Rating: 
Summary: One of the best in the series...but...
Review: In this fourth Joanna Brady book, the heroine seems to become better defined than in the previous books. She continues to juggle her role as sheriff and mother, but seems to find a better balance. She is also relating better to her doubting staff and proving that she is worthy of her job. In this book, Hal Morgan's beloved wife is run over by a drunk driver on their 19th. wedding anniversary. The driver is Bucky Buckwalter, a veterinarian who serves his short term and some community service, then is released. Hal is upset by what he perceives as a mere slap on the wrist, and becomes very active in Mother's Against Drunk Drivers. When Bucky is found dead in a burning building, everyone assumes that Hal is the murderer. Everyone except Joanna, that is. She does some investigating and the action becomes fast and furious at the end. This book also contains a budding romance for Joanna, as well as her widowed mother.
Rating: 
Summary: Joanna Brady hits her stride
Review: In this fourth Joanna Brady book, the heroine seems to become better defined than in the previous books. She continues to juggle her role as sheriff and mother, but seems to find a better balance. She is also relating better to her doubting staff and proving that she is worthy of her job. In this book, Hal Morgan's beloved wife is run over by a drunk driver on their 19th. wedding anniversary. The driver is Bucky Buckwalter, a veterinarian who serves his short term and some community service, then is released. Hal is upset by what he perceives as a mere slap on the wrist, and becomes very active in Mother's Against Drunk Drivers. When Bucky is found dead in a burning building, everyone assumes that Hal is the murderer. Everyone except Joanna, that is. She does some investigating and the action becomes fast and furious at the end. This book also contains a budding romance for Joanna, as well as her widowed mother.
Rating:
Summary: A great audiobook and plot
Review: JA Jance keeps you on your toes with this novel, a great murder mystery set in AZ featuring heroine joanna Brady, the newly elected sheriff in Cochise county. When she enlists in police officer's school for newly hired officers, she is once again involved in a homicide, with an unlikely suspect. in following leads that lead her deeper into this murder, she is herself in danger. She meets a gentleman she first distrusts, and then finds to be a strong, supportive friend, her future husband Butch Dixon.
This audio book is well narrated, if you can grab a used version, do so, its worth it. They are hard to find.
If you listen to audiobooks, this is an easy book to follow, it won't let you fall asleep, and you'll be tempted to listen to it from the first to last tape.
Rating:
Summary: A great audiobook and plot
Review: This book is entertaining enough if you have to find something to read on a bus ride or in a waiting room. The story is ok, the characters are likable enough. It's easy to empathize with Joanna. "Dead to Rights" is not a page turner, but it's not boring. It's all pretty shallow; there's no meat to the story and nothing particularly impressive about the writing. Not memorable.For comparison's sake, I'd say that the Joanna Brady mysteries are about as sophisticated & engaging as Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series (although there is a bit more violence in the J.A. Jance books). It's fine for someone looking for a quick & easy little story. A more serious-minded reader will think this is a waste of time & paper. By the way, another reviewer calls the "The First Book in this Series," but that means that it's the first book that that reviewer read, not that it's the first in the series. If you're going to read the series, you may as well start in the beginning: "Desert Heat" is the first book I believe, and this is the fourth or fifth.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Simple-Minded Mystery
Review: This book is entertaining enough if you have to find something to read on a bus ride or in a waiting room. The story is ok, the characters are likable enough. It's easy to empathize with Joanna. "Dead to Rights" is not a page turner, but it's not boring. It's all pretty shallow; there's no meat to the story and nothing particularly impressive about the writing. Not memorable. For comparison's sake, I'd say that the Joanna Brady mysteries are about as sophisticated & engaging as Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series (although there is a bit more violence in the J.A. Jance books). It's fine for someone looking for a quick & easy little story. A more serious-minded reader will think this is a waste of time & paper. By the way, another reviewer calls the "The First Book in this Series," but that means that it's the first book that that reviewer read, not that it's the first in the series. If you're going to read the series, you may as well start in the beginning: "Desert Heat" is the first book I believe, and this is the fourth or fifth.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Simple-Minded Mystery
Review: This book is entertaining enough if you have to find something to read on a bus ride or in a waiting room. The story is ok, the characters are likable enough. It's easy to empathize with Joanna. "Dead to Rights" is not a page turner, but it's not boring. It's all pretty shallow; there's no meat to the story and nothing particularly impressive about the writing. Not memorable. For comparison's sake, I'd say that the Joanna Brady mysteries are about as sophisticated & engaging as Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series (although there is a bit more violence in the J.A. Jance books). It's fine for someone looking for a quick & easy little story. A more serious-minded reader will think this is a waste of time & paper. By the way, another reviewer calls the "The First Book in this Series," but that means that it's the first book that that reviewer read, not that it's the first in the series. If you're going to read the series, you may as well start in the beginning: "Desert Heat" is the first book I believe, and this is the fourth or fifth.
Rating:
Summary: First book in this series and definitely not the last!
Review: This is the first book I have read by J. A. Jance and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I have to go see if I can find the first three before I go on to Skeleton Canyon. I was stumped until almost the very end on who the killer was -- that makes for a good read! Try J. A. Jance. You'll like her.
Rating:
Summary: First book in this series and definitely not the last!
Review: This is the first book I have read by J. A. Jance and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I have to go see if I can find the first three before I go on to Skeleton Canyon. I was stumped until almost the very end on who the killer was -- that makes for a good read! Try J. A. Jance. You'll like her.
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