Rating: 
Summary: A dead artist leads Sheriff Joanna Brady to investigate
Review: A dead artist leads Sheriff Joanna Brady to investigate, only to uncover a background with ties to a big city legal world. Fast-paced tension evolves as Joanna faces a questionable investigator, emotional challenges, and an increasingly complex set of twists and turns. Partner In Crime is an excellent mystery packed with personable protagonists.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many loose ends
Review: Although the book is well written and you will learn some interesting things about your car's airbags. The book has too many loose ends and a love story that started from nowhere. I didn't like that love story because supposedly Joanna loved her husband and daughter and I don't think that in less than three days you will drop your life for a person you will never see again.
Albeit this is my first J.A. J's book and I think the answers to the next questions must be in another book. When you write a book and you tuck some questions, you must give the answers although they are in another book, so when you'll finish the book you will see that something is missing:
What happened to Joanna's first husband?
Why did JP Beaumont's second wife tried to kill him?
What happened with Jack Brampton's body?
And I have many more questions.
Rating:
Summary: A DOUBLE-BARRELED DELIVERY OF A CHILLING TALE
Review: Combine Tony Award winner Debra Monk with stage and film actor Cotter Smith and you have a powerful double-barreled reading of the latest adventure by ace crime writer J. A. Jance. Avid Jance fans (and there are many) will remember Seattle based J. P. Beaumont, Washington State Attorney General's Office, and Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Joanna Brady from previous tales. Pairing the two results in combat and combustion. When Washington State artist Rochelle Baxter is murdered in Arizona, Joanna is shocked to learn that the victim was slain while under government protection. Enter J.P., the newest member of the State's Investigation team. Joanna sees his arrival as interference, which she thoroughly resents. However, she's under orders to cooperate so she reluctantly does until she learns that he may be the only one she can trust. Do this unlikely duo become romantically involved? Are they a match for the deadly forces allied against them? The fun's in finding out through a crisply written narrative that's superbly read. - Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: Stolid
Review: Dry appraisal of a crime, action and suspense is low. Author tries to be too subtle in charecter interactions. Ending leaves you hanging. Culmination makes you wish you had more. Definitely geared to a non bloodthirsty mystery audience.
Rating:
Summary: Slow and Disappointing
Review: I am a fan of Jance and have read all of her books for both the Brady and Beaumont series. This just didn't do it for me. I thought it was slow and I only continued to read out of loyalty. I especially didn't like the "little moment" between Joanna and Beau at the end. I thought it was totally unnecessary. I didn't enjoy how Joanna, who I always thought exhibited great integrity, treated Butch like a door mat. Where was her loyalty? I don't believe Jance stayed true to Joanna's character.
Rating:
Summary: I wanted to love it
Review: I am a huge fan of Jance's JP Beaumont series, and I am a moderate fan of the Brady series. That being said I was not as thrilled with this book as I wanted to be. First off it is definitely more a Brady book than a Beaumont. I was almost half way through the book before Beaumont was introduced. This was not why I didn't like it, but was a minor disappointment. I felt this book went along smoothly, and then just seemed to fall apart at the end. It wasn't nearly as suspenseful as her books usually are, and I thought the ending had a lot of loose ends. But most of all I really disliked the focus on Beaumont's ex-wife Anne, coupled with the sexual attraction that seems to pop up out of no where. That seemed like something Jance threw in as an after thought and it really didn't seem to fit. Overall I would recommend this book to someone who is an avid Jance reader, but wouldn't want someone new to try this book first!
