When the governor of the state of Washington asks him to investigate a snuff film found on her grandson's phone, J. P. Beaumont, no stranger to human depravity, is shocked by this horrific crime and discovers that this murder has much wider implications.

Beaumont is taking some time off to get knee replacement surgery, but instead of taking his mind off work the operation plunges him into one of the most perplexing mysteries he's ever faced. His past collides with his present, explore the staggering cost of war and the debts we owe those who served in the Vietnam War, and those in uniform today.

"Before he retired, J. P. Beaumont had looked forward to having his days all to himself. But too much free time doesn't suit a man used to brushing close to danger. When his longtime nemesis, retired Seattle crime reporter Maxwell Cole, dies in whats officially deemed to be an accidental fire, Beau is astonished to be dragged into the investigation at the request of none other than the deceased victim himself. In the process Beau learns that just...

It was like a scene from a movie: the beautiful blond screaming on a Washington beach, a dead man lying at her feet; the dashing Homicide detective arriving to offer kindness and solace to the distressed lady. What it wasn't was a restful vacation for J.P. Beaumont. And now a murderous mix of politics and passion is turning Beau's holiday into a nightmare.

Twenty years after he lost his partner Susan to her husband's murderous rage, Beau is drawn into a missing persons case when Susan's son needs his help, becoming tangled in a web of family secrets where a killer with nothing left to lose waits to take another life. As a homicide detective with the Seattle PD, J. P. Beaumont's partner, Sue Danielson, was murdered. Volatile and angry, Danielson's ex-husband came after her in her home and, with nowhere...