The Girl from Devil's Lake by J.A. Jance

 

First Line: Fertile, Minnesota. 1956. The voices had been with Steve for as long as he could remember.

It should be a time for celebration for Sheriff Joanna Brady. It's the holiday season, and her daughter, Jenny, is graduating from the police academy. Instead, the body of a young boy is discovered caught beneath a flooded bridge, and Joanna is called in to investigate.

The young boy was murdered, and crime scene details tell Joanna two things: this wasn't the killer's first murder, and it's only a matter of time before he kills again. But it's not long until Joanna begins to understand that this murder is just one piece of a much larger puzzle, a puzzle that spans decades and long distances. In tracking down every dangerous lead, Joanna has her work cut out for her.

~

J.A. Jance's Sheriff Joanna Brady series is one that I've loved for years. It's set in Cochise County, Arizona, an area I know well and love, and Jance (who lived in Bisbee) brings the Arizona desert to life. Any reader who loves a cast of characters who grow and change over the years should dive right into these books, starting with the first, Desert Heat. In no time at all, these characters will feel like family.

The Girl from Devil's Lake is a fast-paced dive into how a prolific serial killer can live undetected for decades. Jance doesn't dwell on his crimes, but on how he's managed to blend in-- and how Sheriff Joanna Brady manages to bring him to justice. One of the ways she does it is by occasionally letting readers see things from the killer's point of view.

Joanna has come a long way over the years. Now a seasoned and well-respected sheriff, she has worked hard to develop friends and knowledgeable contacts in law enforcement. I wondered how the series would change as she aged, and having her eldest daughter, Jenny, graduate from the police academy and join the Pima County Sheriff's Department is the perfect choice to keep these stories fresh. 

Reading this book was like catching up with what's been happening with family. The book title also added spice and anticipation to the killer's downfall. From her first appearance, I knew that the girl from Devil's Lake would make her mark. Now I can't wait for the next installment. Seriously, if you are a character-driven mystery-loving reader and you haven't read these books, do it!

The Girl from Devil's Lake by J.A. Jance

eISBN: 9780063252653

William Morrow © 2025

eBook, 336 pages

Police Procedural, #21 Joanna Brady

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley 

Missing and Endangered by J.A. Jance

First Line: Late on Wednesday afternoon, the first week in December, Sheriff Joanna Brady sat at her desk, mired in paperwork.

 

While Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Joanna Brady and her team are involved in a very sensitive officer-involved shooting, her daughter Jennifer has returned to Flagstaff for her sophomore year at Northern Arizona University. Jenny quickly becomes a big sister to her new roommate, homeschooled Beth Rankin, a brilliant yet extremely sheltered freshman who's away from home for the first time.

Beth is experiencing her first taste of freedom (and the internet) and Jenny is concerned that she's too naive for her own good. Since Beth is at war with her parents, Jenny invites her home for a Brady Christmas. Joanna doesn't mind even though her investigation into the officer-involved shooting has her entire department stretched thin. 

All that changes when Beth vanishes. Jenny alerts campus authorities, local police, and her mother, who calls in a favor. Beth is found, but Jenny's concern has put her at the top of the list for a criminal bent on revenge.

~

It's been three long years since the last Joanna Brady mystery, Field of Bones, so I couldn't wait to pick up Missing and Endangered. J.A. Jance's series set in Cochise County, Arizona, is one of my all-time favorites and never disappoints. Jance grew up in Bisbee, and her setting is so true-to-life you can almost follow her descriptions like a road map. (Yes, I've been there many, many times and have followed those descriptions.)

Written over twenty-eight years, this series-- so far-- describes nine years in the life of Joanna Brady, from her first becoming sheriff to now when her eldest daughter is a college sophomore. Jance's smooth pace and narrative chops draw readers right into the story, and one of the things I admire most about it is how well it shows the daily lives of law enforcement in one sparsely populated county with an area larger than some states. We see how budget cuts affect the department, how the sheriff's office interacts with other law enforcement agencies, and what parts paperwork and the media plays in it all. Joanna has worked hard in her job as sheriff, gaining knowledge and experience, and one of the ways that experience pays off is in her networking skills. She may not know the answer to something but chances are one of her contacts does-- and she does it all while juggling an extremely busy family life.

