Devil's Claw

I love Joanna Brady. The characters are so true to life. The overbearing mother, the pushy reporter and her adorable daughter. It is like visiting old friends.
If you are looking for a mystery without any strong language and nothing too gory this series is one you will not want to miss.

I've loved J. A. Jance's books for years and this 12 year old paperback given to me by a friend is certainly no disappointment. It's part of the series starring Sheriff Joanna Brady of Bisbee, AZ. In this one Brady and her boyfriend Butch are nearing their wedding date when a 15 year old part Apache girl, Lucy, and her pet red-tailed hawk disappear. That same night Lucy's mother is murdered just after being released from prison where she had been because she confessed to killing Lucy's father.

As if that isn't enough, neighbor Clayton Rhodes is found dead and Brady learns to her surprise that he has left her his large ranch, and his only surviving child is a woman who is a handful to say the least.

Lucy is a sympathetic character. She show more loved her father and after his murder she was sent to live with her grandmother. She has no friends other than her hawk and so she leads a lonely life as she suffers bullying from her classmates. She is also a very brave girl whose journey in this book is something not many 15 year old girls could accomplish.

Joanna's extremely critical mother is a character you would just like to smack around, but in this book she actually does some nice things, and Butch's mother turns out to be made of the same cloth. Oh boy, Joanna is in for quite a wedding! All the regular characters are part of the story making Devil's Claw a suspenseful but also fun read. show less

Another episode in the continuing adventures of Joanna Brady, the first (and only) female sheriff in Arizona. Joanna is eagerly anticipating her wedding in a few weeks, although not eager about meeting her fiance's parents. In the meantime, she's trying to solve a murder, locate a missing teenage who happens to be the daughter of the murder victim, deal with the unexpected death of her beloved next-door neighbor, and keep her feet on the ground, and her mother off her back.

I was a bit confused about the ending at first, I really had to sit down and almost draw myself a diagram to see how the pieces fit so nicely together. Jance's explanation may have wrapped it all up a bit too neatly, and left me saying 'Huh?' When I finally understood show more what had happened and why, it made sense, but I think the resolution of the main crime (the murder) case could have been a bit more carefully explained as far as who all the players were and how they were involved. show less

Southwestern mysteries continue to grow in popularity, with Jance's series, set in southern Arizona, one of the strongest entries in the subgenre. The new novel to feature Sheriff Joanna Brady opens at the entrance to a desert canyon called the Cochise Stronghold, where Sandra Ridder, who is part Apache, is trying to retrieve an item she buried eight years ago, before going to prison for killing her husband. The next day hikers find her corpse, while Sandra's 15-year-old daughter, Lucinda, and the girl's pet red-tailed hawk go missing. Could Lucinda, who seems to be a troubled loner, have killed her mother as revenge for her father's murder? Joanna starts to investigate shortly before she's to be married. Then Clayton Rhodes, the show more neighbor who helps feed Joanna's animals, dies suddenly, and unexpectedly bequeaths his ranch to her. Clayton's estranged daughter feels she should have inherited the property. Unreasonably and viciously, she blames Joanna for exerting undue influence over her father. The tangled threads of Joanna's personal life come close to overwhelming her professional one, and she has to exercise all of her time management skills to keep the murder inquiry on track. Her fianc?, Butch Dixon, comes off as way too perfect to be human, but his parents, in an amusing touch, are seriously dysfunctional. Sometimes the dialogue is stiff, but generally this is a solid installment in a worthy series. The Arizona desert, as usual in Jance's mysteries, plays an unforgettable part in this atmospheric tale. Mystery Guild dual main selection. show less

Lucy, a teenage girl whose only friend is a red-tailed hawk, knows her life is in danger after witnessing her mother’s death. She’s got what the killer is looking for. Not knowing who to trust, she’s on the run. Sheriff Joanna Brady has a lot on her plate. She’s looking for the missing teen and it’s suspected that the girl had killed her mother. It requires digging into the past and learning more about the circumstances around Lucy’s father’s death to catch the killer.

There’s great deal going on in her personal life as well. She’s getting married within the week and her overbearing mother is driving her nuts with details. The sudden death of her neighbor who has been taking care of the animals on Joanna’s ranch hits show more her hard, especially when Clayton’s estranged daughter breezes into town making accusations that Joanna killed him. Now she adds an interesting element! Joanna is about to meet her in-laws and just knows her house won’t be clean enough, and Jenny, while she loves Butch, does have some fears about what the change in relationship will mean to her.

The fast-moving story is packed with events and emotions. It contains all of the twists and twerks of the prior stories but I was really sorry to see what I believe was a missed opportunity. Lucy is friendless due to not only her heritage, but the fact that her mother had been in jail for the murder of Lucy’s father. Jenny and Lucy never get to meet and it would have been nice to see a non-adult accept her as she is which Jenny would have easily done. But, these stories are always realistic and the two had no reason to meet, especially since they don’t live close by. The hawk does add a nice touch. show less

JA Jance is not my favorite mystery writer but I like her series set in Southern Arizona. The Joanna Brady stories are set in and around Bisbee AZ . Jance does not really have great descriptive writing skills but I can picture the places of the Cochise County AZ because I have been there so many times. I do like the continuing characters including the Methodist minister Maryanne and Joanna's former in-laws. In Devil's Claw a woman just out of prison is found murdered right at the entrance to Cochise Stronghold in Coronado National Forest. The murder victim's 15 year old daughter who had been living with her grandmother near Cochise Stronghold disappeared the same night her mother was murdered. The girl, Lucy Ridder, has no friends and show more her only companion is a Red-tailed Hawk she rained from it's hatching. Finding Lucy and learning what she knows is just one of the tasks for Sheriff Joanna and her deputies. While this was happening Joanna, who was a widow, was supposed to be preparing for her upcoming wedding to Butch. Well, everything almost always works out ok in these stories. Devil's Claw is named for a plant which is a common motif in Apache basketry and jewelry. This is the 8th book in the Sheriff Joanna Brady series. show less

I started reading Jance with her J.P. Beaumont series, but prefer the Joanna Brady books because of the southwestern setting and better realism she achieves speaking through a female voice.