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Failure to Appear
J.A. Jance Book Review

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Plot Summary of Failure to Appear
"This is the eleventh book in the J.P. Beaumont homicide detective series. Beau learns that his runaway 18-year-old daughter is living on what seems to be a commune in Ashland, Oregon, and that she's about to get married to an actor in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He promptly heads down to Ashland where after a short while an old unsavory acquaintance of his is found murdered. Next a child pornography tape shows up. The child in the tape happens to be Tanya, the festival's biggest star: the woman playing Juliet (as in Romeo and Juliet). Soon after another murder takes place, and all signs seem to point to Tanya. Beau and his attorney friend believe Tanya to be innocent, but discrepancies in her story begin to show up, making Beau change his mind. By the story's end we find that Tanya had only been a pawn and not the murderer, and that the murderer was a scorned ex-wife."
Billy Pashaie, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Failure to Appear
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%




Tone of story - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Murder of certain profession? - prostitutes/stripper/porn
Misc. Murder Plotlets - local police w/ IQ of a houseplant
Kind of investigator - police procedural, American
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - feelings towards family/friends
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - police/lawman
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - artist
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
Motive of antagonist - revenge
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Pacific NW
City? Yes
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 3-4
Unusual forms of death - hanging - perforation--swords/knives - exploded into bits
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Failure to Appear
The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
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Until Judgment Day by Christine McGuire


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J.A. Jance Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
lanny aikin  

SCHOLARS:
Billy Pashaie  


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