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Summary: Mother in-law introduced me to Joanna Brady
Review: As a huge fan of the Alex Cross series by James Patterson which I introduced my mother in-law to, she introduced me to JA Jance's Joanna Brady series. Thanks Mom! I loved it. As soon as I finished this one it was on to the next and the next! It's great to have a strong female character that isn't trashy.
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Summary: Nice introduction to an interesting series
Review: Desert Heat in a nice introduction to the Joanna Brady series of books. Joanna Brady is a happily married mother of one, when her husband Andy, a local police officer, is shot on his way home. Determined to find out who killed Andy, and why his reputation is being destroyed by innuendo and gossip, Joanna sets out to solve the mystery of his death on her own. The pace of the book is fairly fast, and there are an assortment of interesting characters throughout the story. Joanna Brady is also smart, and tough, but with a touch of vulnerability. The setting of the Arizona desert is almost a character in the book, with nice descriptions. The ending leaves you wanting to follow up on the further adventures of Joanna Brady and company.
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Summary: A very interesting origin.
Review: I found this book to relate a touching, and very different origin of a crime-solver. I didn't find all of the chatacters to be 2-dimensional. The story presented a large, grey area in which you did have doubts as to who was a "black hat". This novel did encourage me to seek out others in the series, and I'm not generally a mystery fan.
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Summary: Not my last Jance
Review: I liked the Arizona scene-setting - birds and beasts and landscape nicely done. A good, and even useful, description of a family coping with grief. The wife and parents and child (and dog) of the victim come together in moving way to cope with bereavement, and are helped by a minister (although it's quite high on sex and violence). I think the reviewer who complained of exposition has a point. She tends to tell us what to think of a character before showing us. For example Joanna Brady's parents are introduced as "rock-solid, salt-of the earth type people" Not as much humor as I personally like, although a certain amount in the portrait of Joanna's non-supportive mother. No great dialog. No great prose. She gets along with telling the story.
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Summary: I LOVE ALL OF THE JOANNA BRADY MYSTERIES
Review: I'M FROM PHOENIX - AND LOVE BISBEE, AZ - I CAN RELATE TO THE LOCATIONS IN ALL OF THE JOANNA BRADY BOOKS. THANKS!
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Summary: It really pulled me in.
Review: I'm from Tucson and related to the characters and settings. I went out and bought the entire series. She was really able to keep me on the edge of my seat.
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Summary: It's Not a Dry Heat
Review: In Desert Heat, J.A. Jance introduces us to Joanna Brady, a happily married young woman who sells life insurance in the town of Bisbee, Arizona. Together with her husband, Andy, who is a Cochise County sheriff's deputy, and their bright 9-year old daughter, Joanna leads a comfortable and happy small-town life - comfortable and happy, that is, until the night of her tenth wedding anniversary when she finds her husband lying shot and near death in a desert ravine not far from home. Almost before he is transported to the hospital, rumors begin to circulate that Andy is a good cop turned bad and that he tried to commit suicide rather than to risk having his shady dealings with drug smugglers exposed. Of course, Joanna doesn't believe any of the rumors and sets out on a mission to find the true story and to find Andy's attacker. This series debut manages to successfully combine a cast of very believable and well-developed characters with an intriguing mystery and a unique setting. The "whodunit" is solved early on, but the reader is left trying to understand the "why" until nearly the end. The story unfolds at a steady pace and there is little fever-pitch action or edge-of-your-seat suspense; however, that's actually an advantage as it makes the story quite believable and is consistent with life in a small town like Bisbee. Despite the deliberate pace, plenty of surprises throughout do keep the reader guessing and turning the pages. Desert Heat is a quick and enjoyable read for those who enjoy a good mystery set in the desert southwest. With such a strong debut, I've definitely become a Joanna Brady (and J.A. Jance) fan and am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.
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Summary: Breezy Read
Review: In Desert Heat, J.A. Jance manages to do several things very well: she establishes likeable primary and secondary characters ( ... and then there's Maude, er, Eleanor, Joanna Brady's mother, who's well-established and *dis*likeable); she makes a bold departure (both geographically and tonally) from the J.P. Beaumont Seattle series; and sets up a decent mystery (more Lifetime than HBO, though a couple scenes wouldn't be out of place on Cinemax). A few things aren't quite Grade-A, however: the plot itself is lightweight and Joanna has a tendency to ramble in her dialogue. Although this is the first in the series, if you've read other Joanna Brady books first, go ahead and read this one too. The pace moves quickly and it's always good to read a character's origins firsthand. While the bar - to a certain degree - is set low, the novel certainly doesn't disappoint. Because there is room for improvement, the other books in the series keep getting better and better
Rating:
Summary: Breezy Read
Review: In Desert Heat, J.A. Jance manages to do several things very well: she establishes likeable primary and secondary characters ( ... and then there's Maude, er, Eleanor, Joanna Brady's mother, who's well-established and *dis*likeable); she makes a bold departure (both geographically and tonally) from the J.P. Beaumont Seattle series; and sets up a decent mystery (more Lifetime than HBO, though a couple scenes wouldn't be out of place on Cinemax). A few things aren't quite Grade-A, however: the plot itself is lightweight and Joanna has a tendency to ramble in her dialogue. Although this is the first in the series, if you've read other Joanna Brady books first, go ahead and read this one too. The pace moves quickly and it's always good to read a character's origins firsthand. While the bar - to a certain degree - is set low, the novel certainly doesn't disappoint. Because there is room for improvement, the other books in the series keep getting better and better
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Summary: Plucky heroine in a desert setting
Review: In the first book of this series, we meet the heroine, Joanna Brady, who is waiting for her lawman husband, Andy, to come home for their 10th. anniversary celebration. Her world is shattered when he is found critically injured beside his wrecked vehicle. As she is keeping vigil at the hospital, we are introduced to Angie Kellogg who is kept a virtual prisoner by her gangster boyfriend. After Andy is accused of being involved in a drug ring, Angie becomes a key figure in Joanna's struggle to exonerate him. The two women meet, and the action picks up considerably as they are pursued by Angie's boyfriend plus some other surprising bad guys. For fans of the J.P. Beaumont series, set in Seattle, Joanna's southern Arizona home will be quite a contrast. Author Jance grew up in Arizona and she is as adept at using the desert setting as a background as she is at using Seattle.
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