Until Proven Guilty by J. A. Jance

WHODUNIT?  WE DUN IT!

If you are a mystery lover, you are living in the right place!  Did you know that the mystery novel originated on our own fair shores?  That’s right!  Right here in America a slightly known writer--some guy named Edgar Allan Poe (yup, here is another reference from junior high)--introduced the world’s first fictionalized detective, Auguste C. Dupin, in his short story “Murders in the Rue Morgue”.  Advance from the mid-19^th century to the late 20^th century then take a hop over the Cascade Mountains to the west and meet Detective J. P Beaumont.  Seattle Detective Beaumont, Beau to his friends, made his debut in J.A. Jance’s 1985 novel Until Proven Guilty.

The little girl was only five, much too young to die -- a lost treasure who should have been cherished, not murdered. She could have been J.P. Beaumont's kid, and the determined Seattle homicide detective won't rest until her killer pays dearly. But the hunt is leading Beaumont into a murky world of religious fanaticism, and toward a beautiful, perilous obsession all his own. And suddenly Beau himself is a target -- because faith can be dangerous...and love can kill.

.For a number of years it was not known if J.A. Jance was a man or woman as the author was advised by an agent not to put a gender bias on the author’s take on Beau’s character.  Jance’s true identity remained its own mystery until after book 6 in the Beaumont series when Judith Ann Jance stepped forward to take the credit for Beau!  According to Jance herself:

"When my agent submitted the first Detective Beaumont book, Until Proven Guilty, she did so using my initials because the book was written in the first person through a male detective's point of view. She believed editors would be more inclined to accept the book if they thought it was written by a man rather than by a woman named Judith A. Jance. It worked, too. Once Avon purchased the manuscript as the first book in a series, the marketing department reached the same conclusion my agent had. They were convinced male readers would be more likely to read the book if they were under the impression that it was written by a man. The first six Beaumont books were written with no author photo and no biographical information of any kind."