One thing that I admire even more about this series than the way it portrays the daily life of a sheriff is the "people angle." As Jenny tells her mother, "Your job is about way more than just catching bad people; it's about helping good people, too, and about putting broken lives back together." You may be pleased to know that, in this series, Jance concentrates more on the good people and putting lives back together than she does on the criminals. In Missing and Endangered, readers can feel a sense of dread crawling up their spines at Beth Rankin's naivete. Their hearts can break over two little children who face becoming lost in a system of bureaucracy. But they can also rest assured that Joanna Brady is going to do everything in her power to make things right. 

It was three long years since the last Brady mystery, but I found that I hadn't forgotten a thing. This is the type of series with the kind of characters that sticks with you. If you doubt you'll pick this book up because it's book number nineteen and you just don't want to invest that kind of time in a long-running series, well... as much as I want you to read all nineteen books, I will say that you can pick this one up and read it as a standalone. The subplot concerning an officer-involved shooting has Joanna thinking about many incidents from her past, so the backstory is there and you won't feel confused.

Missing and Endangered is vintage Jance, and now I'm back to cooling my heels until my next visit with one of my favorite sheriffs, Joanna Brady. But no matter how long, I know it will be worth the wait.

Missing and Endangered by J.A. Jance

ISBN: 9780062853462

William Morrow © 2021

Hardcover, 384 pages

 

Police Procedural, #19 Joanna Brady mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore.

Field of Bones by J.A. Jance

First Line: As Sheriff Joanna Brady and her reelection committee gathered in the social hall at the Tombstone Canyon United Methodist Church in Old Bisbee to await the results, everyone expected it would be an election-night nail-biter, one that would end with either a victory celebration or a concession speech.

Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady fully intends to stay home until every day of her maternity leave is used up, but the world seems to have other plans for her. Instead of being at home with her newborn and reading through her father's old journals, she finds that her help is desperately needed when a homicide case involving multiple jurisdictions comes to light in her county. There's a serial killer using Cochise County as his dumping ground, and there's a good chance that some of his victims may still be alive. Joanna and her entire team need to work as fast as they can.

I have loved this series since the very first book, Desert Heat, and I'm thrilled to say that this is vintage Jance. The plot, the pacing, the setting, the characters, the suspense, the humor... they all combine for a marvelous piece of storytelling that I could not read fast enough.

If you want authentic southeastern Arizona, you need to read this series. Jance grew up in Bisbee, which is where the books are set. Yes, there is a Copper Queen Community Hospital. Yes, there is a Double Adobe Road and a Skeleton Canyon. Yes, the county is bigger than some states, and the landscape and weather are often lyrically described.

But with any long-running series, the characters are the backbone. If they don't work, the books don't work. I have seen Joanna Brady grow from a widow to whom the sympathy vote gave the sheriff's office to someone dedicated to being the best law enforcement officer she can be. I've seen her go to school, make mistakes, and keep on learning. I've seen her as a mother, as a wife, and as a grieving child. And she's done it all with one of the best casts of characters backing her up.

In Field of Bones, we have multiple points of view telling us the story: Joanna Brady; Acting Sheriff Tom Hadlock; a young abducted girl, Latisha Marcum; serial killer James Ardmore; and brand-new deputy Garth Raymond. (More of Garth, please!) Even the characters whose heads we don't get into are special: journalist Marliss Shackleford is still a thorn in Joanna's side, and the human buzzsaw known as Jane Carver made me laugh (and want to stay away from her bad side). Each voice rings true, and each voice ratchets up the tension. 

Field of Bones shows us Sheriff Joanna Brady as the consummate professional who never forgets her people. She also shows us the importance of having contacts throughout all branches of law enforcement. (Sometimes it really is about "who you know.") But most of all, the author herself shows us how to tell a story that can make readers laugh, cry, and want to pull the covers over their heads. And here I am... waiting for the next book in the series. I will never get enough of Joanna Brady.
 

Field of Bones by J.A. Jance

ISBN: 9780062657572

William Morrow © 2018

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #18 Joanna Brady mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.


 

Downfall by J.A. Jance

First Line: Sheriff Joanna Brady pulled into the parking place in front of the Higgins Funeral Chapel, put the Buick Enclave in park, and then sat staring at the storefront before her, only vaguely aware of her surroundings.

Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady has so much on her plate that stuff is sloshing off the sides. She's pregnant. She's facing re-election. Her daughter is heading off to college, and she has two deaths in the family from which to recover. It's a good thing Joanna is made of sterner stuff because, to add to everything else, a very strange new case has just hit her department.

