Synopsis
“The blood at the scene belies any suggestion of an “honorable death.” Yet, to the eyes of the Seattle police, a successful Japanese software magnate died exactly as he wished – and by his own hand, according to the ancient rite of seppuku. Homicide Detective J.P. Beaumont can’t dismiss what he sees as an elaborate suicide, however, not when something about it makes his flesh crawl. Because small errors in the ritual suggest something darker: a killer who will go to extraordinary lengths to escape detection – a fiend with a less traditional passion…for cold-blooded murder.”
-Synopsis from back of the book
Review
Dismissed with Prejudice is book seven in the J.P. Beaumont series. I’ve mentioned before that this has become a sort of comfort series for me. Beau is such a likable character despite his (many) faults and I love being able to return to this series and see what he’s up to.
This time around, it’s the day after Ron Peters’ wedding and Beau wakes up with a bandaged hand and no memory of his injury. He’s woken by a phone call alerting him to a new homicide that requires his attention. As the synopsis alludes, the victim discovered appears to have committed suicide according to the Japenese ritual of seppuku.
I was surprised to see that Beau and his partner Al Linstrom decided to call in George Yamamoto, the head of the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory, first before the victim’s family in order to make a determination on how the victim was killed. Was it really seppuku and if not was there any indication of foul play? George is able to shed light on this and give them some answers to kick off the investigation. He ends up playing a significant role in the rest of the case which turns out to be much, much bigger than Beau could have realized, and even crosses state lines.
As usual, this was a fast-paced and suspenseful read. The last book led me to believe that Beau was finally going to get his personal life in order so I was looking forward to seeing that in this book. However, Beau is still struggling with his personal affairs. The only upside to this is that I feel that seeing Beau “before” shows how much he is going to grow as a person long term. I’m looking forward to the next book in which (maybe, finally!) he will start to be more proactive about his personal life.
I plan to read the next book, Minor in Possession, which is set in Arizona, soon!
Hannah's Library 