The first book in the Joanna Brady series, we start off with Joanna waiting on their tenth anniversary for her husband to come home. The Cochise County Deputy—who is running for Sheriff—had special plans for them that night, but he’s hours late. Becoming worried, Joanna heads out in her car looking for him after finding out he’d left the station hours ago. She finds him. He’d been shot and is barely alive just off the road. What doesn’t make any sense to her is that the police are convinced that this is a suicide and he’d not only been involved with drug running, but believe he killed another and she’s being looked at as some kind of accomplice. Joanna isn’t buying any of it and is determined to find the killer.

What’s cool about this story is that the reader is aware of who the killer is in the prologue with the mystery being how Joanna will discover the truth and how she’ll get evidence to prove her husband is innocent even with so many things pointing to his guilt.

I’d been able to read books 13 and 16 in this series for free, and liked them so much I had to go back and start at the beginning. So in some ways this review reflects the series and not just this story.

Joanna is a very likeable character. She’s tough and determined, but also vulnerable and must balance what she needs to do with her home life. In this case a nine year old daughter who is lost with the sudden death of her dad. She’s ever conscious of being as honest and level-headed as she can be with her daughter, especially considering how Joanna was raised by a still-nagging mother.

The personality of the characters are interesting, some of whom I recognize from the later books, and I thought the mystery angle was well done. I zipped right through this story. We know from the series that she becomes the Sheriff, so it’s no surprise by the end of the story that people approach her and ask her to run. But what we get with this first story is a great understanding of who Joanna is, what her abilities are, and why becoming Sheriff would be good for the county.

Already knowing what her character is like with book 16, I can’t wait to read the progression of events and her own growth that I know will take place through the rest of the books.

Read as a library book. 4.5 stars

2 STARS - IT WAS OK
AUDIOBOOK

This book was soooo dated! It was also unsurprising. It was about what I expected it would be which is predictable. I had a lot going on at the time and wanted an audiobook that would keep my mind busy without requiring much concentration. I got what I was looking for.

J.A. Jance, the acclaimed and prolific western mystery writer, has been on my to-read list for a long time. I selected Desert Heat, her first in a popular series. I listened on audio, something I never thought I'd like but now enjoy. The story starts out properly, with a dead body. The police investigate it as a homicide, but Joanne Brody stirs up a pot of trouble insisting her husband was murdered. This is for readers who like the unexpected in the twists and turns that lead to the inevitable conclusion.

Read for Mystery Monday. Didn't like as well as some of the other books by Jance, but it was a good story that compelled me to finish and find out who ended up doing what.

This was a brand new series to me, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Joanna is an interesting character. Younger than you would expect, strong-willed, smart, and dedicated to her family. They rally around her, even though they're grieving too. The mystery is compelling, though there are a lot of pieces that have to be woven together. The reader knows rather early who actually killed Andy Brady, but what we don't really get until the end is the why. The end is a nice lead-in to the rest of the series.

Loved it

Reading instead of listening might have been a better idea.

4 Stars for Desert Heat (audiobook) by J. A. Jance read by Ellen Travolta.

This is a really gripping story. The author did a great job of creating a lot suspense and juggling quite a few characters. I especially liked that I’ve been to many of the locations that were mentioned in the story. It’s a treat reading local authors.

I liked this and will be reading the next in the series. I liked the strong female lead and she could be a good character to build a series around.

I hadn't heard of Jance despite living in Arizona. Was given a copy of this book by a friend who loves her and I was not disappointed. Super easy read, finished it in a day. Held my attention. Not a ton of character development but it was her first in this series so will be interested in seeing what the other books are like.

The story starts out with the murder of a criminal who has just implicated Andy Brady (a Det. for Cochise County and Joanna’s husband) into some kind of crime. Shortly thereafter, Andy is shot and found, by Joanna, when Andy didn’t show up for a dinner date on their 10th wedding anniversary. The Sheriff’s office suspects attempted suicide but, Joanna isn’t buying it and is emphatic that her husband was murdered. The real story starts pretty early when Andy dies from the gunshot wound.

The rest of the story unfolds with Joanna, who works for an insurance company, conducting her own investigation. There is also a secondary storyline with the killer’s girlfriend working towards turning her boyfriend in. The ending comes fast and is pretty action-packed and a little scary. Without revealing any spoilers, the ending reveals the lead up to the next book.

I like Joanna. The woman is a little bit of a bad@$$, especially when driving men to their knees (literally). She even taught her nine-year-old daughter the same move. LMAO!!! My fave kind of MC!!!!! The story was pretty quick read that I finished over a few sittings on a slow and lazy weekend.

The story takes place in the early 90’s so before cell phones, social media and google. I’m looking forward to continuing with the series and watching how the author develops the characters and their introduction to all the changes that are coming their way and how their world in an AZ border town will drastically change over the coming years. This was another recommendation from GR member, Thomas, that I appreciate.

A more recently released book in this series caught my eye some time ago. Since recently moving to southern Arizona, the locale was of interest like series I have enjoyed set in Minnesota. I finally located this first book in the series to give it a try. I am glad I did. A very definite 4 stars.

J.A. Jance has created an excellent entry for this series. She describes the environment and region so you can feel it. Maybe now living in south Arizona helps with that. There is a line at the point in the story when the main character, Joanna Brady, finds her Sheriff's Deputy husband lying in a wash beneath a bridge near their home. He has been shot and she has used the radio in his department car to call for help. As she waits with her husband, she hears the coyotes' chorus and only after they quiet does she hear the distant wail of sirens. The connection of emergency sirens, the wail of train whistles, and coyote calls are all so familiar.

This story is about a young wife and mother. The daughter of a past Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona and resident of Bisbee, Arizona. It is her 10th Anniversary and her husband has arranged for a night in the local hotel to celebrate, but he doesn't arrive to pick her up. Instead, she finds him critically wounded. That is only the beginning of her life coming apart, though.

Next come the rumors. He recently deposited nearly $10,000 into their joint account. He recent purchased a diamond ring (an engagement ring he could never afford). An agent of the DEA becomes involved. A past friend known to be involved with the drug trade is found dead in Mexico. Her husband's gun may have been involved.

Joanna refuses to believe the rumors, though. This wasn't the man she knew, not the man she loved. When he dies suddenly in the hospital, she suspect more foul play involved. Against all odds, she pursues the truth ... no matter how painful it might turn out to be.

A woman of courage. A devoted mother. A very good opening book to the series.