J.A. Jance has written 24 novels in her Joanna Brady series. These books are best read in the order in which they were published. Each book is a separate story, a mystery that has a beginning and an end, like the TV series: Law and Order. Each episode is a complete story, but the characters remain the same (for the most part).
In the Jance books, we follow the major characters, particularly Sheriff Joanna Brady, her daughter Jenny (who ages appropriately as the series develops), other members of her family (can’t say more about that without revealing a spoiler to those who may not have read earlier editions), the key officers in the Sheriff’s Department, and townsfolk who are important in Joanna’s life, like her best friend Marianne and the dreaded gossip columnist for the Bisbee Bee, Marliss Shackleford.
8. Devil’s Claw (2000, 465 pages in paperback edition) is the eighth book in the series. Joanna Brady is consumed with plans for her upcoming wedding (complicated by the interference of her mother, and the participation of her former in-laws, as well as her future in-laws) when fifteen-year-old Lucy Ridder goes missing. Lucy’s accompanied by her pet red-tailed hawk, a bird that she nursed from birth and which has obviously become her protector. Lucy’s mother, Sandra, who has recently been freed from prison is found dead.
One of the questions that emerges is: Did Lucy kill her mother in retaliation for Sandra’s murdering her abusive husband, Lucy’s father? Meanwhile, Clayton Rhodes, Joanna’s neighbor and hired help, dies of natural causes and his will contains a bequest that takes Joanna by surprise, as if she doesn’t need any more complications.
9. Paradise Lost (2001, 403 pages in paperback format), like all of the former books, is set in Bisbee, Arizona, a small city in a strip of land along the Mexican border. After Joanna gets her 12-year-old daughter Jenny off to Girl Scout camp, she and her new husband get away for their delayed honeymoon. But, of course, things are never easy in the life of Arizona’s only female sheriff. First, Jenny’s tentmate Dora convinces Jenny to break camp rules and go for a walk after hours. Not only does Dora bully Jenny into trying her first cigarette, but the girls discover the dead naked body of Constance Haskell, an heiress from Phoenix. Joanna’s fear is that Jenny may now be a target of the killer.
10. Partner in Crime (2002, 435 pages in paperback format) introduces the protagonist in Ms. Jance’s other series, J.P. Beaumont, to Sheriff Joanna Brady when “Beau” is assigned by his boss in Washington state to go to Bisbee, AZ, to birddog local law enforcement in its investigation into the murder of Latisha Wall, who has been residing in a witness-protection program. Beaumont is a former Seattle homicide detective, who has become a Special Investigator for the Attorney General of Washington. Initially, sparks fly between the two cops, but Jance has to make things right to continue both best-selling series.
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Jim Glynn may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.