Rating: 
Summary: Devil's Claw
Review: Another great Joanna Brady story. I love feeling like I know the the people and the places in her stories.
Rating:
Summary: Sheriff Joanna Brady at her best!
Review: At the beginning of the book, the eighth installment of the Sheriff Joanna Brady series, Joanna, a card-carrying member of the "women who do too much" club, is balancing her job, motherhood while preparing for her upcoming marriage to Butch Dixon. But she is thrown for a loop when her much loved neighbor and handyman, Clayton, is found dead and an Indian girl is missing and a suspect in the murder of her mother, recently released from prison. Meanwhile Joanna's personal life is in an uproar with a mother who is micromanaging her wedding, new inlaws-to-be who seem more impossible than her mother and her 12 year-old daughter who vacillates between wanting to be treated like an adult and thinking she will be forgotten after the marriage. Clayton's daughter, Reba, arrives for the funeral accusing Joanna of murdering her father after she learns Joanna is to inherit Clayton's ranch. Reba extracts a very personal revenge against Joanna. Joanna becomes much more human in her reaction to these adversities, abandoning her superwoman mantle. She comes to terms with what is really important for her while providing a very entertaining and engaging story. You care what happens to these characters who are so real it seems you know them. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to the next installment in what may be my favorite mystery series.
Rating:
Summary: Sheriff Joanna Brady at her best!
Review: At the beginning of the book, the eighth installment of the Sheriff Joanna Brady series, Joanna, a card-carrying member of the "women who do too much" club, is balancing her job, motherhood while preparing for her upcoming marriage to Butch Dixon. But she is thrown for a loop when her much loved neighbor and handyman, Clayton, is found dead and an Indian girl is missing and a suspect in the murder of her mother, recently released from prison. Meanwhile Joanna's personal life is in an uproar with a mother who is micromanaging her wedding, new inlaws-to-be who seem more impossible than her mother and her 12 year-old daughter who vacillates between wanting to be treated like an adult and thinking she will be forgotten after the marriage. Clayton's daughter, Reba, arrives for the funeral accusing Joanna of murdering her father after she learns Joanna is to inherit Clayton's ranch. Reba extracts a very personal revenge against Joanna. Joanna becomes much more human in her reaction to these adversities, abandoning her superwoman mantle. She comes to terms with what is really important for her while providing a very entertaining and engaging story. You care what happens to these characters who are so real it seems you know them. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to the next installment in what may be my favorite mystery series.
Rating:
Summary: Jance just gets better with time!
Review: Boy, when I have spent a week research eugenics in the U.S., I need to dive into a book that is intelligent and fun to read. Jance's books usually fill the spot. I enjoy reading both her books on Sheriff Brady, and the mysteries based in Seattle. But because she is a woman and therefore knows the idiosyncracies of being a woman in a man's profession, the writing often is more concise and sympathetic in this series. Brady's got all the fun of juggling family problems (including parents and in-laws) while trying to hold down a job and get people to take her seriously. I thoroughly enjoyed the pace and the writing for this book. Strong plot, good characterization, quick read. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh
Rating:
Summary: A great way to start this series
Review: Having just returned from two weeks in Tucson, this mystery hit the spot (and wrecked other weekend plans). The place names added a greater touch of credibility for me. I also just read a Fairstein and a Paretsky book, and much as I enjoy their characters and writing, the coincidences in their storylines become a bit absurd. Jance, on the other hand, weaves a well-connected plot in which everything is well meshed (like the Devil's Claw in basketweaving) without stepping over the line into fantasyland. The only thing a bit hard to fathom is how Sheriff Brady gathered what seems to be the country's best law enforcement staff in her somewhat remote area of Arizona (and one with pervasive budget problems, as documented many times throughout the book). If those characters are based on real life officers, that does it -- I'm moving to Cochise County when I retire!
Rating:
Summary: Best yet
Review: I have read all of J. J. Jance's books and in my opinion, this is the best of all. I will not give away the ending, but the villain is not the person the reader would suspect.
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Summary: Arizona Native
Review: I live in Phoenix and grew up in Peoria, so I really know the area. I have a friend that could be Joanna Brady, she is a civil servent. So I say, Ms Jance you are super beyond words. You write of the area as it really is and the people also. People who have not been in Cochise County should visit. Then you will understand.This and all the Joanna Brady books are wonderful and I look forward to more. I will always be first in line for the new adventure
Rating: 
Summary: "Saint" Joanna Brady?
Review: I think I've read all of the Joanna Brady series published to date, and Devil's Claw is the last one I will read. The locations are great and the plotting is excellent, as far as the police procedural and mystery aspect of the story goes, but in her personal life, the central character is becoming just too saccharin to be believed. I find the personality differences between "Sheriff" Brady and "Mother" Brady unrealistic. Also, why is it that so many writers who make women their central characters have to make them single mothers? How about a tough, honest, dedicated sheriff who doesn't want any kids? That would be nice for a change.
Rating: 
Summary: proofer-goof
Review: I too have always enjoyed greatly the JJ Jance Joanna Brady books--unfortunately I had finally read the first in the series just before reading this one and was very surprised and disappointed to see two major errors or conflicts between the two. First, when she received her father's badge and second, the use of Ken Galloway as a minor character's name when the first book left him as a major betrayer, killer, and we hope wounded very badly. This was distracting and may be why I found this story fascinating in the family story of Lucy and her families multi-generations of women but weak in the resolution and who-done-it.
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Summary: Likeable Characters
Review: I wasn't particularly interested in reading another story about a missing computer disc, but I stayed with this story because I liked the characters. There were plenty of side stories to keep interest alive while the main plot evolved. When the facts surrounding the missing disc finally are revealed, the pace picks up quite a bit. This is a fairly lightweight mystery, but the character of Sheriff Joanna Brady carries the day.
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