Detective J. P. Beaumont and his wife Detective Mel Soams
were hand-picked several years ago by Ross Connors,
Washington State Attorney, to be part of a special
homicide
investigation team (jokingly referred to as the s.h.i.t.
group). This team produced awesome results in closing
criminal cases. Unfortunately, the team has recently been
dispersed due to the horrific death of Connors.
Mel is the newly appointed police chief of Bellingham,
Washington, and Beau is overseeing a house they have
purchased and are remodeling that is situated midpoint
between Bellingham and Seattle. Mel knows her husband
isn't
going to be happily retired forever, and is trying to get
him to consider another job in the investigative field.
Mel's appointment by the Bellingham City Council didn't
sit
well with some of the senior police officers, and she's
having some problems maintaining control with the trouble
makers. She can certainly handle the situation if given
time. However, Mel goes missing during her work hours,
and
her life is definitely at risk.
J. A. Jance has written a little story that packs a big
wallop. Ms. Jance's flowing narrative, true to life
characters and faultless pacing keep readers enthralled,
and
in some cases sentimental over the loss of good friends
that
have been made in this series. Hopefully, STAND DOWN is
the prelude to future stories of Beau and Mel and not the
finale of tales featuring the best crime solving couple
since Nick and Nora Charles.
Life has shifted for J. P. Beaumont. After a tragic
accident
that devastated—and ultimately disbanded—his Special
Homicide Investigation Team, he accepts that he has left
homicide detection behind at this point, but he has a lot
of
unanticipated free time on his hands. He's keeping busy
with
renovations on the new house that he and his wife Mel
Soames, the newly appointed Chief of Police in Bellingham,
Washington, have bought. But new fixtures and paint
palettes
can occupy only so much of Beau's daily life, and Mel is
encouraging him to return to where he is needed:
investigating crimes.
In the meantime, she is struggling to gain control of her
new situation, cast into a department where some are
welcoming—and some are not. It's been a few months, and
the
tension in the police department is rising, but Beau
realizes Mel has to tackle things in her own way, so he
refrains from advising. But when Beau shows up one
afternoon
to survey the construction at their new house and finds
Mel's car there but no sign of her, his investigative
instincts kick in. Suddenly he's back in the game—except
this time, his heart is on the line as well as his
professional dignity.
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