Book Talk: J.A. Jance, ‘Shoot Don’t Shoot’

Shoot Don’t Shoot (1995, 403 pages in paperback format) is the third book in Ms. Jance’s Sheriff Joanna Brady series. In Desert Heat, her husband Andy, Sheriff of Cochise County, is murdered; In Tombstone Courage, she is elected the new sheriff in a matter of weeks. (Desert Heat was reviewed in this column on March 5, 2025, and Tombstone Courage on April 30, 2025.) Jance has written a total of 24 books in the Joanna Brady series, and I don’t know if I’ll read all of them, but they’re definitely on my list.

Newly elected Joanna Brady is off to the Arizona Police Officers Academy (APOA) in Peoria to learn how to be a cop, leaving the running of her office to her two undersheriffs, Frank Montoya and Dick Voland . But before she leaves her home in Bisbee, she hears the story about Ceci’s father. Ceci Grijalva is a friend of her daughter’s (Jenny), and her father is sitting in jail, having confessed to a murder that he didn’t commit. However, when the police found evidence pointing to him, they stopped looking for anyone else. She’s promised Ceci’s mother that she’ll look into the case, although she believes that it will be a waste of time.

To complicate things, the police-officer course begins the week before Thanksgiving and runs for six weeks. Of course, her 9-year-old daughter Jenny can’t imagine having Thanksgiving without her mother, so arrangements are made for her to stay with the Gs (her paternal grandparents) and then the three of them will go to Peoria for Thanksgiving weekend.

Joanna’s first challenge at the Academy is trying to get along with her instructor, Dave Thompson, a seasoned veteran who has been remoted. (Remotion occurs when there is a need to get rid of an officer for reasons that come up short of justification to be fired.) Thompson is a misogynist, and Joanna is one of only two women in the class. So, he’s set his sights on her to be singled out for humiliation.

While in her dorm room, she reads the contents of an envelope given to her by Ceci’s mother. It’s full of information about Jorge Grijalva (Ceci’s father). Curious, she makes contact with Carol Strong, the Peoria detective who is in charge of his case. To her surprise, Carol is somewhat sympathetic, and is far more cooperative than Joanna had any reason to expect.

Later, on her first (of many) visits to the Roundhouse Bar and Grill, she meets bartender Butch Dixon, whose recollections about Jorge begin to convince Joanna that Ceci’s father is, indeed, innocent. But now Thanksgiving is upon her.

As Joanna begins to make arrangements for rooms and dinner at the Hohokan Hotel, she receives a phone call from her mother (who manages to find fault with everything the she does), informing her that she, too, will be arriving for Thanksgiving, and she’ll be bringing a surprise guest. So, make two more reservations.

Jance has created a strong female character in Joanna, one who can handle family crises as well as the demands of her job. This is a very good read.

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Jim Glynn may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.