Missing and Endangered is on Its Way

by

I wasn’t allowed in the Creative Writing program at the University of Arizona in 1964 because, as the professor informed me, I was a girl. A few years later, my first husband, someone who had been allowed in the Creative Writing program that was closed to me, told me that there was only going to be one writer in our family and he was it.

Well guess what? I have a new book coming out on February 16, Joanna Brady # 19, Missing and Endangered. I just went through my book catalogue. Without counting any of the novellas, M&E, as we call it around here, is published book number 65! Not bad for a girl!

I didn’t start writing for real until 1981, a year after divorcing that first husband who never managed to publish a single thing. As it turns out, both he and his “boys only” professor were dead and gone by the time my first book was published in June of 1985. Over the years I’ve often said that they’re both probably spinning in their graves each time one of my books hits the NYTimes list. And here’s your chance to make that happen again.

Usually this is when I make the announcement about where I’ll be going on my upcoming tour. Guess what? Thanks to Covid, once again there will be no live events. In my opinion virtual events aren’t nearly as much fun as the other kind. Nevertheless, on pub date I’ll be doing a FaceTime Live event with Barbara Peters from Poisoned Pen. Here’s the signup link for that:

J.A. Jance discusses MISSING AND ENDANGERED | Poisoned Pen Calendar (poisonedpenevents.com)

It’s scheduled to take place at 7 PM, Arizona time. Be sure to check your time zones so you don’t miss it. (Note to self: Your heart may be in Arizona, Judy, but you’ll be in Washington, so that’s 6 PM for you!)

Both Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale and Mostly Books in Tucson will have autographed books available to order on line. Here are their pre-order links:

Poisoned Pen: https://store.poisonedpen.com/?q=h.ts&opt=kw&tsf=y&so=oh&qs=9780062853462

Mostly Books: https://www.mostlybooksaz.com/ja-jance-missing-endangered-autographed-preorder

In addition, there will be specially bound autographed books available at Barnes and Noble and Books a Million through their online bookstores. Here are the applicable links for those:

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/missing-and-endangered-j-a-jance/1135727744?ean=9780063051300

Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Missing-Endangered-Autographed-Copy/J-A-Jance/9780063051317?id=7657058406168#

This is also the time for people interested in having autographed bookmarks to send along their SASEs. My mailing address is:

PO Box 766, Bellevue, WA 98009

Please use regular business sized envelopes. Smaller ones—like leftover Christmas card envelopes, for example—just don’t work. If you send me one of those, I’ll either have to fold your bookmark or else cut it in half. This time around I’ll also be able to offer personalized bookplates. If you would like to have both a book mark and a book plate, please let me know. By the way, both of those will fit in ONE number 10 envelope. No need to send two.

One of the wonderful things about writing a series is that things can happen over longer periods of ltime. In the first Joanna Brady book, Desert Heat, Joanna’s daughter, Jenny was a bright little penny of nine. In M&E she’s now a college sophomore, and this book has almost as much to do with Jenny as it does with her mother. I think readers who have watched Jenny grow up over the years will be pleased to see what a capable young woman she has become.

Now a word about the cover. You can’t tell a book by the cover, right? In this case that’s most certainly true. Book cover creation is not part of my bailiwick, and the people responsible for making those decisions often do so BEFORE I finish writing the book. That was the case here. My plan was to work the cover design into the story, but then I forgot. So now the cover is going to be an inside joke between the readers who are “in the know”—the ones reading this message—and everyone else.

If you spend much time driving around the Southwest, you’ll see these kinds of roadside memorials here and there. They often come complete with a statue of the Madonna and a burning votive candle or two. On US Highway, two of them are located near Bisbee. One is on the west side of town just at the base of what locals refer to as the Divide. The other is east of town, just to the west of Double Adobe Road—the route Joanna would drive every day on her way to and from High Lonesome Ranch. So the monument pictured on the cover of Missing and Endangered has nothing at all to do with the book itself and everything to do with Joanna’s Cochise County.