The bodies of two women have been found at the base of what Bisbee locals call Geronimo Peak. They fell to their deaths but was it murder/suicide or a double homicide? And what's the connection between the two? As far as anyone is concerned, they didn't even know each other.

I don't think I will ever tire of Jance's Joanna Brady mysteries. For me, they are the perfect blend of character, setting, and story. Joanna is independent, brave, sharp as a tack, and loaded with common sense. Her mind has a laser-like quality that can cut to the heart of a problem and come up with a solution using her available resources. I love watching her in action. The setting of Cochise County, Arizona, and the old mining town of Bisbee is one that I'm very familiar with, and so is Jance (who grew up there). As for the story, Jance is brilliant at weaving together a fast pace with various subplots that range from the personal and emotional-- like the deaths of loved ones and pregnancy-- to more topical issues that can still hit close to home. The trouble is, there's not much I can say about those topical issues without giving away a lot of the story.

Since I can't talk about the plot, I will say that there's a fine scene involving Joanna who's got herself into a bit of a pickle, and she finds that she's got to rely on the Little Red Hen and a dog. (Two of the best things you can depend on when you find yourself in a similar mess.) For me, the continued high quality of this series all boils down to character. Like the FBI agent Joanna is saddled with... or the chief deputy who's still a question mark in Joanna's mind. There's only one character I can do without in this entire series, and that's Marliss Shackelford the local journalist. That character works my last nerve, but I don't think Jance will ever get rid of her. Marliss is just too much fun to write.

Now, if you've arrived at the opinion that I love this series and enjoy what Jance can do with her characters and a puzzling murder or two, I'd have to admit that you have reached your destination. If you're not familiar with this series, I wholeheartedly recommend that you dive right in. You can probably start anywhere, but be forewarned: the personal lives of the characters will then be all out of sequence. 

Downfall by J.A. Jance

ISBN: 9780062297716

William Morrow © 2016

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #17 Sheriff Joanna Brady mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.

No Honor Among Thieves by J.A. Jance

First Line: When Sheriff Joanna Brady's distinctive rooster ring tone jarred her awake at oh-dark-thirty in the morning, she grabbed the phone off the bedside table and shot a guilty glance at her sleeping husband before she answered.

Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady gets one of those dreaded middle-of-the-night phone calls. A semi has gone over the embankment at the San Pedro River. It's not just a simple case of the driver going to sleep and crossing the center line. No, he was shot multiple times by someone with some serious high-powered weaponry. So Joanna has a wrecked semi, a dead driver, and what looks like hundreds of boxes of Legos scattered all over the road.

They're not ordinary Legos; they're collector's sets worth a lot of money to those willing to pay, and they're being tracked by B. Simpson's security firm. B.'s wife, Ali Reynolds, is just the person to get to the bottom of this, so she heads down to give Joanna a hand.

This is the first pairing of two of J.A. Jance's characters, Joanna Brady and Ali Reynolds-- two very strong women who know how to get the job done. No Honor Among Thieves has the wonderful setting that I've come to expect from any of Jance's work set in Arizona, and it has a lightning fast pace that never lets up.

This is a successful pairing that I wouldn't mind seeing more of. I've been a diehard Brady fan since the first book in the series, Desert Heat. I've never quite warmed up to Ali, but she is an interesting character, and I wanted to see how the two of them worked together.

While we're racing through the narrative, we're learning about the fight against black market goods, and Joanna knows that she's got some news for her family and co-workers when this case is wrapped up. Ali proves indispensable from a tech standpoint because she and her husband's business can supply all sorts of things that would blow Brady's budget to smithereens.

I was in awe of Joanna Brady's quick decision-making and her ability to take command of a dangerous multi-front situation. She's come a long way from that first book when she had absolutely no firsthand experience of law enforcement. I was proud of her. On the other hand, I felt Ali Reynolds was a little silly there toward the end. She let her nose get out of joint because Brady was too distracted trying to get everything wrapped up to give Ali the profuse thanks that she felt she deserved. What happens when you let your nose get out of joint? You usually do something stupid.

As I said before, this is a pairing I'd like to see more of. It's fun to watch two strong, intelligent women work shoulder to shoulder to solve a crime. If you're a fan like me, you'll find that this novella advances Joanna's story a bit, but not Ali's. If you've not had the pleasure of reading either of Jance's series, I think No Honor Among Thieves would be an excellent place to start. Chances are, when you're finished, you're going to want more books featuring Joanna and Ali.   

