Beaumont #26 – September 10, 2024

I used to say I could never be Sue Grafton when I grew up because I could never write twenty-six books about the same character.

Well, guess what? Forty-one years after meeting J.P. for the first time while traveling by train from Seattle to Portland, Den of Iniquity, Beaumont #26, goes on sale September 10, 2024.

Kinsey Milhone tended to stay in the Seventies where she was most comfortable. For me, the Seventies weren’t all that great. When Beau and I began our fictional journey together in the early eighties, and once Avon Books let me know I was writing a series, I decided that he and I would age together. I’m now pushing eighty, and so is he.

Some books are more fun to write than others. Writing this one was an absolute blast. For one thing there are pieces of me lurking in this book. Newsletter-only readers may miss some of those in-crowd jokes, but readers of my Blog which posts every Friday morning will catch them all.

Beau didn’t actually start walking on a regular basis until he met Lucy, his first Irish wolfhound in Sins of the Fathers. Blog readers know that getting my daily steps has been an important part of my real-life story for a long time. My current streak comes in at 1001 consecutive days of getting at least 10,000 steps a day.

In Den of Iniquity, DOI for short, when Beau’s lanky 18 year-old grandson, Kyle, walks into the story, blog readers will instantly recognize my own lanky grandson, Colt. They’ve been hearing about Colt’s adventures for years.

Yes, there’s a murder mystery in DOI. Beau’s actually tasked with tracking down a serial killer, but for me, the real fun came from Beau’s and Mel’s sometimes misguided attempts to bridge the generation chasm between two seventy-somethings and the runaway teenager who has unexpectedly decided to come live with Grandma and Grandpa.

For me, that’s one of the joys of writing series books as opposed to stand-alones. I’ve had a chance to watch these characters change and grow over the years. For me those back stories are sometimes more interesting than the mystery itself.

Now back to the business at hand. The publishing industry has recently decided that book tours are a thing of the past. The four DOI events that are scheduled–three live in Washington State and one virtual–are listed on the Schedule Page of my website.

If you can’t see me in person to have a book signed, you can always have a signed DOI bookmark by sending a business sized self-addressed envelope to me at:

J.A. Jance
PO Box 766
Bellevue, WA 98009.

My first bookmark request is already in hand. I’m also willing to sign and personalize copies of books that are mailed to me medial mail the same fashion, in an SASE. You can also order autographed copies from Poisoned Pen, Mostly Books, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, and Brick & Mortar Books.

Just so you know, the next Ali Reynolds book, Overkill, is written and due out next April. As for the next Joanna Brady book, By Reason of Insanity? When I say I’m on the banana peel of writing that one, blog readers know that means I’m nearing the finish lines. By the numbers, the story is 66.66% done, but who’s counting?

Happy reading. All I can say is, I hope my fans enjoy reading Den of Iniquity as much as I enjoyed writing it.

JAJance