J.A.
Jance is the author of over forty best-selling books, millions
of which are still in print. Her series include those featuring
J.P. Beaumont, a retired Seattle policeman; Joanna Brady,
Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona; and Ali Reynolds, former
broadcaster and now police academy graduate.
Jance’s professional writing career began with
the publication of the first Detective Beaumont book,
Until Proven Guilty (Avon, 1985). However, her desire
to become a writer actually began in the second grade
after reading The Wizard of
Oz. Unfortunately, both her
first husband and a creative writing professor discouraged
those efforts. According to the professor, “girls
ought to be teachers or nurses,” not writers. Jance
set aside her writing until the 1980s when she found
herself a divorced, single parent without child support,
working full-time selling life insurance.
Jance holds degrees in English and secondary education.
She also has a master’s of education in library
science, and worked as both an English teacher and a
K-12 school librarian. She grew up in Brisbee, Arizona,
and she and her husband now divide their time between
Seattle and Tucson.
Her two most recent hard cover releases are Deadly
Stakes (Simon & Schuster, 2013) featuring Ali Reynolds,
and Judgment Call (Morrow, 2012) featuring Joanna Brady.
Of all of her publications, however, Jance lists her
favorite as Hour of the Hunter (Morrow, 1991) from the
Walker Family Mysteries series. Notably, one of the characters
is an evil creative writing professor.