Back to Jance’s J. P. Beaumont series. This one not quite as good as some of the others, in my opinion. However, it is the first time we begin to see some real changes in the character of J. P. Beaumont. In this story his drinking is really beginning to become an issue. What took the story down a peg is Jance’s attempt to have Beaumont go rogue
. It’s a common enough staple in crime fiction, the cowboy cop who disobeys orders and solves crimes his way. Beaumont doesn’t do that normally. This time he does, and gets called to the carpet for it midway through the book. Beaumont’s motivation for not following procedure felt false though.
The murders in this book are that of several ironworkers. Each one staged to look like an accident, which is where the investigating officers Manny Davis and Paul Kramer are going with it. Beaumont sticks his nose into the case (because he was present when one of the bodies was found) and raises suspicion that they aren’t actually accidents. Soon it appears the union is crooked, but who is involved and who is killing the whistleblowers?
One thing I really like though is that one of the characters, Linda Decker, doesn’t take a cop’s badge as proof she should be helping him. She’s a little paranoid, and has Beaumont throw his badge through a window before she’ll talk to him. Instead of opening the door immediately, she calls the Seattle Police Department to verify the information. It’s a Schneier thing. If you want to get away with something, one of the easiest ways to forge identity is to wear a uniform. It’s very rare that people question someone in the appropriate uniform bossing them around. And yes there are stories every day of fake police officers, fake firemen, fake doctors, etc. where people just allow them to do whatever they want because they looked the part. In the story, Beaumont ends up stripped and in a basement for his efforts. When Decker calls the department, they tell her that Beaumont isn’t working the case. His attempt at being a cowboy goes horribly awry.
Title: A More Perfect Union
Author: J. A. Jance
Series: J. P. Beaumont; 6
Imprint / publisher: Avon / Hearst
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 217 p.
Publication date: November 1988
ISBN-10: 0-380-75413-4