I know there are plenty of people who, like me, aren’t making unnecessary trips of any kind at the moment. Grocery stores are necessary. Missing and Endangered is scheduled to be Kroger’s book of the month, so after the on-sale date, you can add the book to your shopping list right along with milk and bread. My understanding is that most Costco warehouses will also be carrying M&E, so you can grab a copy and toss it into your grocery cart right along with that humungous package of toilet paper!

Books that are preordered or purchased within the first few days after pub date make a huge difference in whether or not a particular book hits the NYTimes Bestsellers Lists. So let’s all get with the program. It’s time to make that Creative Writing professor and my first husband eat their words one more time!

Happy Reading,

JAJ

18 thoughts on “Missing and Endangered is on Its Way”

  2. Oh, I can’t wait for this! And lucky me, our daughter preordered it for our NOOK devices. Thank you so much for a nice morning chuckle over the shopping opportunities, and thanks for “writing on” through this Hellish pandemic.

  3. I will be preordering the hard copy from one of those bookstores and sending an envelope for the bookmark! Joanna Brady books are my favorites although I love all of your series. Of course, I can’t do anything until the cat gets off my lap!

  6. I still can’t believe that creative writing professor. There were many successful women writers at the time. He must have been prejudiced against females. Did he ever publish anything? Did any of his students? I’d think if they didn’t he’d have been out of a job. I think it is a blessing that you were never in his class.

  7. Usually I wait until a novel hits the library, but this time I’m buying it to boost sales. I’ve done that for two of my friends who are writers, Melanie Forde and Jessie Thorpe. They tell me I should write a book. Nah, I’m happy to think about retirement and my farm life raising chickens and taking care of rescue kitties along with two cantankerous parents aged 93 and 94. But I do love to read.
    BTW, thank you J. A. Jance for recommending reads. Good books are better than watching TV.

  10. I pre ordered this February 2020, almost a year ago! Boy that was a horrible year but soon a light at the end of the tunnel. Love all your series. You’re one of the very few authors from who I will purchase a novella.

  11. I just realized I failed to add the date of the Facebook live event. It’s the on sale date–February 16, 7 PM Mountain Time.

  12. In 1964 I was also told I could not do something because I was girl. If only those stuffy old men could see us all now. I have pre-ordered M & E and have re-read all the Joanna Brady books so I am ready to go. Cannot wait!

  13. Oh yeah, I pre-ordered my Kindle copy when I received notice a few days ago. The day it comes out I will get a DT copy ordered for my friend in her late 80’s. They do not let you pre-order gift books, no clue why not? She clued me in to your Beau books way back when, so that is the very least I can do for her. She has been book starved not being able to get out into the world with covid and not computerized or Kindleized. Thank you!

  14. I cannot believe somebody would not have allowed you into the creative writing program simply because you are a girl. There have been so many famous female authors that I cannot began to grasp what his reasoning would be. It seems more and more of the books I read are predominately written by women and my foray into the world of literature would not be nearly enriching without them. I certainly would not have had the pleasure of reading your wonderful books and I look forward to Missing and Endangered when it comes out later this month. Thank you for not letting it dissuade you from writing.

  15. I found your first book in the Stars and Stripes bookstore when we were in Germany for our second tour there. I’ve been a fan ever since! So, big raspberries to that professor who wouldn’t let you into his class. SHAME on him!

    Now living in Cochise County, I am VERY familiar with those roadside memorials – I used to see them every day when driving to Bisbee for my job as a Substitute teacher for grades K-12, so was regularly bouncing between Greenway, Lowell, and the High School.

    I’ll be going out to the B&N site to preorder my copy of M and E. Keep on writing!

  16. Hi, I am so excited about this book coming out and just ordered the book from Poisoned Pen. I am glad you gave that info so i can get a signed copy.
    I have read all of your books and I can hardly wait for this one. I think Brady and Beaumont are my two favorites. I love Brady because she is a tough cookie and I love Beaumont even with all his flaws. Thanks again for your great writing and i am also enjoying your blogs. Carole Blanchard

  17. I only got to see part of your Book Talk with Joe Kenda. Is there any way to see it all?

    I have read all your books and I have watched all of Joe Kenda’s TV shows.

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