J.A. Jance Book Signing

From Daily Courier (AZ) --

Detective novelist J.A. Jance holds fans in thrall at YHS 'Tea & Mystery' fundraiser --

By Karen Despain --
2/25/2010 --

Speaking "without looking at a teleprompter and nothing on my hand," bestselling author J.A. Jance entertained a packed room of fans this past Saturday with quips about her former deceased husband and vignettes about beloved dogs in her life.

Readers know Jance for her gripping, grizzly mystery novels, notably the Detective J.P. Beaumont and Sheriff Joanna Brady series, but they may not have heard that her path to success threw some hurdles at her along the way.

From the time Jance read "Wizard of Oz" in the second grade, she knew she wanted to be a writer, she said. But, a University of Arizona professor shut her out of a creative writing class because she was a girl and encouraged her to become a teacher or a nurse, instead. What did she do but marry a man in that class who told her, "There's only going to be one writer, and that's me."

Jance said she endured his alcoholism for 18 years before realizing that "loving him hadn't fixed him." Despite his early admonition to her, Jance secretly defied him by writing in the dark of night and scribbling bits of poetry that she hid in a strong box.

When she had had enough, she loaded her kids and a U-Haul trailer and headed out of Arizona to Seattle, Wash., and sold life insurance to survive.

A Dale Carnegie course became the pivotal point in her career. The instructor asked students to "write about an event that had changed their course in life." Jance put pen to paper and wrote about how her life had intersected with a serial killer in Arizona.

This launched her career, but with a bit of a hiccup. Her first attempt at a novel threaded fact among fiction and was too long, yet her agent noticed her talent for fabricating a great tale.

That was 40 novels ago and before Jance let readers know that she was a woman and not a retired law enforcement officer doing the writing.

Jance laced humor and pathos of her early career in a talk at the Prescott Resort to benefit the Yavapai Humane Society, donating her customary fee to the organization, which netted $5,000 from its Tea & Mystery event. The Worm Bookstore was also on hand to sell Jance's books and donated 10 percent of its profits to the Humane Society.

Jance said her first husband was a "bad idea, but in terms of writing murder mysteries, he was a gold mine." And, she warned, "If you have friends who write murder mysteries, don't make them mad. We have a way of getting back."

Now happily married to Bill for many years, Janice fed animal lovers in the audience stories about their dogs and how they have figured in their lives and her writing.

After her family left South Dakota for Bisbee, Ariz., when Jance was young, she carried home from first grade one day "an incredibly ugly puppy" and told her mother that the dog had followed her. As it happened, her grandparents were visiting and when they were sitting at breakfast, she noticed that her grandmother "began feeding toast to something in the arm of her sweater.

"My mom didn't have enough rank too say 'no,'" Jance said, so Daisy became a member of the family, with many other canines to follow in her household and books.

Two goldens, Nikki and Tesla, named after Nicolai Tesla, make a cameo appearance being walked by their owner when J.P. Beaumont finds himself lost in Bellevue, Wash.," in her book, "Taking the Fifth."

Rescued golden, elderly Mandy died of bone cancer after being with Jance and her husband for only six months but lived on for years as Beaumont's grandparents' dog. Pound puppy Bony appears "in tow" of the Walker family in her books, "Hour of the Hunter" and "Kiss of the Bees" as David Ladd's dog, Oho. Goldens Aggie and Daphne, named for Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier, appear as themselves in a Maddy Watkins short story, "Highest Best Use," and in a novella, "The Case of the London Cabbie." Daphne's "heroic barking alerted us to the presence of an intruder in our bedroom," Jance said, "and gave me the beginning of 'Damage Control.'"

Jance and her husband travel a lot, and she takes trips to book signings and speaking engagements, as well.

No matter what, "I write every day," she said. "My advice to writers is this: Published or not, a writer is someone who has written today."

Review of Fire and Ice by J. A. Jance

From Oklahoma's NewsOK --

Review: 'Fire and Ice' by J.A. Jance --

By: John Harrington --
February 14, 2010 --

The burned body of a Hispanic woman is found in the Washington Cascades. J.P. Beaumont of the Washington state attorney general’s investigative unit has five other cases with the same method of operation. The victims haven’t been identified, because they’ve been burned, and their teeth were removed. But this victim’s teeth are intact.

