It’s Wednesday afternoon, the day AFTER National Book Lovers Day, so I’d like to start by telling you a story.
Once upon a time a little blonde-haired girl, living in a small mining town in the West, decided she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Getting there wasn’t easy. There were plenty of bumps and hurdles along the way, but she finally got there. The life she lives now seems like a dream to someone who grew up wearing her older sisters’ hand-me-down clothes. It’s as though some fairy godmother waved a wand over her head and made her every dream come true.
The little red spot far in the background of the picture? That’s that same little girl all grown up. Her hair’s no longer blonde. It’s pretty much silver now, and she’s not little anymore, either. But these days she’s a writer and has been for more than forty years.
Now take a look at the folks in the foreground. Obviously this picture was taken back in the good-old-days when there were still such things as book signing events. Those people, sitting there in an audience, listening to that now grown-up little girl, are the ones who have made all the difference in her life. Whether they read hardbacks or paperbacks; whether they read e-books or listen to audio books—they are all BOOK LOVERS, and I maintain they’re the most important people in the room. They’re the ones who vote either with the cash in their pockets or by exercising their library cards. They’re the real fairy godmothers in my story, because they’re the ones who make it happen.
So, although it may be a day or so late, this is my heartfelt thank you note to all my loyal readers out there. If it weren’t for you, I might still be out there selling life insurance.
And now, one of my old friends, J.P. Beaumont, would like to have a word. “Hey, you guys, the paperback version of J.A. Jance’s latest book about me, Nothing to Lose, goes on sale on August 23. If you’re living through a hot and humid summer wherever you are, you might enjoy riding along on my latest adventure as I head north to Alaska. (No I am not going to go on with the rest of the lyrics to that song.)
“Along the way, you’ll meet one of my newest friends, a character named Twinkle Winkleman. Let’s just say I was a little taken aback when I first met Twink, but she’s the kind of gal wo grows on you, and it turns out she’s also someone you can count on in a pinch.
“So yes, the paperback edition of my latest book is coming soon. And, for you hardback devotees, J.A.’s next new one of those—an Ali Reynolds book named Collateral Damage is due out in March of next year.
“JA has been writing books about me for a very long time, and I hope she keeps it up, because I’m pretty sure the end of her would mean the end of me. I may be getting up there, folks, but I’m a long way from calling it quits.”
Best wishes,
J. P. Beaumont and J.A. Jance
You are such a great writer
No – I think the Thanks go to you.
Your books have made our travel through life a little better and a lot more interesting. Keep up your writing, please.
I always read/love all your books ut the Beaumont books are my favorite. That is how I found your books when a co worker gave me hers to read. That was over 20+ years and I have not missed one of your books since. Keep them coming please.
Thanks J.A. and J.P., I hope you both are around a long, long time
Twinkle has many a story to tell, and I’d like to hear some more. She reminds me a bit of Caitlin Warbelow, the famous fiddler, who FB posts great stories about Alaska and NYC and elsewhere.
Hey there, J.A., I have no idea where you came up with the name Twinkle Winkleman, but it’s a cute one! And I’m betting she’ll be a shining star in your galaxy of characters. I’m very much looking forward to meeting her and hearing all about her adventures – and misadventures. Thank you so much for your incomparable picture painting stories.
Probably from the town in AZ.
Anxiously awaiting the latest J A Jance book! I’ve read them all and to fill in the “downtime between books” have decided to start over!
Thanks once again for getting me off to a good Friday morning! You are the best.
Oh, I’m so happy to hear JP will be sticking around and will continue to have his say. Love that guy!
I can’t believe that Beau will no longer be around when you aren’t. I think he’s had enough experience writing police reports that he can write his own stories. He should be able to use your publisher. I try not to think about it too much.
I am a reader of all your books. Many years ago I attended a book signing in Avondale, AZ. Thanks and keep them coming.
Leila
Can you work on two books at the same time?
I usually juggle three at a time–writing one, editing another, and promoting a third. Writing two at a time? No way José!
Love all of your books!! But as for me and my eyes, I will not be buying the paperback because I cannot read print books anymore. I listened to it in audioform because that is the only way I can ‘read’ books nowadays.
The friend that introduced me to Jance books in the first place wound up living less than 5 miles from The Poisoned Pen book store in Scottsdale. So I would time my visits to her to the book signings there. We would go to the.store, each buy a hardback, stake our claims to front row seats go to dinner and return. A very enjoyable experience. Sadly my friend died last fall. I am hoping that book signings return soon. I would like to go to another for old times.sake.
I am one of your fans, a lover of books, who owns every one of your books. I am always happy as long as I have my books around me! I, like J.P., hope you continue writing. I am also thankful you no longer sell life insurance and are a writer.
I thank my parents for my love of books. They always read to me when I was little and they were an example to me as they also read the newspaper every morning, encouraging my brother and I to do the same at an early age. They both always had a book on their nightstand. When we would go shopping I never asked for toys or candy. It was always a book. They never said no to books and I know if I had asked for a toy what the answer would have been. I saved my allowance for the day I could order books from the Scholastic Book club. My parents always gave me additional money for books on that special day! It was better than a birthday to me. So, thank you to my parents for instilling the love of books in me and thank you, J.A. Jance for continuing to feed that love through J.P, Ali, Joanna and the Walker Family.
