Outlaw Mountain [With Headphones] (Playaway Adult Fiction) [Preloaded Digital Audio Player]

J. A. Jance (Author), Yancy Butler (Performer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2008 | Series: Playaway Adult Fiction

Alice Rogers, an elderly widow, is dead, found murdered in the Arizona desert. It's easy enough to pin the killing on the teens caught driving her car across the Mexican border, but Sheriff Brady isn't about to let it go at that. Alice was something of a free spirit, with a penchant for Scotch, the glitter of Las Vegas, and a romance with a man twenty years her junior. Her hot-tempered daughter Susan suspects Mom's boyfriend-her former handyman who moved in instead of moving on when he finished his handy work. Now Susan's furious at her brother Clete, the do-nothing mayor of Tombstone, blaming him for not protecting their inheritance by breaking up their mother's winter romance.

Yet all is not as it appears to be, and Joanna is forced to put her personal life on hold to dig deeper into Alice's death, the lives of her greedy offspring, and the identity of her mysterious gentleman friend. And as the investigation gets sidetracked by ugly local land disputes, it takes some troublesome twists and turns, until Sheriff Brady finds herself wading through a murky morass of graft and corruption that may have given someone reason to kill...and kill again.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady series whisks us off to a small town in the desert terrain of the Southwest. When Joanna's newly elected husband is killed while serving as sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, Joanna steps into his position. We watch her grow into the job in Jance's series: she has to cope with the problems of juggling family and personal life while solving crimes. At the same time, we've learned about the benefits and shortcomings of daily life in a desert--how beautiful and dangerous the landscape can be in all seasons.

Jance's seventh book, Outlaw Mountain, begins with the death of an old woman who was injured when she fell on a poisonous cholla cactus. But it isn't the plant that finishes off Alice Rogers; the lively, free-spirited widow is murdered by someone who injects her as she lies writhing in pain. Now Joanna has to find out whether anyone in Alice's large family would have killed her for her land and money. Was it her son Cletus, "a restaurateur with the diplomacy of a mountain goat," who was recently elected mayor of the legendary Arizona town of Tombstone (where Wyatt Earp once reigned)? Or did the murder have something to do with a local political power struggle? As she has done so well before, Jance balances scenes full of action and excitement with more intimate moments. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In her seventh outing (after Rattlesnake Crossing), Tombstone, AZ, sheriff Joanna Brady wears a tough gal's badge yet remains a sensitive, caring single mom and friend. Hard-drinking Alice Rogers, the mayor's mother, is stabbed with an insulin syringe and left for the vultures in the harsh southern Arizona desert, and Joanna's team must step between Rogers's dueling son and daughter. A tender subplot concerns a developmentally disabled man named Junior, abandoned by scheming relatives at an Arizona art fair. As Joanna's friend Butch Dixon helps out with Junior, she appreciates a new facet of his character, and her pushy mom, Eleanor, runs interference in an effort to secure their engagement. Not just for series fans, this installment features endearing characters and situations ranging from an environmentalist with a car trunk full of rattlesnakes to the local minister who feels she's lost her edge in the pulpit. Highly recommended.
-ASusan A. Zappia, Maricopa Cty. Lib. Dist., Phoenix
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Preloaded Digital Audio Player
• Publisher: Playaway (October 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606406736
• ISBN-13: 978-1606406731
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

More About the Author

J.A. 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff!, August 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Outlaw Mountain (Joanna Brady Mysteries, Book 7) (Hardcover)

If I want hilarious mystery, I read Janet Evanovich, Jennifer Crusie and Donna Andrews. If I want tough, futuristic SciFi mystery, I read J.D Robb. But when I want sun-drenched easy-going mystery I turn to the Joanna Brady mysteries. This new one is the fastest moving and most likable: good suspense, real-life characters and the great continuing story of Joanna and Butch. I read such fast-moving stuff, it's nice to slow down and bake in the Arizona sun for awhile. Read this series from the beginning - it gives you a true appreciation of each new one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The series just keeps getting better!, December 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Outlaw Mountain (Joanna Brady Mysteries, Book 7) (Hardcover)

I've enjoyed watching the Joanna Brady character grow with each book in this series. I'm glad to see she's getting on with her life, and that the other characters in the books are growing too. I was particularily pleased by the changes in Joanna's minister friend, and by the strong relationship Joanna is building with Butch. I recommend this book, but suggest that readers new to the series start with Desert Heat and read through the books chronologically. It's more fun that way to see the changes in Joanna's life!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fairy Tale., July 4, 2000

By 

Judith Lindenau "dulcie22" (Traverse City, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Outlaw Mountain (Joanna Brady Mysteries, Book 7) (Mass Market Paperback)

This latest Joanna Brady mystery is a fairy tale, at least as far as the central character is concerned. In it, Joanna--who has had her share of tragedy in the past--gets it all: the murderer, a nice man, a use for the jewelry given her by her first husband, a daughter happy with her Mother's choice of boyfriends, understanding inlaws, and professional respect.

And, she gets to be the central character in another mystery by J.A. Jance!

I am a Jance fan, because I enjoy her fine writing skills and tightly-plotted action lines. Usually I like Jance's central characters, too: J P Beaumont has depth in adversity in his battle with alcohol, and Joanna Brady is a woman with a load of grief and guilt. Somehow, though, in this novel Joanna is less real, more fantasy...and because of that she slips into the realm of becoming a stereotypical mystery novel heroine--beautiful, strong, intelligent, and invincible by the normal adversity that would paralyze the rest of us.

Still in all, Outlaw Mountain is a good novel and an enjoyable reading experience, even if the characterization isn't quite as mulilayered as Jance usually develops.