No Honor Among Thieves by J.A. Jance

eISBN: 9781501135590

Pocket Star Books © 2015

eBook, 50 pages

Police Procedural/Novella

Featuring Sheriff Joanna Brady and Ali Reynolds

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley


 

Remains of Innocence by J.A. Jance

First Line: Liza Machett's heart was filled with equal parts dread and fury as she pulled her beater Nissan into the rutted driveway of her mother's place, stopped, and then stepped out to stare at the weedy wasteland surrounding the crumbling farmhouse.

In short order Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady finds herself racing to solve two cases, and one of them strikes very close to home. Junior Dowdle, a developmentally disabled man in his sixties diagnosed with dementia, has been experiencing violent episodes. When his body is found at the bottom of a limestone cavern on the outskirts of Bisbee amongst the remains of tortured and mutilated pets, Joanna is stunned. She knows Junior's foster parents very well and has always considered Junior a friend. Generally a very sweet and kind man, could Junior be responsible for the deaths of those animals?

She's barely had time to begin investigating Junior's death when she and her team need to work on another case. Back in Massachusetts, Liza Machett began clearing out her deceased mother's house to get it ready for sale. After her father abandoned them, Liza and her stepbrother experienced a life of grinding poverty, squalor, and schoolyard ridicule with their mentally unstable hoarder of a mother. Imagine Liza's surprise when she begins clearing out stacks of books and magazines and discovers a fortune in $100 bills hidden between the pages. For diner waitress Liza, the money is a blessing-- until her apartment is broken into, her mother's house is torched, and her landlady is murdered. On the run to save her life and to find some answers, Liza heads right to Cochise County, Arizona, and Sheriff Joanna Brady.

There's nothing quite like reading one of Jance's Joanna Brady books while staying in Bisbee, Arizona. All I had to do is step outside the door to see I was right in the heart of these books. Having grown up in this old mining town, Jance's setting is pitch perfect and one of the reasons why I love these books.

Another reason I love these books is the characters. Joanna is brave, intelligent, and compassionate, and these books have shown her growth from grieving widow to sheriff to sheriff at the beginning of a second marriage. Joanna can also be opinionated and stubborn, and her relationship with her mother is anything but harmonious. In other words, she's human.

The people Joanna lives with and works with have become like friends as I've made my way through this series. When Junior was diagnosed with dementia in an earlier book, I got tears in my eyes. Yes indeed, I am invested all the way to my eyebrows in this series.

A perfect setting and characters that wind themselves around your heart are all well and good, but they need a good mystery to show them in their best light. In the case of Remains of Innocence, one mystery is stronger than the other. It didn't take me long to deduce what had really happened to Junior, but Liza's part of the book kept my interest from beginning to end. Jance has a way of knowing just how to make a character so sympathetic that you want to invite them in for coffee and a long talk. She's done her usual excellent job with Liza and those $100 bills.

Innocence is a theme that runs strong throughout this book. People who never lost their innocence; those who lost it much too early. People who should be innocent who aren't; and those who look guilty... but aren't. There's good food for thought in Jance's latest Joanna Brady mystery-- yet another reason why I love this series.

Remains of Innocence by J.A. Jance

ISBN: 9780062134707  

William Morrow © 2014

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #16 Joanna Brady mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen. 


 

Judgment Call by J.A. Jance

First Line: The car stopped in the middle of a stretch of rough dirt road.

Sheriff Joanna Brady's daughter Jenny decides to go for an early morning ride and stumbles across the body of her high school principal, meaning that Joanna's personal and professional lives are about to meet head on. Not only did the murderer have to pass right by the ranch, the situation gets even stickier when a photo of the dead woman's body gets posted on Facebook. Joanna knows that there's only one person who could've taken that picture: her own daughter.

As the investigation begins, Joanna would dearly love to avoid her mother, who's one of the people in charge of Bisbee's big art show and auction, but it's not meant to be. Joanna has to juggle her demanding mother along with the touchy situation with her daughter, a murder investigation, budget cuts, new employees, and a coroner who thinks he's God's gift. Only her writer husband and energetic toddler aren't adding to her to-do list.

