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Joanna Brady #16.6, 17
Downfall / Random Acts
DOWNFALL
It’s late August and Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady has never been busier. Her daughter, Jenny, is heading off to college, her rambunctious five-year-old son is about to start kindergarten, and a new baby is on the way. Joanna is also coping with the emotional aftermath of sudden and unexpected deaths in the family. To keep her job as the top law officer in this beautiful town in the Arizona desert, she’s also got to mount a successful campaign for the upcoming election—a battle that won’t be easy, thanks to a tenacious local newspaper reporter who enjoys stirring up trouble.
The sheriff’s life is about to get even more complicated when a puzzling new case hits her department. The bodies of two women have been found at the base of a nearby peak—two vastly different women with seemingly no connections to link them. As Joanna and her team methodically hunt down answers, they begin to uncover a knotty web of sordid secrets and evil lies—clues that take the valiant sheriff down a winding and dangerous road that leads shockingly close to home . . . and close to a desperate and determined killer.
RANDOM ACTS
From New York Times bestselling author comes an all-new novella, in which Sheriff Joanna Brady and investigator Ali Reynolds join forces to solve a crime that has hit dangerously close to home
Sheriff Joanna Brady has a lot on her plate—she is up for re-election as sheriff, pregnant with her third child, and her eldest is packing up to leave for college. Then Joanna is woken in the middle of the night by a call reporting a motor vehicle accident. Her mother and stepfather’s RV ran off the road at high speed and hit the pillar of an overpass.
Something about the accident seems suspicious, though, and when Joanna gets a call from Ali Reynolds, a journalist turned investigator, she accepts her offer to help. They come up with a plan to find out who was responsible . . . even if that person is not the villain they’d expected.
It’s late August and Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady has never been busier. Her daughter, Jenny, is heading off to college, her rambunctious five-year-old son is about to start kindergarten, and a new baby is on the way. Joanna is also coping with the emotional aftermath of sudden and unexpected deaths in the family. To keep her job as the top law officer in this beautiful town in the Arizona desert, she’s also got to mount a successful campaign for the upcoming election—a battle that won’t be easy, thanks to a tenacious local newspaper reporter who enjoys stirring up trouble.
The sheriff’s life is about to get even more complicated when a puzzling new case hits her department. The bodies of two women have been found at the base of a nearby peak—two vastly different women with seemingly no connections to link them. As Joanna and her team methodically hunt down answers, they begin to uncover a knotty web of sordid secrets and evil lies—clues that take the valiant sheriff down a winding and dangerous road that leads shockingly close to home . . . and close to a desperate and determined killer.
RANDOM ACTS
From New York Times bestselling author comes an all-new novella, in which Sheriff Joanna Brady and investigator Ali Reynolds join forces to solve a crime that has hit dangerously close to home
Sheriff Joanna Brady has a lot on her plate—she is up for re-election as sheriff, pregnant with her third child, and her eldest is packing up to leave for college. Then Joanna is woken in the middle of the night by a call reporting a motor vehicle accident. Her mother and stepfather’s RV ran off the road at high speed and hit the pillar of an overpass.
Something about the accident seems suspicious, though, and when Joanna gets a call from Ali Reynolds, a journalist turned investigator, she accepts her offer to help. They come up with a plan to find out who was responsible . . . even if that person is not the villain they’d expected.
Audiobook
Published March 28, 2017
132 people want to read
About the author
J.A. Jance
117 books4,173 followersJudith 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
Series:
* J.P. Beaumont
* Joanna Brady
* Ali Reynolds
* Walker Family
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 6, 2019
I was very happy when I bought this audiobook because it included the novel as well as the novella for the price of one credit. And then ...
This is the best novel in the series in my opinion. Sheriff Brady must face a tremendous loss and some resulting guilt. She has to solve the crime that preceded the loss, and is doing all of this in the same year that she sent her daughter off to college for the first time. (That is an event that causes most moms some grief too, as I can attest.) She has Butch with her form much of the book which is a good thing because she is away from home and the rest of her support system. All of it is handled with more depth than I have seen in any of the previous books. I found it very real and beautiful.
