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Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: Sheriff Joanna Brady must solve two perplexing cases that may be tied together in New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance's thrilling tale of suspense that brings to life Arizona's Cochise County and the desert Southwest in all its beauty and mystery. An old woman, a hoarder, is dying of emphysema in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In cleaning out her house, her daughter, Liza Machett, discovers a fortune in hundred dollar bills hidden in the tall stacks of books and magazines that crowd every corner. Tracing the money's origins will take Liza on a journey that will end in Cochise County, where Sheriff Joanna Brady is embroiled in a personal mystery of her own. A man she considers a family friend is found dead at the bottom of a hole in a limestone cavern near Bisbee. And now there is the mystery of Liza and the money. Are the two disparate cases connected? It's up to Joanna to find out..… (more)
User reviews
At the other end of the country, Sheriff Joanna Brady really has her hands full this time, beginning with an early morning call to find Junior, a mentally challenged man of about 60 who went missing from his bedroom overnight, which evolves into an unrelated crime. Her department works with the Bisbee PD in trying to solve a number of things that come to light.
This story is jam-packed with things going on and various avenues to investigate with some surprising results. The story is told from 2 points of view. Obviously we have Joanna, but a good chunk of the story follows Liza, what she faces and learns, as well as her interesting escape across country to reach her brother.
Outside of the genre I normally spend money on, I’ve only read one other book by this author years ago, and jumped at the chance to get an ARC via Edelweiss/Above the Treeline. I’m going to have to go back and pick up other books in this series. The fast-paced mystery is tightly written and easily kept me absorbed. The characters and situations are interesting, as is the area and terrain, although at times the number of characters felt overwhelming to me. I don’t believe that would have been the case if I’d already been familiar with them from prior books. But it didn’t stop me from enjoying this story.
There were two stories going on at the same time that later merge into one. The storyline were never confusing, although there were
I received this book from the Partners in Crime blog tour in exchange for an honest review.
Another reason I love these books is the characters. Joanna is brave, intelligent, and compassionate, and these books have shown her growth from grieving widow to sheriff to sheriff at the beginning of a second marriage. Joanna can also be opinionated and stubborn, and her relationship with her mother is anything but harmonious. In other words, she's human.
The people Joanna lives with and works with have become like friends as I've made my way through this series. When Junior was diagnosed with dementia in an earlier book, I got tears in my eyes. Yes indeed, I am invested all the way to my eyebrows in this series.
A perfect setting and characters that wind themselves around your heart are all well and good, but they need a good mystery to show them in their best light. In the case of Remains of Innocence, one mystery is stronger than the other. It didn't take me long to deduce what had really happened to Junior, but Liza's part of the book kept my interest from beginning to end. Jance has a way of knowing just how to make a character so sympathetic that you want to invite them in for coffee and a long talk. She's done her usual excellent job with Liza and those $100 bills.
Innocence is a theme that runs strong throughout this book. People who never lost their innocence; those who lost it much too early. People who should be innocent who aren't; and those who look guilty... but aren't. There's good food for thought in Jance's latest Joanna Brady mystery-- yet another reason why I love this series.
This story is riveting filled with enough suspense to keep me guessing. And situations that move quickly and efficiently that I didn’t want to put the book down. I though the characters were well developed and the mystery of the money satisfactory. It is an enjoyable summer read.
Review: This is totally absorbing on both fronts. Although the stories are not interwoven, you don't know that until fairly close to the end of the book.