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Secure the Ranch: A Josephine Stuart Mystery
Josephine Stuart is blessed and cursed with an overactive curiosity, a strong sense of right and wrong and a willingness to put herself on the line for her friends. Josephine has been hired to paint murals in the secluded Munger mansion, located at the top of a wooded mountain. Certain local reprobates have their reasons for wanting the Mungers to leave. Accidents, fires and the death of a forest ranger have everyone on edge. Josephine’s curiosity drives her down the mountain, into a world of illegal activities and nefarious characters. Her situation becomes dire—no way to escape. One captor has a knife, the other has a rifle. Can she save herself and her friends?
Audible Audio
Published August 4, 2025
About the author
Joyce Oroz
28 books21 followers Joyce answers 10 Questions with Dave
1) I became interested in writing twelve years ago when my husband (excellent writer) wrote a book and I was slightly involved in the process. I waited five more years and then dove into writing. It was a slow dive because I had to put my toes into the children's book pool first.
2) In the last seven years I have written 26 children's stories and four 100,000-word novels (one published) and quite a few newspaper articles and press releases.
3) If having a blast writing is a profession...yes, writing is my new-found profession.
4) Secure the Ranch, 416 pages and first in the Josephine Stuart Mystery Series, was recently published and can be found on line at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
5) At age 12 I was inspired by Nancy Drew. Middle age, I was stoked by Janet Evanovich, JK Rawling, JA Jance and Dave Barry. Mix it all together and out pops Josephine.
7) My schedule consists of a couple hours of writing everyday. I consider it my treat, sometimes my torment, at the end of the day.
8) I write at home. Saves a lot of gas....but where would I go to write anyway?
17) I write in the first person because I love to pick Josephine's brain. Actually it's a lot like mine but bigger. I think first person is the best way for a reader to know the protagonist.
19) And I think, but , should not start a sentence. But it often does. Does it really
matter to world peace? I'm sure Josephine doesn't care.
24) From conception to birth, my book took a healthy nine months. Then came the rewriiiiiites. Yikes!
Review of Secure the Ranch
Spoiler free review, January 4, 2011
By Robert "Dimndbangr" Hicks (Honolulu, HI) - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Secure the Ranch (Paperback)
Disclaimer-If you read the review and feel there is a spoiler in it, please let me know and I will remove that section. Also, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Thank you.
Secure the Ranch is the first book by debut author Joyce Oroz.
Secure the Ranch follows a mystery surrounding Josephine Stuart, an artist who is hired to paint some murals for a wealthy client high in the mountains of California. After strange accidents, occurrences, and the death of a wildlife ranger, Josephine finds she is unable to set aside her curiosity and delves deep into a mystery best left alone. Some subplots involve her friendship with one of her neighbors, visits with her mom and dad, and others that would lead to spoilers.
I will have to admit that the writing in this book is well done. Even though I may have found myself hesitant at times to pick the book back up from other things I was doing, once I did, I was engrossed and read chapter after chapter. The characters were also better than I imagined they would be at the beginning. I had a vision of the wealthy clients to be the snobbish type and they turned out to be much better than that and I was thankful. There was some nice depth to the characters and they were easy to connect with.
Some criticisms:
1. The dialogue, though done well enough throughout the majority of the book had some abrupt endings to it. It just felt like there was more to be said, but the next thing I know, the story moves on to something else. Mostly this happens while Josephine is searching for answers of what is going on.
2. There were a couple of inconsistencies in this book. The main one is at the beginning when Josephine is getting ready for bed; she sets the alarm for 7:30. In the next chapter, she is woken to music coming from the clock radio at 7.
Some Positives
1. I really did enjoy the characters in this novel. Everyone had their own voice and was easy to distinguish from the other characters. The reader can easily connect with the characters.
2. In just about every chapter, something happens to keep the reader engaged in the story. Ms
1) I became interested in writing twelve years ago when my husband (excellent writer) wrote a book and I was slightly involved in the process. I waited five more years and then dove into writing. It was a slow dive because I had to put my toes into the children's book pool first.
2) In the last seven years I have written 26 children's stories and four 100,000-word novels (one published) and quite a few newspaper articles and press releases.
3) If having a blast writing is a profession...yes, writing is my new-found profession.
4) Secure the Ranch, 416 pages and first in the Josephine Stuart Mystery Series, was recently published and can be found on line at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
5) At age 12 I was inspired by Nancy Drew. Middle age, I was stoked by Janet Evanovich, JK Rawling, JA Jance and Dave Barry. Mix it all together and out pops Josephine.
7) My schedule consists of a couple hours of writing everyday. I consider it my treat, sometimes my torment, at the end of the day.
8) I write at home. Saves a lot of gas....but where would I go to write anyway?
17) I write in the first person because I love to pick Josephine's brain. Actually it's a lot like mine but bigger. I think first person is the best way for a reader to know the protagonist.
19) And I think, but , should not start a sentence. But it often does. Does it really
matter to world peace? I'm sure Josephine doesn't care.
24) From conception to birth, my book took a healthy nine months. Then came the rewriiiiiites. Yikes!
Review of Secure the Ranch
Spoiler free review, January 4, 2011
By Robert "Dimndbangr" Hicks (Honolulu, HI) - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Secure the Ranch (Paperback)
Disclaimer-If you read the review and feel there is a spoiler in it, please let me know and I will remove that section. Also, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Thank you.
Secure the Ranch is the first book by debut author Joyce Oroz.
Secure the Ranch follows a mystery surrounding Josephine Stuart, an artist who is hired to paint some murals for a wealthy client high in the mountains of California. After strange accidents, occurrences, and the death of a wildlife ranger, Josephine finds she is unable to set aside her curiosity and delves deep into a mystery best left alone. Some subplots involve her friendship with one of her neighbors, visits with her mom and dad, and others that would lead to spoilers.
I will have to admit that the writing in this book is well done. Even though I may have found myself hesitant at times to pick the book back up from other things I was doing, once I did, I was engrossed and read chapter after chapter. The characters were also better than I imagined they would be at the beginning. I had a vision of the wealthy clients to be the snobbish type and they turned out to be much better than that and I was thankful. There was some nice depth to the characters and they were easy to connect with.
Some criticisms:
1. The dialogue, though done well enough throughout the majority of the book had some abrupt endings to it. It just felt like there was more to be said, but the next thing I know, the story moves on to something else. Mostly this happens while Josephine is searching for answers of what is going on.
2. There were a couple of inconsistencies in this book. The main one is at the beginning when Josephine is getting ready for bed; she sets the alarm for 7:30. In the next chapter, she is woken to music coming from the clock radio at 7.
Some Positives
1. I really did enjoy the characters in this novel. Everyone had their own voice and was easy to distinguish from the other characters. The reader can easily connect with the characters.
2. In just about every chapter, something happens to keep the reader engaged in the story. Ms
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