Rattlesnake Crossing is J.A. Jance's sixth novel in the acclaimed Joanna Brady series (readers may also be familiar with her Seattle-based J.P. Beaumont series). Brady is no tough-talking V.I. Warshawski or Kat Colorado; her appeal lies in her willingness to admit that her Cochise County sheriff's uniform is often an uneasy fit. As the single mother of a young daughter, Brady is prey to the pain and loneliness that have resulted from her husband's brutal murder, and she struggles to prove to herself and others that she is capable of bringing a cold-blooded killer to justice. When Clyde Philips, a local gun dealer, dies violently, his stock of high-powered assault weapons vanishes, and two sniper slayings follow soon after, suspicion falls upon Alton Hosfield, an embittered rancher at odds with the federal government, the environmentalists, and anyone else he sees as a threat to his isolation. Sheriff Brady, however, suspects that the solution may lie elsewhere, and her investigation takes her into the bizarre practices of a local resort whose appeal is equal parts New Age spiritualism, Native American pantheism, and cold-blooded materialism.
Jance has a talent for weaving prosaic threads into a gripping mystery narrative. As a result, Brady must--in addition to tracking a vicious killer--cope with the impossibly high standards of her insufferable mother; the spiteful comments of Marliss Shackleford, an old high school rival and current gossip columnist for the Bisbee Bee; and some rather unexpected news from Butch Dixon, her would-be ardent suitor. As with earlier Brady mysteries, the domestic context provides a deliciously ironic backdrop for the game of psychological cat-and-mouse being played in the Arizona desert. --Kelly Flynn
From Library Journal
The sixth Joanna Brady novel begins with a red herring and ends with a serial killer. Despite the gory details and the piling up of corpses, the mystery retains its human proportions, as Sheriff Brady contends with staff, friends, her love life, and her daughter. A satisfying entry.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
The longer Joanna Brady's cases get, the less there seems to be to them. This time, the killer whose first homicide was just a warm-up for a spree that runs from Pomerene gun dealer Clyde Philips (beaten and smothered) to anti-oleander activist Ashley Brittany (shot and scalped) to dude ranch paper-shuffler Katrina Berridge (ditto and ditto) sounds like a meaty meal for the sheriff of Arizona's Cochise County. But the hints of survivalist hysteria go nowhere; the rumors of a small-scale range war between rancher Alton Hosfield and transplanted insurance exec Martin Scorsby go nowhere; even the war signals between Joanna and substitute medical examiner Dr. Fran Daly go nowhere. There are more killings, but Jance (Skeleton Canyon, 1997, etc.) seems less interested in them, certainly less interested in the killer behind them, than in Joanna's romance with restauranteur Butch Dixon or her friend Rev. Marianne Maculyea's medical tribulations with her adopted daughter. The result is less a police proceduralstill less a mystery or suspenserthan a novel of manners about a heroine whose career happens to be in law enforcement, and whose idea of bonding with the bereaved is to tell them that since she's a widow herself, she knows how they feel. All of which would be fine if Joanna and her intimates were interesting enough to make up for what's missing. As it is, Jance makes you appreciate how hard the best Faye Kellermans work to integrate her characters' domestic and professional lives, instead of simply serving them up on the same plate. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"Add J.A. Jance to your 'must read' list." -- Monterey County Post
"Jance brings the reader along with suspense, wit, surprise, and intense feeling." -- Huntsville Times
"Solid. . .Well-integrated subplots help drive the action and deepen the characterization . . .Brady is an appealing mix of sometimes conflicting characteristics. . .a tough cop who brooks nonsense from no one--and that includes the crusty individuals who live in her county, the bad guys who show up there, or anyone who might harbor the slightest doubt that a woman could do a sheriff's job." -- Seattle Times
"The best Joanna Brady mystery to date. . . .This is J.A. Jance at the top of her form." -- -- Arizona Daily Sun
"The best Joanna Brady mystery to date. . . .This is J. A.. Jance at the top of her form." -- Arizona Daily Sun
"A fast-paced adventure...Jance is among the best--if not the best--mystery novelists writing today. She delivers again with Rattlesnake Crossing...I loved it!" -- Chattanooga Times
From the Inside Flap
The Bookcassette® format is a special recording technique developed as a means of condensing the full, unabridged audio text of a book to record it on fewer tapes. In order to listen to these tapes, you will need a cassette player with balance control to adjust left/right speaker output. Special adaptors to allow these tapes to be played on any cassette player are available through the publisher or some US retail electronics stores.
About the Author
J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, five interrelated thrillers about the Walker Family, and one volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, she lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington.
J. A. Jance is most known for her Seattle-based detective series featuring the introspective J.P. Beaumont. In this, her Sheriff Joanna Brady series (of Cochise County, Arizona), she injects a feminine perspective into a masculine world. The book begins with a gratuitous murder in the desert by a sniper and goes on to explore more murders, as well as illegal weapons sales. Reader Stephanie Brush does a decent job without attempting full-blown character acting. One can hear the distinct cadence of her characterizations, but basically she gives a straightforward and uncomplicated reading. D.R.W. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine
