The election is over and Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady was re-elected by a small margin. Now 9-1/2 months pregnant, she hasn’t slowed down much, although she is finally learning to delegate. Action and drama are provided and Joanna’s response to those who believe she shouldn’t or isn’t capable of doing her job considering she’s pregnant and ready to pop is enjoyable.Evidence suggests that a man so drunk that he’d blacked, had killed his wife and unborn child. He readily accepts responsibility even though his wife’s body was never found. Twenty-five years later, newly released from prison, he’s a popular guy working in the ministry for the prison, helping those with alcohol and addiction problems when he is murdered. And what they find when searching his truck shocks them, as it doesn’t fit with the person he’s become. The investigation has them looking at what took place long ago with some interesting twists and theories.Pit bull fighting is another area that the sheriff’s office must tackle, along with the resulting public relations issues. We’re provided both action and drama with this thread, as well as Joanna proving just what a very pregnant woman can do. Got to like the challenge she issues.The big news on the home front is that a publisher has picked up Butch’es book and he’s strongly urged to go to a writer’s convention and be part of a number of panels, even though his book isn’t in print yet. So he’s reluctantly gone while his wife is so close to giving birth and is not home when his parents unexpectedly show up, providing some levity as his mom is someone easy to actively dislike.There’s plenty going on to keep you interested, even though the major whodunit is easily figured out by the reader long before the story’s climax. The why becomes quite a bit more involved and we’re provided some surprises as that unveils.As usual in this series, it’s the characters that really make the story, often with the mystery angles providing challenges that allow us to learn more about them. The books also provide readers that don’t live in areas like Southern Arizona with a different point of view on various subjects, such as the issue and fallout from illegal border crossings. Even though there is a regular cast of characters throughout the series, this book could easily be read as a stand-alone. Enough background is provided without overwhelming regular readers of the series.Read from a library book.
I sincerely like the character of Joanna Brady, and I enjoy reading about Cochise County, Arizona which is an area I visited often during the 6 years I lived in Phoenix.The stories of J.A. Jance's that I've read so far seem to have a ring of truth to them. The relationships are believable. And it seems that the sheriff never gets to focus on just one big case at a time . . . in this book, there were two major cases that her department was working on with thin resources. Figuring out who did the crime of course lends interest and suspense to the story, but I am also intrigued by the methods, and the thinking that is going on in Joanna's brain.Unlike some other series that I've read, I didn't start at the beginning of this one and read straight through from beginning to end. This has been more of a "if I see something by J.A. Jance on the library shelf, I'll read it" kind of thing for me. However, I believe that has changed. I'll be actively seeking out more from this author, and particularly this series.
What do You think about Dead Wrong (2006)?
I recently read my first J.A. Jance book and I really enjoyed it. I was eager to read another. I will just start this review by saying that if this book had been my first Jance novel, there probably wouldn't have been another one in my reading future.I read this almost a week ago. If my computer hadn't died, I'd have everything all fresh in my mind for this review, but thankfully, I've forgotten some of it. What does stand out, was the dialog. It was painful and pointless. There was also a fair amount of speculation that fell from thin air and was grasped like it was precious nuggets of doctrinal gold. I give this three stars only because the story was decent and I did want to finish this. But the dialog alone was a deal breaker.
—Donna
I liked the Southern Arizona backdrop, but the story itself was rather predictable. Also, I though it was dumb how Joanna and her detectives had just gotten done reading about how the mother-in-law had spent years trying to keep her son-in-law in prison but when they went to visit her they were oh so surprised that she was nothing but gleeful at his death...I mean honestly, I think that Jance could make her characters more believable. She also lacks pithy comments when she tries to end her chapters concisely. And I felt that the ending did not do justice to the wrongly accused murder victim and had no explanation whatsoever of how Lisa had been lured away to have her baby stolen. I just think it could have been better written and I wanted more story explanation. Oh and the fact that the upper right hand corner on the front cover is a picture of Monument Valley is just silly.
—Jocelyn
I started reading J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady series on a vacation to Sedona, Arizona, when I found an early installment in the local library's used book sale, and liked it enough to read the others. Joanna Brady is sheriff of Cochise County, a working mother of a (now) teenage daughter, widowed and remarried and now a new mother, so she faces the real-life challenges of a woman trying to do the best by her family, her job, her friends, and her community, often in situations where there is no obviously right course of action. In Dead Wrong Joanna revisits a murder that happened during her father's tenure as sheriff, a connection she is always plumbing for a deeper understanding of her own past and her troubled relationship with her mother. Jance must be an animal lover, because animals, and often local veterinarians, play significant roles. I always enjoy my vicarious visits to Cochise County.
—Nell