As Joanna deals with that to-do list, the investigation seems to point to a group of teenagers who have a grudge against the deceased high school principal, but the more the sheriff digs, the more she learns that the educator had lived a very secretive life. Joanna knows that the woman's buried past undoubtedly holds the key to identifying her killer.

I make no secret of the fact that J.A. Jance's Sheriff Joanna Brady series is one of my all-time favorites, and Judgment Call is one of the very best in the series. It's not necessary to read these books in order for them to make sense, but when you do-- as I have-- you can't help but appreciate and admire Jance's skill at putting together a wonderful cast of characters in the perfect setting.

Yes, the story is a strong one that blends good old-fashioned detective work with the ever-pervasive internet. I knew who the killer was, in a manner of speaking, but I swung and missed at a fast ball of a clue that the author threw right down the middle of the plate and could only exclaim at my blindness when the all-important identity was revealed. But story isn't the only good thing about a Sheriff Joanna Brady novel.

The setting-- the very real old mining town of Bisbee, Arizona-- is pitch perfect. Jance grew up in Bisbee, and you can follow the directions she gives in her books like a road map through the area and the town. When a chase at the end of the book veers onto a dirt "road" that heads up a mountain to the cell phone towers, I had to smile. I've been on that trail, and there's no way a limosine's going to make it in one piece. Strong story and a strong setting. Are you still with me?

If you are, then let's add that cast of characters I mentioned earlier. Throughout the series I've watched Joanna Brady grow as a person, as a wife, as a mother, and as the sheriff of one of the largest counties in the United States. She continues to grow with each book; in this book, she sees her mother in a new light, and she learns something about her father's death that leads her to making a very important decision, a judgment call. Joanna may not always make the right choice, but you respect how she comes to make each one.

It may be Joanna's show in this book and in this series, but she's not the only character you come to care about. Her husband, her children, her mother... you even grow to know and care about Joanna's co-workers and people like Junior, a developmentally disabled man who works at a local diner. Jance's Joanna Brady novels are what I like to call "slice of life" books because they are so real, so down-to-earth, that you feel as though you know these people. You come to care for them, and you come to each new book wanting to know where this latest adventure will take them. If you like to feel involved with the characters in the books you read, come on down to Bisbee, and sit a spell with the Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona.

Judgment Call by J.A. Jance

ISBN: 9780061731167

William Morrow and Company © 2012

Hardcover, 387 pages

Genre: Police Procedural, #15 Sherrif Joanna Brady mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased at the Poisoned Pen.

Fire and Ice by J.A. Jance

Title: Fire and Ice, a Beaumont and Brady Novel
Author: J.A. Jance
ISBN: 9780061239229, William Morrow, 2009
Genre: Police Procedural
Rating: A

First Line: Ken Leggett wasn't what you could call a warm and fuzzy guy.

Seattle investigator J.P. Beaumont is working a series of murders in western Washington in which six young women have been wrapped in tarps, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. At the same time, two thousand miles away in the Arizona desert, Cochise County sheriff Joanna Brady is investigating the homicide of a caretaker of an ATV park. A breakthrough in Beaumont's case leads him right to Cochise County, and for the second time (after 2002's Partner in Crime) these two will be working together.

I've read the first two or three books of Jance's Beaumont series and have to admit that I never took to J.P. On the other hand, when I picked up the first book of the Joanna Brady series, it was love at first sight. When Jance first put her two crime fighters together, I was wondering how it would work out. I should've known that with two professionals like J.P. and Joanna (and a consummate writer like Jance), it would go well. Fire and Ice is even better than Partner in Crime.

Until the end of the book, J.P. and Joanna stay in their own jurisdictions to work their cases, and both characters are more comfortable that way. It's interesting to see how the two cases eventually link together.

J.P. seems to have made quite a few changes in his life; so much so that I might just try reading about him again. Joanna's life is the usual hectic blur of being sheriff in a county that's larger than some states, of being the wife of a writer who has to go on book tours, of being the mother of an infant and a teenager. J.P. has always been a bit of a loner. Joanna Brady is surrounded by family and friends and co-workers, many of whom have their own story lines woven seamlessly into the narrative.

In both series, Jance has created characters that, after a few books, can easily feel like members of your own family. Jance's plots are always interesting and flow smoothly, and her settings are close to perfection. Fire and Ice is yet another winner for J.A. Jance. When she stops writing books, I think I'll cry.