Remains of Innocence / The Old Blue Line

Joanna Brady #15.5-16

by J.A. Jance

This book is a book club edition of Remains of Innocence with and additional bonus novella - The Old Blue Line

Genres: Mystery

452 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Judith Ann Jance is the top 10 New York Times bestselling author of the Joanna Brady series; the J. P. Beaumont series; three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family; and Edge of Evil, the first in a series featuring Ali Reynolds. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Series:
* J.P. Beaumont
* Joanna Brady
* Ali Reynolds
* Walker Family

Reviews

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since book 16 appears first in the edition I read, I’ll start there. You engage quickly with this book. A developmentally disabled man who worked in the diner in the town where Joanna Brady is sheriff is missing, and within pages, they’ll find his dead and crumpled body. Someone pushed him off a cliff or ravine or whatever. It looks like someone lured him to his death by telling him about a mutilated kitten that needed his help. The guy is descending into the fog of Alzheimer’s on top of the difficulties inherent in his developmental disability.

A continent away, a waitress grapples with her mother’s pending death. The old woman had been a hoarder since her husband left, and life was miserable for Liza and her older estranged brother. He hit the road as fast as he could, gaining scholarships to Harvard and Johns Hopkins medical school. With her mediocre grades, Liza just struggled on. School officials took pity on her and gave her a job in the athletic department laundry, which meant she could launder her own clothes while working there. She’s inherently a decent young woman without a lot of friends. After high school, she works at a diner, and that’s where she is as her mother lies dying in hospice. Her brother is the medical examiner for the county in which Joanna Brady is the sheriff. He’s a prissy, superior, nasty man who’s sure his east-coast upbringing makes him far better than any of the Arizona residents he lives among.

While cleaning her mother’s hoarder hell hole house, Liza discovers money her mom secreted among the pages of books. Liza finds close to 150 thousand dollars. Liza is resentful since her mother forced her to live in abject poverty without electricity or running water. She has no idea where the money came from, but at her mother’s funeral a mysterious old man approaches her and warns her she’s in terrible danger.

Horrific things begin happening in her world. Her mother’s house that Liza had fixed up for sale burns to the ground, and someone murders her landlady. Her employer helps her find a way out of Massachusetts on an underground railroad designed to transport abused women to safety. He even creates a pseudo-abuse situation where she looks like someone mistreated her.

So, you have two fascinating storylines here--Liza’s and that of the developmentally disabled guy. Liza links to Joanna when law-enforcement officials find Liza’s brother, the medical examiner, dead by torture.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Jance is immensely talented, and she has a solid knowledge of the American west that allow her to reference towns in Utah and Arizona with impressive accuracy. You’d think that would be a given in the Internet age of author research, but it isn’t always like that.

The ending initially frustrated me but the closer I got to the ending, the more it made sense.

The Old Blue Line is a novella that describes the life Joanna Brady’s husband, Butch Dixon, was living in the days prior to meeting her for the first time. It’s a nothing burger, especially compared to the novel.

[Janet Adkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to give this one 3.5 stars. I enjoyed most of the book. It kept me interested with the different yet converging storylines. But at the end I felt that some of the actions taken by Sheriff Joanna were going to corrupt evidence for any eventual prosecution. I also felt that the ending was a bit forced and left out details to make the ending more believable.

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm skipping this one. The Old Blue Line doesn't square with the other books in the Joanna Brady series. One, Butch and Joanna frequently talk about their pasts and never this. Second, when Butch and Joanna are planning their marriage in Bisby after the sale of the Roundhouse Margaret Dixon tells Joanna about Faith's baby. This book takes place in the Roundhouse.

[Marti Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheriff Joanna Brady is always a good read.

[Christine Fulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series. This book was fast paced and an easy read!

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series! So readable. I am looking forward to the next one.

[Joanne Pinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am rolling through JA Jance’s books on audio; they are escapist and easy listening. The two characters I am following (Joanna Brady and Ali Reynolds) are very likeable.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a continuation of the Joanna Brady series. Joanna’s daughters growing up and gets a new horse join on discovers a set of serial killers

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unsatisfactory ending. Stops dead

[Karen Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling - as an audio book. Jance is a marvelous storyteller, and I enjoy all of her series. She was great in real life when she spoke in our small town!

[Mary Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy reading J. A. Jance books. This book had two plots going for it and I felt I would rather just have one. One plot was about a mob revenge and the other was about the murder of a developmentally disabled man. The two stories were unrelated. Still I found that I wanted to find out how both stories ended.

[Philip Reiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better Joanna Brady stories of late. Pleasant to find one I had not read. Have generally enjoyed the character, except her effort to join Joanna with Beaumont which were goobered in my head. Joanna, stand alone, is tolerable and a very readable story. This one is worth an enjoyable read.