritating but her former in-laws are there as a stabilizing influence for Joanna's daughter, Jenny. At work Joanna has a small, but dedicated and professionally talented staff - except for Ken Junior, the nephew of her predecessor, who decides to take her on for the next show more race for sheriff.

J.P. Beaumont is an experienced Seattle detective who's just been assigned to the unfortunately (aptly?) named Special Homicide Investigation Team.

When Latisha Wall, an up and coming artist in Bisbee, is murdered "Beau" is sent to Bisbee to assist with the investigation because Ms. Wall was also in the Washington State Witness Protection Program. Her death comes just before she was due to testify against UPPI, a company providing prison management services to different states.

Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont are established characters in their own series and by not being familiar with either series I think I missed some of the appeal this book might have for regular J.A. Jance readers. Though the plot moved along at a good pace the main story line wasn't particularly absorbing. The secondary plot lines weren't developed at all. The most interesting plot points that probably should have been the focus weren't introduced until the very end of the book and were wrapped up too neatly for my taste. Despite these flaws, the writing was not bad and I have read much worse. I think I would be more interested in the J.P. Beaumont series than Joanna Brady series if I should decide to read any more J.A. Jance novels.

Two and a half stars. show less

In Partner in Crime, an artist from the West Coast is dead, and small town sheriff Joanna Brady must investigate the case. When the Attorney General's office thinks she is not up to the task, they send detective J.P. Beaumont to assist in the case, setting up immediate friction between the characters. This is an entirely forgettable mystery. The storyline was solid enough. There was nothing terrible about it, but there was also nothing that stands out either. It's the type of novel that you will forget a year later. Without having read many other books involving Sheriff Brady, I can't comment on how this one compares to the others. It's an okay read, but I wouldn't go out of my way to read this novel.
Carl Alves - author of Blood Street