‘Second Watch’

This is a J. P. Beaumont mystery with a twist. J.P. — or Beau to his friends — is having double knee replacement surgery. The surgery goes well, but in recovery he is visited by ghosts. It begins with the ghost of the first homicide he worked on as a young detective in the Seattle Police Department. Many years after the case became cold, he is now determined to reopen it and solve the mystery of the young woman’s murder.

By J. A. Jance
Harper Torch
April 29, 2014
Paperback $9.99
452 Pages
Courtesy of Beaverdale Books

The second ghost that visited Beau is from an even more distant past. While in Vietnam, he had a superior officer who became a significant role model. Lennie D. was a voracious reader who loaned Beau a book when he first arrived. A thick tome, it was on Beau when military action sent a piece of shrapnel at him. It lodged in the book, saving his life. Lennie D. was killed in action that day, and Beau had wondered about contacting his fiancé to tell her of what a good leader Lennie had been. However, that had never happened.

Although both ghosts could very well have been hallucinations due to the drugs he had been given, Beau acted on both of them. The resulting solution to the old murder case brings both satisfaction and grief. His feeling of responsibility to his long ago Vietnam leader leads him to reach out to the fiancé, permitting a wonderful tribute to the many young lives lost in that long ago war. CV

Harriet Leitch retired to enjoy her grandchildren, garden, dogs, flute and to return to her love of books.