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Jance, J. A.
I just came across an author by the name of J. A. Jance. She lives in Seattle and writes mystery books. I was walking around the local Barnes and Nobel bookstore when I came across a number of books with her name on them. If it hadn't talked about a Seattle writer, I probably would not have stopped. I used to read Spenser but I am not a mystery fan. I ended up purchasing the latest book in the "J. P. Beaumont" series called "Breach of Duty". This was a 370 page book and was interesting enough that I read it across two evenings. Beau is a detective in the Seattle, Washington area. It was good enough that I went out and purchased the first book in that series and the first book in the Joanna Brady series. They were called "Until Proven Guilty" and "Desert Heat". I finished "Desert Heat" in one evening. It was about drug people killing Joanna's husband, who was a deputy sheriff, and trying to make it look like a suicide. They messed with the wrong lady. She is a crack shot with a .45 and has been from childhood. By the time it was finished she was running for Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. Desert Heat was the name people gave her father who was the sheriff until he was killed helping someone with car problems on the side of the road.. The Beaumont series is kind of dark. Beau has serious problems. He is an alcoholic and lives a dismal life. The Brady series has a series of nasty things happen but isn't quite so dark. I think I will like it better.
The Joanna Brady series really caught my attention. Being retired, I could read until I got sleepy. Reading a JB book, that was frequently 5 am. The reason why I stopped at 5 am. Well, it was usually because I finished the story I was reading at that time. The tally was five books in six days. That fits my definition of interesting.
Johansen, Iris
Johansen gets mixed readings out of me. I think her stories are about very intelligent people doing extremely stupid things and then overcoming their stupidity to triumph. I don't understand why I buy them but once I start reading a story, I can't put the book down.