At the same time in Arizona, Sheriff Joanna Brady has a murder case. A campground caretaker is found dead in what appears to be an accident. Beaumont’s investigation leads him into Brady’s territory, and it appears their cases may be related. Besides murder, they may involve an international drug and prostitution ring.

It’s a good read for J.A. Jance fans, but the jumping between two states and a large cast of characters may leave you confused.

Review of Trial by Fire by J. A. Jance

From SCNow (South Carolina) --

Library urging public to share ‘worthy’ experiences --

By Salley Davidson --
January 20, 2010 --

Trial by Fire, by J. A. Jance: skillfully, Jance delivers relentless suspense in what is surely her finest novel yet in this riveting and addictive series.

In the heat of the Arizona desert, a raging fire pushes temperatures to a deadly degree, and one woman is left to burn. Pulled barely breathing from the fire, the victim has no idea who she is, let alone who would do this to her, or why.

In her hospital bed she drifts in and out of consciousness, her only means of communicating a blink of the eye. And then an angel appears. Misguidedly known around town as the “Angel of Death,“ Sister Anselm has devoted her life to working as an advocate for unidentified patients.

To her burn patient, she is a savior. But to this Jane Doe’s would-be killer, Sister Anselm’s efforts pose a serious threat. Justice is fiercely pursued, but what is discovered is a secret even darker and more twisted than one could have imagined.

‘Cruel Intent’ has twists, turns to keep book interesting (J. A. Jance)

From The Courier of Montgomery County (Houston) --

'Cruel Intent' has twists, turns to keep book interesting --

By Pat Williams --
01.07.10 --

There’s no mystery about the crime: vicious serial murder. The perpetrator appears at the beginning of the tale exhibiting his barely-controlled anger and his diabolical acts in the murder of a beautiful young mother. The man is proud of his well-planned executions, and works diligently to avoid the mistakes others make. This killer is a professional in the community, well-educated, and in a social level in which he would not be directly targeted. He is technologically astute, and uses his computer system to find and manipulate his victims.

Ex-television journalist Ali Reynolds has experienced success in marriage and career, but has also tasted the other side of the coin. She lived through the illness and death of her first husband, endured her second husband’s unfaithfulness and then was wrongly accused of murdering him, and quietly tolerated the emotional and social stress of such an untenable situation. Returning home to Sedona, Arizona, Ali retreats from the limelight to enjoy being close to family, spending time remodeling her home, and renewing herself.

On hearing that a young woman had been killed, Ali becomes aware that the victim is identified as the wife of the Bryan Forester, the contractor handling Ali’s renovation project. She has always respected and liked Bryan, and when he was arrested for the murder, Ali was unable to believe he could have committed such an act. After her own experience of trying to prove herself innocent, Ali felt a deep desire to find the truth.

Complications arise when Ali’s good friend and occasional romantic interest, Dave Holman, began to assert his position as police detective and question Bryan in a manner that seemed accusatory to Ali. Ali soon found herself exhibiting a defensive manner when Dave was on the work site questioning Bryan’s crew, while Dave was irritated to find Ali expressing compassion toward someone who was a viable suspect for murder.

Using her internet, Ali soon found that Bryan’s wife was not the faithful person she liked to portray, and that her home life was obviously troubled. While Ali was beginning her search for other facts, the computer sites she used were also being watched by the murderer. Unaware that her personal information had been identified, Ali also did not know the killer was beginning to consider her a problem that could be removed – another murder, if necessary.

The story flows smoothly, and the book is easy to read. Ali Reynolds appears in the fourth book of a series, with a fifth to be published early in 2010. J. A. Jance has written innumerable books involving different characters, and while each series features a different personality with an independent plot, they are written so that the books need not be read in order of their publication.

Jance’s current plot stresses various uses of the internet, as well as the dangers involved in others being able to intrude into an individual’s website. In addition to the evil intent of murder, the author creates suspense and tension by having murder charges falsely brought against a person with which the reader can develop empathy.

As the lead character, Ali is more developed than in other serial-type novels. She has obvious character flaws, yet is family-oriented, kind, strong, successful, and smart. Not a bad composition for someone who is always right on target in helping to unravel mysterious deaths in odd situations.

Along with other unexplained deaths, lying witnesses, and strange coincidences, there are enough twists and turns in the story to keep the reader interested and intrigued. Jance proves her writing skill in this series, and the pleasure found in reading this current book only whets the positive anticipation for the next suspenseful adventure.