Book Talk: Two debuts by J.A. Jance

It may seem inappropriate to use the term “debut” when writing about novels by J.A. Jance, an author of dozens of novels after her “Until Proven Guilty” (1983). But these two wonderful books introduce her first female police officers, Joanna Brady (“Desert Heat”) and Ali Reynolds (“Trial by Fire”). However, the Ali Reynolds series actually starts in a 2006 novel when she is not a cop. In both cases, the books feature the inauguration of the women into the ranks of their respective police departments.

Desert Heat

(1993, 375 pages in paperback format)

It’s the night of their tenth wedding anniversary, and Joanna Brady finds her husband Andy lying in the Arizona desert. He is suffering from a gunshot wound and is taken to the hospital where he subsequently dies under conditions that Joanna finds to be suspicious. Andy had been campaigning for the position of sheriff, and the local cops and medical examiner decide that his death was a suicide.

Joanna strenuously disagrees and begins an alternative investigation. However, when the DEA gets involved, rumors spread that he may have had drug-cartel connections and may have actually been the victim of a mob hitman. All of this negativity falls heavily on the shoulders of Andy’s wife and his nine-year-old daughter Jenny. However, Joanna hasn’t been married to a deputy sheriff for a decade without learning something about how to track a killer through the blazing desert of central Arizona.