Rating: 
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.
Rating: 
Summary: I love this book!!!!
Review: It's captivating and mysterious.Once i started reading it i could not stop!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: You will like Joanna Brady.
Review: Joanna's sheriff husband dies and Joanna decides to track down his killer. She is plucky, tough, warm and fallible - motivated largely by the horror that her husband was possibly not the man she thought he was and may have been involved in drugs.If you, like me, enjoy good characterisations and human situations, I think you might enjoy this one and the entire Joanna Brady series.
Rating:
Summary: You will like Joanna Brady.
Review: Joanna's sheriff husband dies and Joanna decides to track down his killer. She is plucky, tough, warm and fallible - motivated largely by the horror that her husband was possibly not the man she thought he was and may have been involved in drugs. If you, like me, enjoy good characterisations and human situations, I think you might enjoy this one and the entire Joanna Brady series.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent series opener with Joanna Brady an engaging sleuth
Review: Not as gritty as the J.P. Beaumont mysteries, yet recently widowed Joanna Brady is one tough and determined sleuth who juggles crime solving, the new demands of single parenthood, and her own personal bereavement with finesse. A terrific series I intend to follow!
Rating:
Summary: Desert Heat Is A Great Read!
Review: Reading Desert Heat, the first volume in the JoAnna Brady series, is all it takes to make you a J. A. Jance fan. The adventures of the lady sheriff in the small southwest town hold your interest right up to the last page. The characters become like old friends and once you make a connection with these characters, you are hooked. In other words, Desert Heat is a great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Hope for better
Review: This is the first in the long Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County series. It shows the sad family events that initially pushed Joanna, as the wife of a deputy sheriff, into law enforcement. Joanna is a determined, able, and frank talking woman who must deal with an allegedly suicidal, drug-dealing, and cheating husband. It's not really a "suspense" novel, as personal threats are few and Joanna sorta backs into solving the crime. The story is set up well with empathetic family situations and loyalties, but towards the end the plot goes ratty, a couple of glaring holes in the plot conveniently appearing as Jance races to wrap up the story. I think Jance also severely underplays local Arizona color and ambiance: this novel could be happen anywhere, quite unlike the great specificity and plot drivers of Hillerman or McGarrity's novels that could only be set in New Mexico. I hope Jance gets better in later novels, for this one doesn't generate much heat. For some reason this Avon pb is printed in rather large print, which may contribute to why it's a nicely fast and easy read.
Rating:
Summary: Hope for better
Review: This is the first in the long Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County series. It shows the sad family events that initially pushed Joanna, as the wife of a deputy sheriff, into law enforcement. Joanna is a determined, able, and frank talking woman who must deal with an allegedly suicidal, drug-dealing, and cheating husband. It's not really a "suspense" novel, as personal threats are few and Joanna sorta backs into solving the crime. The story is set up well with empathetic family situations and loyalties, but towards the end the plot goes ratty, a couple of glaring holes in the plot conveniently appearing as Jance races to wrap up the story. I think Jance also severely underplays local Arizona color and ambiance: this novel could be happen anywhere, quite unlike the great specificity and plot drivers of Hillerman or McGarrity's novels that could only be set in New Mexico. I hope Jance gets better in later novels, for this one doesn't generate much heat. For some reason this Avon pb is printed in rather large print, which may contribute to why it's a nicely fast and easy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much exposition, not enough plot
Review: This was my first Judith Jance book, and it wasn't a promising beginning. In her efforts to set the stage for a whole new series, Jance forgot to tell a decent story. The characters, good and bad, were 2-dimensional, and the plot rested on the shaky foundation of the protagonist's stupidity. Maybe later books in the series are better, but skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: This was the first book I read by J.A. Jance. I really enjoyed it and have since purchased several more of her books including the J.P. Beaumont mysteries. I like the real people and all their emotions good and bad.
|
