J.P. Beaumont is the main protagonist of J.A. Jance’s mystery series. He’s a Homicide Detective for the Seattle Police Department, and later chief investigator for the Seattle D.A.'s Office Special Homicide Investigation team.
His full name is Jonas Piedmont Beaumont—simply called Beau by his friends—and he is a sympathetic but flawed detective who, as the series progresses, puts his life back together piece by piece while catching violent killers.
Works in the J.P. Beaumont series:
- Until Proven Guilty (1985)
- Injustice for All (1986)
- Trial by Fury (1986)
- Taking the Fifth (1987)
- Improbable Cause (1987)
- A More Perfect Union (1988)
- Dismissed with Prejudice (1989)
- Minor in Possession (1990)
- Payment in Kind (1991)
- Without Due Process (1993)
- Failure to Appear (1994)
- Lying in Wait (1995)
- Name Withheld
- Breach of Duty (1999)
- Birds of Prey (2002)
- Partner in Crime (2003)
- Long Time Gone (2005)
- Justice Denied (2007)
- Fire and Ice (2009)
- Betrayal of Trust (2011)
- Ring in the Dead (novella, 2013)
- Second Watch (2013)
- Stand Down (novella, 2015)
- Dance of the Bones (2015)
- Still Dead (2017)
- Proof of Life (2017)
Tropes in the J.P. Beaumont series include:
- The Alcoholic: Beau drinks heavily to cope with the things he sees a homicide detective. He eventually realizes that he has a problem and joins A.A. In the later books, he is a recovering alcoholic. (
Word of God from Jance is that for the first few novels, she did not realize that Beau was showing all of the classic signs for alcoholism.) - The Bad Guys Are Cops: In Taking the Fifth, Wainwright, the agent-in-charge of the DEA Seattle office, is the head of a cocaine smuggling ring.
- Disguised in Drag: As part of a scheme to frame a female singer in Taking the Fifth, the male killer dresses in one of her performance outfits of evening gown, opera gloves, and long blonde wig to commit a murder: knowing that at a distance, this is all a witness will be able to identify.
- Embarrassing Initials: In the later novels, J.P. works with the Special Homicide Investigation Team of the D.A.'s Office. Deadpansnarker that he is, J.P. sometimes considers the acronym to be all too apt.
- Fun with Acronyms: Beau sometimes opines that the acronym for the Special Homicide Investigation Team is all too apt.
- Ground by Gears: In Taking the Fifth, one of the victims is drugged, bound and placed under a rotating stage, where he gets caught in the mechanism and crushed to death.
- Ominous Legal Phrase Title: Most of the titles in the series are this, or a play on a legal phrase.
- Only Known by Initials: Beau always introduces himself (to suspects, etc.) as "J.P. Beaumont"; almost never using his given names (which are Jonas Piedmont).
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Acquaintances know him as "J.P.", but his friends and close associates call him "Beau". Almost no one uses his given names (Jonas Piedmont).
- Recovered Addict: Beau drinks very heavily in the early books of the series. He eventually realizes he has a problem and joins A.A., with his step-grandfather as The Sponsor. He remains a recovering alcoholic throughout the later books.note
- Sexy Shirt Switch. After spending the night with Jasmine Day in Taking the Fifth, Beau awakens to find her making coffee in one of his oversized business shirts. He notes with pleasure that the shirt is not quite long enough when she bends over to pick up her shoes.
- Shoe Slap: In Taking the Fifth, the Body of the Week bears several wounds—none of them fatal—inflicted by a bloodstained stiletto heeled shoe found at the crime scene.
