J. P. Beaumont has worse luck with women than anybody around. He helps a beautiful woman drag the body of a murdered man out of the surf, ends up spending a night with her - the first since the death of his very short term wife in the first book. He feels that he is on the way to recovery, and - you guessed it - she is the next murder victim. Not only is she murdered, she is murdered in his red porsche. The next woman he mildly admires gets killed too. No wonder Beau is fiction's most depressed detective - after Matthew Scudder, Lawrence Block's creation.
To complicate matters, Beau is on vacation on one of the islands off the Washington coast. Of course, his many years with the Seattle PD have left him with connections in many smaller jurisdictions. And he needs them. This one is all tied up with political aspirations and lots and lots of money.
Then there is the fact that Beau has lots of money - thanks to short term wife, Anne Corley. He spends it well, often by paying for the services of lawyer/friend, Ralph Ames, whom he also "inherited" from Anne Corley. One of the major beneficiaries in this story is Beau's partner, who is fighting for custody of his children with his ex-wife who has taken them with her into a religious cult. I really like the idea of being able to afford to do something about situations - and doing it. Thanks, Ms. Jance, for bringing that fantasy to life, even if it is only on paper (or electrons).
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