My biggest complaint is this. The novella is after the novel on the recording (was it published after the book? I need to check on that) but it occurs before the book. These books are chronological up until now and the really bugged me. However, I will say that I kind of liked the abruptness of learning about the tragedy right up front in the novel as it felt real and appropriate. It is how we would actually experience it. The call or knock on the door that changes our life.
This is the best novel in the series in my opinion. Sheriff Brady must face a tremendous loss and some resulting guilt. She has to solve the crime that preceded the loss, and is doing all of this in the same year that she sent her daughter off to college for the first time. (That is an event that causes most moms some grief too, as I can attest.) She has Butch with her form much of the book which is a good thing because she is away from home and the rest of her support system. All of it is handled with more depth than I have seen in any of the previous books. I found it very real and beautiful.
My biggest complaint is this. The novella is after the novel on the recording (was it published after the book? I need to check on that) but it occurs before the book. These books are chronological up until now and the really bugged me. However, I will say that I kind of liked the abruptness of learning about the tragedy right up front in the novel as it felt real and appropriate. It is how we would actually experience it. The call or knock on the door that changes our life.
February 24, 2023
So—the novella I finished yesterday, Random Acts, is actually the prequel to this book. Recommend that you read them in the right order.
Backing up a bit— I picked up a JA Janice book a couple of years ago (also a novella) because her Sheriff Joanna Brady books and Ali Reynolds books are set in AZ, where we spend time in the winter. I thought the first book was kind of meh, so I haven’t picked up another. But a visit to Bisbee and a bookstore there, with a whole JA Janice shelf, made me try this one. While the novella was good— lots of action— Down Fall was great.
There was also lots of action in DF, but the story was poignant and the plot had a few surprIses along the way. Joanna Brady can’t catch a break, but it’s not for lack of trying. Four and a half stars, rounded up, for the subtle potshots Janice takes at a charter school— an ‘academy for scholastic excellence’— and for character growth in a mystery novel.
Backing up a bit— I picked up a JA Janice book a couple of years ago (also a novella) because her Sheriff Joanna Brady books and Ali Reynolds books are set in AZ, where we spend time in the winter. I thought the first book was kind of meh, so I haven’t picked up another. But a visit to Bisbee and a bookstore there, with a whole JA Janice shelf, made me try this one. While the novella was good— lots of action— Down Fall was great.
There was also lots of action in DF, but the story was poignant and the plot had a few surprIses along the way. Joanna Brady can’t catch a break, but it’s not for lack of trying. Four and a half stars, rounded up, for the subtle potshots Janice takes at a charter school— an ‘academy for scholastic excellence’— and for character growth in a mystery novel.
June 10, 2020
After a multi-year gap I finally got the chance to read another JA Jance book. It was so good I checked another one, this one, out immediately. Even though I still have another Joanna Brady novel checked out of the library, I need to catch up on the JP Beaumont series and Ali Reynolds also. This writer is dynamite in all of her series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2023
This is a detailed murder mystery, with a fast moving story line. JA Jance gives the reader much to keep track of yet creates a well woven story. She keeps the reader engaged and wanting a positive outcome. I am grateful her characters have believable backgrounds and problems and these play into the story development. It makes her characters seem realistic.
April 10, 2025
Two woman are found dead, having been thrown off a cliff. Lots of evidence that leads nowhere until that missing piece shows up. And then the sheriff wishes it had not been.
This was not an audio book that I used.
This was not an audio book that I used.
June 22, 2017
A good fast moving mystery.
January 12, 2025
I enjoyed both stories.
February 16, 2025
Interesting story that I enjoyed. The plot was interesting with a twist
October 17, 2018
Read the books in the opposite order*** Random Acts should come first and Downfall second. Chapter 49 and 50 on my recording is Random Acts. Start there and then re start on chapter one and it will all make a lot more sense!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews