Yes, this is the standard new book announcement, but first, and because I’m writing this on 9/11, a moment of remembrance.

On September 9, 2001, at my publisher’s behest, I flew from Seattle to Montreal to do a book signing at a convention of airport managers from all over the world. At noon on September 10, they sat me down at a table on the convention floor where I signed and gave away 300 books. I believe the book in question was Outlaw Mountain, but I don’t remember for sure.

When the signing was over, the publicist threw me into a car and dropped me off at the airport to catch a plane home. The aircraft I was due to take was coming from NYC. That day there had been weather all up and down the east coast, so there had been numerous airport delays. In addition, there had been a fire in the concourse at LaGuardia, so that, too, had slowed things down.

In other words, my departure from Montreal was delayed which meant I arrived in Chicago with only a matter of minutes to make my Seattle connection. I got off the plane with a couple who was also bound for Seattle. We were hot-footing it through the airport terminal when a guy driving a handicapped cart asked us where we were headed. When we told him, he looked at his watch, shook his head, and said, ”You’ll never make it. Climb on.”

So we did. He whipped us through the airport through tunnels and up and down elevators. We arrived at the Seattle-bound gate when all the other passengers had already boarded, but the doors were not yet closed. That plane was one of the last ones out of Chicago that night.

The next morning, Bill and I were supposed to go to Ashland, Oregon to attend the Shakespeare Festival. But our daughter called and said, “You need to turn on the TV.” We did and spent the rest of the day watching in horror as the world changed before our eyes and as planes simply quit flying all over the world.

My 9/11 hero is the caring man who saw people struggling to make their way and who stopped and offered to help. Had it not been for him, I would have been stranded in Chicago on 9/11 with no way to get home.

I have no idea what his name is. I have no way to tell him thank you, but every year I think about him and am very grateful. In time of need, he was a friend indeed!

And now onto the business of the day. Sins of the Fathers, Beaumont # 24, goes on sale on September 24. It’s hard to believe that Beau and I have been author/character for going on three decades now. Agatha Christie ended up despising her Hercule Poirot. That’s not the case for me with J.P. When it’s time to start a Beau book, within a matter of pages, I’m back in his mindset, hearing his voice in my head, chuckling at his many idiosyncrasies, and laughing at his curmudgeonly sense of humor.

In other words, I really enjoyed writing Sins of the Fathers, and I think my fans will enjoy reading it.

The tour schedule is posted on the website, www.jajance.com. Please do not write to me and ask “Are you coming here?” Go to the website, click on the schedule page, and all will be revealed. Yes, there aren’t nearly the number of Arizona signings as usual. My publisher has me doing Midwest and Florida outreach this time around. And, in case you’re wondering, book tours are set up by people in New York and not by me.

Bookmarks? Yes, there will be bookmarks. Please send your business size SASE to me at:

P.O. Box 766
Bellevue, WA 98009

I sign the bookmarks personally. I’m reasonably sure they won’t be done until after the tour, so please don’t expect yours to arrive by return mail.

See you on the road if the road happens to take me into your neck of the woods.

If not, Happy Reading.

JAJance