Rating: 
Summary: Synergistic success
Review: I follow Jance's Joanna Brady series but never got into the Beaumont character. So I must admit I opened this book with misgivings: would Beaumont's presence dilute the tone and style of the Joanna Brady character? To my surprise, Beaumont's addition actually allows the reader to observe new dimensions of Joanna Brady. He provides a foil that may be missing in the rest of the series. He's tough and hard-edged; she's a good cop who takes the day off when her daughter's dog dies. He is alone in the world; she is smothered in family. Actually, Joanna's character has always seemed somewhat one-dimensional to me -- certainly not as deep as other female heroines, such as Anna Pigeon or Sharon McCone (especially in later novels) or Kate Shugack. She's a sheriff and a mom, doing a good job with both. She has an interfering mother and great in-laws. But how did she get to be such a good sheriff -- by living with her father and husband? By drawing on her former skills as an office manager? And what conflicts does she face, internally or externally? In this book, her new husband, Butch, gets frustrated by her schedule (didn't he think about this before they got married?) and wants to put electric trains in their future family room. Um...so what? Joanna's story is told in third person, as usual, creating further distance. Beaumont, narrating in first person, is the sad detective with a past, trying to find a new job in the unfortunately named Special Unit. The story is a classic whodunit: Woman found dead, boyfriend first suspect, but victim's ties to out-of-state crime soon become evident -- and, I think, a little far-fetched. There's not much mystery and we soon realize who committed the crime. What Jance does best is create the setting in Bisbee, Arizona. Seen through Beaumont's citified eyes, we seem to be joining him as he walks through the main street and expresses the usual city-dweller's surprise at small-town life in the west. What keeps the pages turning is Jance's seamless writing. There is just enough suspense to want to keep going. And, more important, we come to like the characters and want to spend more time with them. I do not agree with reviewers who want to see further pairing of Brady and Beaumont. The success of their partnership -- from a reader's standpoint -- comes from the conflict between them.
Beaumont expects a small-town, innocent female who needs guidance and Brady expects an arrogant out-of-towner who wants to put her in her place. Once they start to build a friendship, the tension disappears and we have yet another nice person in Joanna Brady's life. Just what we don't need!
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Summary: Wow, J.A. Jance has done it again!!
Review: I just received this book via UPS yesterday afternoon. I started to read it and before I knew it it was very late but I just could not put it down, it was that good. Ms. Jance has managed to place the 2 main characters of her 2 different mystery series together in a flawless manner. JP Beaumont and Joanna Brady are both tough people used to doing things their own ways, without interference from others. Imgaine being able to take 2 such alike people, blending them together and actually making it work And work very well it does too. The story reintroduces a number of characters from earlier Joanna Brady books. At last we know what happened to Angie Kellogg and Dennis, The Parrot Guy, Hacker, Willy and Archie, Bobo Jenkins, Kristin and Terry Gregovich and Junior Dowdle. The book goes in a side trip about JP Beaumont's 2nd wife Anne Corley who grew up in Bisbee. It was interesting to see how that secondary story was woven seamlessly into the main story line. The story was a three hanky weeper in places, during Yolanda Canedo's funeral and when Sadie the hound had to be put to sleep. All in all a terrific book from an outstanding author.
Rating:
Summary: Great story - except the personal twist at the end
Review: I like the Joanna Brady novels, but don't care as much for the Beaumont series. But J. A. Jance weaves them together very well in the proper setting - the desert of course. A member of the witness protection program is relocated to Arizona, only to be found by thugs from her former life, and murdered. Beaumont travels from Seattle to help Sheriff Brady solve the murder, and further crimes. The story was very interesting, but I didn't like the way Joanna fell a victim to temptation near the end of the book. This was out of character for her. Please don't let this happen again Ms Jance!
Rating:
Summary: Great story - except the personal twist at the end
Review: I like the Joanna Brady novels, but don't care as much for the Beaumont series. But J. A. Jance weaves them together very well in the proper setting - the desert of course. A member of the witness protection program is relocated to Arizona, only to be found by thugs from her former life, and murdered. Beaumont travels from Seattle to help Sheriff Brady solve the murder, and further crimes. The story was very interesting, but I didn't like the way Joanna fell a victim to temptation near the end of the book. This was out of character for her. Please don't let this happen again Ms Jance!
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