J.A. Jance

Betrayal of Trust (2011)

JP Beaumont could be considered Seattle's Columbo. Not elegant, not a suave fellow (in the traditional sense), did not start out life with a silver spoon or pickle fork in his mouth. And he definitely is not someone who happily rides the political merry-go-round.All of this provides me an enjoyme...

Second Watch LP: A J. P. Beaumont Novel (2013)

J.A. Jance has written a lot of book about J.P Beaumont; this is the 21st. He's grown older, and this time he has knee replacement surgery. An interesting way of handling a complex plot is to have Beau dream about people from his past--including a murder he never solved. This interesting plot twi...

Second Watch (2013)

This is the 21st J.P. Beaumont book. Beau (as he is called) had a double knee replacement at the start of the book. After surgery, and on some powerful painkillers, Beau starts to have what he calls "dreams" in which he talks to dead people as if they are there in the hospital with him. The first...

Fatal Error (2011)

This is another good Jance mystery. Ali Reynolds, after succeeding to pass the rigors of the Arizona Police Academy is laid off from her position as media relations officer due to budget cuts. Being bored, when Brenda, an acquaintance from her broadcasting days, shows up looking for help to fin...

Remains of Innocence Low Price CD: A Brady Novel of Suspense (2000)

#16 in the Joanna Brady series.Started off a bit slow but eventually got going and the had same flare as the others.Junior is found dead and at first everyone is wondering if its suicide or murder.In the other story, a woman finds thousands of dollars hidden in her mothers cookbooks after she is ...

Ring in the Dead (2013)

This is a flashback book to a time when J. P. Beaumont was a rookie and paired with an old hand works off the books to clear him of suspected murder and an IA investigation. The episode is brought to life when the old partners daughter gives Beau the beginning of a memoir her father was writing b...

The Old Blue Line (2014)

This is the story of Butch and how he is framed for murder before meeting Joanna Brady. His ex wife took everything he had to run off with his accountant. She left him in debt to the IRS and penniless. When she is found dead years after the divorce, all clues lead to Butch. His grandmother is...

Desert Heat (1993)

The first book in the Joanna Brady series, we start off with Joanna waiting on their tenth anniversary for her husband to come home. The Cochise County Deputy—who is running for Sheriff—had special plans for them that night, but he’s hours late. Becoming worried, Joanna heads out in her car loo...

Naked Came the Phoenix (2001)

Another serial novel is out, this time written by female mystery authors. (Authoresses?)Remember Naked Came the Manatee? This is the same sort of deal: The thirteen chapters are each written by a different author in the tradition of that 1969 book, Naked Came the Stranger.Stranger was purportedly...

Dead Wrong (2006)

The election is over and Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady was re-elected by a small margin. Now 9-1/2 months pregnant, she hasn’t slowed down much, although she is finally learning to delegate. Action and drama are provided and Joanna’s response to those who believe she shouldn’t or isn’t ca...

Trial by Fury (1986)

Yeh - this book is the 3rd in the series and the 1st one where Detective J.P. Beaumont doesn't fall in love with a deranged female murderer. Someone else in the book does. If the reader has read future books in the series, this is the book where we find out how Beau's partner, Ron Peters, becom...

Kiss of the Bees (2001)

#2 in the Diana Ladd & Brandon Walker series. The action takes place 20 years after that of Night of the Hunter(1991). Psychopath Andrew Carlisle has been imprisoned after his attack on Diana Ladd. As a cellmate he has managed to get Mitch Johnson, a murderer captured by then Sheriff Brandon Walk...

Injustice for All (1990)

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 pol...

Breach of Duty (1999)

J.P. Beaumont has always been one of my favorite detectives. J.P. was raised by a single mother who got pregnant at the age of seventeen. J.P’s grandfather, who was immersed in a religion that didn’t tolerate pregnancy before marriage, threw his daughter out of the house and forbade his wife to h...

Name Withheld (1997)

Exit Wounds (2004)

Sheriff Joanna Brady juggles crime & family in fine yarn...We'll admit we're big fans of JA Jance, having read every novel she's written, some two dozen to date. This tenth book (or so, depending if you count "Partner in Crime" featuring both her fictional stars) in the Sheriff Brady series sees ...

Dead to Rights (1997)

I have mixed feelings about the fourth book in the Joanna Brady series. Since the book is older, (and I suspect few people will be looking at this review), I am just going to touch briefly on my thoughts.On a positive note, I found the plot in this novel to be much more involved than earlier one...

Day of the Dead (2005)

I finished my latest audio book this morning on the way into work. It was my first book ever by J.A. Jance and is called, Day of the Dead. I didn't know this when I picked it off the library shelves but it is the third book in a mystery series involving an Indian reservation in Arizona. That happ...

Tombstone Courage (1995)

In this second of the series, Joanna Brady is elected the first female sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona only a couple of months after her husband (who was running for sheriff) is brutally murdered by a drug-cartel hit man. At first her nine year old daughter Jenny is on-board with her mother b...

Without Due Process (1993)

Beau and Big Al get called to a familiar address when an officer down call goes out. Turns out it is to an address where a good friend of Big Al lives. Plus, the call came with a warning that families of cops would be shot. They get to a crowded, bloody scene where Ben, his wife and three childre...

Until Proven Guilty (1985)

Because I respect the opinion of two of my librarian friends who love J.A. Jance's J.P Beaumont Series, I decided it was time to give one a try. With 21 in the series I won't lack for reading if this proves a hit. Just as Beaumont says of his new partner, Peters "There's so much to learn before y...

Edge of Evil (2005)

My friend Tess read this and having similar tastes, passed along the recommendation. This is also my first time reading J.A. Jance, so a new-to me author. Read as an audio book. Let's start with our heroine, Alison Reynolds. The story begins with her getting canned from her TV anchor position bec...

Rattlesnake Crossing (1999)

Outlaw Mountain (2000)

If there was an easy straight-forward answer to the guilty party we wouldn’t have much of a story. But as with all of the books in this series, the path to the truth leads Sheriff Joanna Brady and her understaffed/overworked department in a number of directions and it’s interesting to see how the...

Minor in Possession (1990)

Book number Eight in the J.P. Beaumont series by J.A. Jance - 3.5 stars. Beaumont is in an alcohol treatment facility in Wickenburg, AZ attempting to stop drinking for the benefit of his liver. Around the end of the first month of treatment Beaumont's roommate is murdered. Like most of Jance's wo...

Partner in Crime (2003)

Her stars Beaumont & Brady united in Jance fan club Dream!Think how much fun it would be if Grafton's Kinsey Millhone went to visit Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski and they solved a crime together. Jance has done it with her two leading characters! After 15 Seattle-based (Jance's home) Detective-extra...

Hour of the Hunter (1992)

Failure to Appear (1994)

Devil's Claw (2001)

Lying in Wait (1996)

Shoot Don't Shoot (1996)

Payment in Kind (2004)

Fun read with some unusual dynamics.Usually I am highly entertained by the Beaumont mysteries, and this case was no exception. The detective has to investigate a crime in a school that initially looks like a murder suicide. Soon enough things become complicated and we get a whodunit with plenty o...

Web of Evil (2007)

Improbable Cause (2005)