Please accept my condolences on the loss of your friend who was also clearly one of my fans.
Thank you. Yes Joyce was definitely one of your fans too. I met her in about 74, 75. She had been in fragile health for years but it was still sad. And due to covid, I had not seen her since 2019.
My reply to your comment posted in the wrong place. It’s down one spot.
Keep on Keeping on. Hope this message finds You and Yours in good Health and Happy. We Love You and Most of your Character’s. Chuck In Tacoma.
Thanks.
Thank you so much for your wonderful blog comments. You always bring smiles and insightful remarks.
What a dear story! Thank you for sharing it, and thank you for expressing your gratitude! It reminds me of my own story, of the childhood me wanting to teach music lessons when I grew up, and starting to do so while still in high school. Then one Christmas as we arrived at an uncle’s house, he greeted me with, “Well, Faith, and how is your work going? Oh, wait, that’s right–you don’t work, you just teach music lessons!” He was very smart–an accountant–so for the next 45 years I toiled at “real jobs,” (some successfully and some not so successfully) until the last one brought me to burnout, and I turned to teaching music lessons. And loving it. And I’m also feeling grateful, because though I never advertise, I always have enough students to keep me busy and fed, and their gratitude to me for what I teach them warms my heart, as our reading of your books warms yours.
Shame on your uncle. Glad you found your way back to your true calling.
Yes, how do you spell JERK? That’s your uncle! Teaching music was your true calling all along!
Your writings have enriched my life. Thank You for following your dream!
I enjoy and look forward to more adventures from you
Keep on keeping on JP and JA!!!
YAY! On all three accounts – Beau, Ali and Judith! Hope to see all three of you for many years to come.
Don’t forget Joanna Brady, the first series character.
Actually J.P. was numero uno. Joanna came along five years later.
You are so right, of course, being the author. I started out being introduced to Joanna by a friend and the rest came later for me. I keep separate lists of all three characters with publish dates and the dates I read them. Missed “Until Proven Guilty”–1985. Please keep up the good work.
Out of all your series that you have written, my favorite is JP Beaumont. I have recommended this series many times and I love how he has grown as a person. Keep up the good work
Thank you for being a great writer. J.P. is my favorite! I enjoy your talent.
A Book lover
You and youir books were a topic of converesation at breakfast today with three of my retired teacher friends.
# How you could possibly do all the research for the variety of “crimes” in your books. Each book seems to have a distinctly different case involving great research. Somebody from Bisbee could actually have knowledge of all that! (I expressed my lack of that particular skill!)
# Character development in the four different series and how everyone has aged appropiately over time. That sadly doesn’t happen in a lot of series.
# Did I really know you? Amazement that we were actually,not only the same senior class at BHS, but that we actuaally had classes together and were part of the newspaper staaff. They all atteanded much larger high schools.
I am still pondering their surprise when they knew I was from Bisbee. Who do they see as older (or should I say younger) that we would not know each other?
Another wonder of growing up in Bisbee, the best place in the world for kids!
Thank you for all of your wonderful books. So proud to be your friend.
That made me smile.
Onward Bisbee, Onward Bisbee,
Fight for the red and gray!
So glad neither you nor Beaumont are calling it quits.
Yesterday the breaking news in our local paper was “body of murdered woman found in (local landfill)”. My Jance-induced imagination produced a scene with a body dramatically falling out of a collection truck, but much more prosaic details emerged in the text. The police knew the body had been put in a dumpster and the landfill management helped to locate it. Identification did not require J.P., Joanna, and Ali to go sleuthing. Oh, well!!
Thank you for realizing your dreams and giving all of us devoted readers fodder for our own imaginations!
I really enjoy your books from the first one I read I wanted to get more and found a list and attempted to buy one or get one at the library. I think I have read them all and look forward to any new ones coming out. Keep writing, we all enjoy you.
I found this quote from Graham Greene this morning.
“All writing is therapy. To some extent all writers seek their craft to heal a wound in themselves, to make themselves whole.”
I have wondered for many years how you manage to write in four distinct voices-
All of which feel so natural-
The idea of a visit to chilly Alaska is very definitely appealing during August in New York City!
Not only do I love reading about the heroes and villains in your novels, Judy, I also enjoy getting information about things I know little, if anything, about such as the UAVs, or drones, in Fatal Error, an Ali Reynolds I somehow missed along the way- The reason we fans are doing our part to keep all the protagonists going is that you make them so fascinating that we must keep turning the pages!
Hooray for a new Beaumont book…..and promise of a new Ali book coming soon!!! Thank you!!
Thank you for writing good books for us to enjoy.
Some authors of serial books become very predictable. The protagonists meet in the first chapter, they fall in and out of love for the next 200 pages. Then there is a crisis of doubt, trust and misunderstandings. Then in the last 75 pages, they sort things out and reconcile. Finally, at about page 400, they conclude and live happily ever after.
