Tombstone Courage

As the second and transitional book in the series, I read it wondering.... The plot is challenging and I wondered several times "whodunit." However, distractions,detracted: "who cares whether she has a run in her pantyhose??" Issues related to gender and leadership transition were intriguing.

This is the second book in the Joanna Brady series by J. A. Jance. Joanna is the newly elected sheriff of Bisbee, Arizona, following in the footsteps of her father and filling the job her husband was running for when he was killed in Book 1 (Desert Heat). She starts the job immediately upon being elected and before she can even be sworn in, a murder occurs. Harold Patterson, an elderly rancher, is extremely upset when his estranged middle-aged daughter Holly arrives back in town accompanied by a hypnotherapist and a lawyer claiming she was abused by Harold when she was a child. She is ready to sue in a personal injury trial for half the ranch. Ivy, Holly's younger sister, stayed on the ranch and kept it running, took care of her ailing show more mother for years, and now feels she is being forced out of her home. She is bitter and angry. Harold does have a long hidden secret and decides to compensate Holly for all her pain. Ivy feels betrayed. Before the plan can be revealed, he is murdered. When the body is discovered in a mine hole, a second much older skeleton is discovered beneath him. Now Joanna must solve two murders on the day she's elected.

I didn't find this as interesting as the first book in the series but it may be because it's a transitional book that leads to Joanna solving more complex mysteries in the future. I always enjoy the fact that J. A. Jance does such impeccable research about the southern Arizona towns of Bisbee and Tombstone. This was an enjoyable book and I look forward to continuing the series. show less

Newly elected Joanna Brady is just beginning to find her way in her new job as sheriff. Her deputy husband was recently killed in the line of duty, and the current sheriff also died while in office. Joanna takes over sooner than she thought she would, only to be confronted with a double homicide. She is battling not only the bad guys, but also the male-dominated profession she has just entered. She makes some mistakes as she is learning the ropes, but her determination will carry her through. This second in the series shows growth of Joanna’s character as she traverses the path she has before her. The mystery is an exciting one, gripping until the end.

This is the second book in the Joanna Brady series by J. A. Jance. Joanna is the newly elected sheriff of Bisbee, Arizona, following in the footsteps of her father and filling the job her husband was running for when he was killed in Book 1 (Desert Heat). She starts the job immediately upon being elected and before she can even be sworn in, a murder occurs. Harold Patterson, an elderly rancher, is extremely upset when his estranged middle-aged daughter Holly arrives back in town accompanied by a hypnotherapist and a lawyer claiming she was abused by Harold when she was a child. She is ready to sue in a personal injury trial for half the ranch. Ivy, Holly's younger sister, stayed on the ranch and kept it running, took care of her ailing show more mother for years, and now feels she is being forced out of her home. She is bitter and angry. Harold does have a long hidden secret and decides to compensate Holly for all her pain. Ivy feels betrayed. Before the plan can be revealed, he is murdered. When the body is discovered in a mine hole, a second much older skeleton is discovered beneath him. Now Joanna must solve two murders on the day she's elected.

I didn't find this as interesting as the first book in the series but it may be because it's a transitional book that leads to Joanna solving more complex mysteries in the future. I always enjoy the fact that J. A. Jance does such impeccable research about the southern Arizona towns of Bisbee and Tombstone. This was an enjoyable book and I look forward to continuing the series. show less

Continuing through the series to see if I am going to keep books or give up. Here we have book two of the Joanna Brady series. This one picks up a few months after the original. There's been a definable shift to the characters due to events in the first book, which is good. Hints are given that multiple plots abound in this book. I could even speculate that an overarching plot exists from the first book. It isn't obvious yet.

I'm glad Joanna at least acknowledges she's naive and out of her depth when it comes to being sheriff. I'd hate to have the character go in too cocky.

Maybe I'm just good at figuring these books out. Again, I knew the culprit the moment they appeared on page. The author keeps pointing to some very obvious show more non-culprits to try to throw you off. So not working for me. I have my suspicions. And I came really close. Harold's wife killed Burton's father for diddling Holly, Harold's daughter. Now, Amy the therapist tricks Holly into killing Harold to keep him quiet because he was going to reveal everything, and it would ruin her scam to get the money and land. I'm really hoping this plotting difficulty is because I'm just really good at guessing.

I'm thinking I'll just ahead in the series. If I suffer the same issues, I'll call it quits for this series. show less

This was a good read. Joanna Brady must cope with the newness of single motherhood, career change and grief. Not to mention the double homicide which she is thrown into. She does it with common sense for the most part, though bumbles a bit in her inexperience. I like her. She is humble, but confident which is a nice combination. Other characters in the story have potential to be interesting as well. My favorite character was Harold Patterson. I thought he was very well written. The mystery of this story was not obscure to me, but I enjoyed the telling of it so much that I ignored my strict bedtime and didn't get enough sleep last night. I will read more of J.A. Jance's novels.

Second book in the Joanna Brady series, but the 4th one I’ve read. After reading 2 more recent releases I decided I had to read them all and this one does not disappoint.

Joanna runs for the Cochise County Sheriff and wins while at the same time realizing she has a problem at home. Jenny is scared and her father has only been gone for 2 months, so both still have a lot of healing to do and fears to face. The relationship and the issues are very realistic.

Holly Patterson left Bisbee long ago and no one was sorry to see her go. Now destitute, she’s coming back with a hypno-therapist and lawyer with accusations that her father, Harold, had sexually abused her. She wants half of his ranch. Currently, the ranch is going to Ivy, the show more younger sister who took care of their sick and intern mother for years and has spent her life making the ranch work. The majority of the first 9 or so chapters is told from Harold’s point of view. He’s feeling guilty and has a secret, but believes he can give Holly what she wants and deserves, while upsetting Ivy. The reader can guess what his secret is, but the ending and how we get there is somewhat surprising.

Okay, I have to admit that the book got off to a slow start. But once Joanna gets sworn in, everything begins to pick up. Her first day on the job starts out with a couple of homicides and personnel that aren’t exactly giving her the respect she should have. I like the way she handles the various people and circumstances and that aspect has just begun. And we get to witness her mistakes as she starts learning how to be a cop.

Joanna has a long way to go before she becomes the well respected team player I’ve read about in more recent releases, not only amongst her department, but with other departments and area police departments. But she’s already got a strong start with her determination, level-headedness and willingness to understand the root of a person’s actions and attitude. show less