by J. A. Jance
Part of J.P. Beaumont, book 3
First published 1986
Detective J.P. Beaumont stares down at a corpse pulled from a Seattle dumpster. The victim is a high school coach who died by lynching, leaving his pregnant wife to mourn alone. With twenty years in Homicide, Beaumont recognizes a volatile case when he sees one. This investigation threatens to explode in his face as he digs deeper into the coach's life. The detective must navigate through layers of secrets the dead man carried to his grave. Each lead pulls Beaumont closer to a dangerous intersection where love turns deadly and personal vendettas masquerade as justice. The case forces him into territory where passion and hatred collide with lethal consequences. As Beaumont pursues the truth, he discovers that some forms of love can spawn the most vicious kinds of retribution.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, investigation
Setting: Seattle
Period: 20th-century
384 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Avon
Content warnings: death, murder, violence