Fortunately, each of your books is entirely different and very unpredictable. I love your main characters. And I enjoy the people they meet.
Keep on writing and have lovely day.
PS. When will we get our next Joanna Brady book.
I am sure glad that even though JP is getting up there he’s still a long way from done. I’m getting up there too (just turned 81) but I’m a long way from stopping reading. So keep it JP and maybe get that new friend Twink to come along. I have a feeling Mel would like her.
I hope the both of you are around for a very long time. There are so many more stories to tell. I love Beau and all your characters. I look forward to catching up on their lives and adventures. And I look forward to your Friday blogs. Bless you lady in the red dress. Your gift and books bring such joy to so many.
Love all of your books!
I have loved all of your books. Am an avid reader of all mysteries. Have been reading other authors until I see a new one from you. Have started a few friends and my daughter on your books.
A few weeks my daughter and I went to Sierra Vista to see family and, of course, went to Bisbee. Thought of you while I was there. Love that place.
Thank you for the gift of your words.
Glad to see that you are still with us with us! I am 87 + and feeling grateful myself. I am in a retirement home in Ojai, CA, near where some of my grandkids live.
Wish I could put a year on the very first time my sister and I saw you at the Poison Pen in Phoenix/Scottsdale while I was visiting. I have been one of those loyal readers of yours for years. Now – my sister’s husband DOES NOT READ women authors! My two sisters and I are still avid mystery readers, just like he is but he ONLY reads Men Authors! Well, I got your latest J P book signed and took it back to their house. I was visiting for a couple of weeks (I live in Idaho – winters you know) so I finished JP and left it for my sister to read. The book was on the coffee table along with one of Lee Child’s and several others. Guess what – he LOVED JP! Sorry but we three sisters LOL when he thanked us for a”new” author!
Love your books. I support my library in Florida so I get most of them from there.
Judy, thought you might like to read this from Craig Johnson, in reply to a question from one of his readers:
#5, “Letting the Cat Out of the Bag to Spill the Beans”
When you go out on your book tours, is it difficult to keep on track the book you are promoting, or do you sometimes let out tidbits from the upcoming book? – Eileen Everitt
Hi Eileen,
Really good question.
?Most people don’t realize the scheduling of publication, and that it can get a little confusing when you’re going out on tour with a book you wrote a year ago as opposed to the book you just finished or the one you’ve been doing research for and just started. Obviously the one that you’re writing is the one that’s on your mind, but the one the farthest out and the one you need to talk about the least.
?Whew.
?It’s tough, and I always feel a little for the readers who are there at the beginning of the tour which I usually start with the statement, “The good news is that you’re here for one of the very first events for this novel — the bad news is that you’re here for one of the very first events for this novel…” I’m usually better at doing the event after I’ve done about twenty-five of them.
(You get better at everything the more you do it, except drywall, so if you can’t do drywall just hire somebody.)?
Then there are the paperback editions that come out a year after hardback release, which complicates things all over again. It’s only fair that readers want to ask questions about last year’s book, but it sometimes takes a moment to remember the storyline.
?People sometimes ask how a writer can keep track of all the fictitious characters in the novels they write, but in all honesty, I spend about eight hours a day, six days a week with those characters. . . and cheat on Sundays. So, in all honesty, I spend more time with the characters than I do with my actual family…
?Due to the nature of Crime Fiction, you have to be careful and not give away too many plot points because you might reveal the story of your next book. Last year I posted previews on social media with excerpts from the upcoming book and a lot of people enjoyed them but then a lot of folks refused to read them because they didn’t want to ruin the experience of reading the entire novel, and I can understand that. I was really careful about not letting the cat out of the bag, but there were still segments of the book lifted out of context. I started worrying that they were right and didn’t do it again this year.
Nevertheless, you do sometimes slip up, but I try to be careful and not give too much away about future books. Usually, I try and give those present a preview of what’s coming up next year — at least when I remember. Generally, I have my wife, Judy, to remind me at the end of the event.
?I guess I’m odd, but I really enjoy doing the events and the one starting on September 5th is kind of a whopper with twenty-three stops. An awful lot of publishers are pulling back on touring their authors, but I still enjoy getting out there and meeting and signing for folks.
So long as I don’t spill the beans…
See you on the trail,
Craig
Craig Allen Johnson
28 S. Main Street
Buffalo, Wyoming 82834 – US
I’m cheering that JP has another story! I love all your books, but Joanna and JP are my favorite story drivers. Thank you for all the wonderful hours I’ve spent with your characters! I reread them as series to pass the long Michigan winters.
Any chance Joanna has another story someday? ?
I’ve read all the J.P. Beaumont and Ali Reynolds books and can’t wait to read the new Ali book Collateral Damage, but feeling a little anxious that I have to wait until March 2023 to get it. And…I absolutely loved Twinkle Winkelman. As always J.P. treated her with the utmost respect even though she was a bit quirky. That’s one thing I love about J.P. He’s always kind, considerate and respectful to all who deserve it. And if you don’t deserve it, look out because J.P. will take you down when you’re least expecting it.
I’d love to read The Further Adventures of Twinkle Winkelman. Or Twinkle and the Banana Peel.