Back to the Scene of the Crime

by

I usually write the blog on Wednesday or Thursday. Today I’m writing it on Tuesday. Why? Because I’m going to be very busy later on in the week.

For one thing, a shipment of 800 books is due to show up any minute now, all of which will need to be signed. It’s on occasions like this that I’m tremendously grateful for the marketing guys at Avon Books who, in 1983, insisted I use my initials as my pen name because, as they told me, “Male readers won’t accept police procedurals written by someone named Judy.”

Just like that, Judith Ann Jance went bye-bye and J.A. Jance appeared on the scene. Trust me, J.A. uses up a whole lot less red ink (I always sign in red ink!) than Judith Ann. And less time as well. So that’s one of my Thursday things.

By the way, those signed copies of Den of Iniquity will be part of the November Book Box for Brenda Novak’s Book Club.

As for the “crime” mentioned above? Fairly early in my career, I was invited to speak to the ladies’ spring luncheon at the Seattle Yacht Club. I grew up in Bisbee, Arizona, where yacht clubs were very thin on the ground, so the idea of my speaking to the yacht club ladies was daunting to say the least, and so was the idea of finding parking there.

As a result, Bill drove me to the event and dropped me off at 10:30 AM for an 11:30 start time. Was I nervous? You’d better believe it. When I walked through the entrance, I was greeted by a silver-haired lady with a smile on her face and a glass of white wine in one hand. She handed me the glass of wine. I was nervous, so I drank it. When that glass was empty, she handed me another. I drank that one, too, and when I arrived at my assigned seat, there was a third glass of wine waiting for me.

In other words, by the time the luncheon started, it still wasn’t noon, and I was already three glasses of wine ahead of the game.

So when I stood up to speak, I started off by telling a naughty joke—which I have no intention of repeating here. Over the years I’ve occasionally heard from people who attended that luncheon. They’ve all told me I was “hilarious” during that appearance, and maybe so, but believe me, I learned my lesson. When I’m going to do a speaking engagement, I might indulge in a single glass of wine, but nervous or not, I don’t swill down three.

My second appearance at the Seattle Yacht Club is due to happen on Thursday evening when I’ll be speaking to members of their three separate book clubs. That’s concerning, too. My previous experiences with book clubs have been spotty at best. Many of the book clubs I’ve encountered over the years tend to focus on “literary fiction” as opposed to “genre” fiction which is what I write.

Once upon a time in Phoenix, Tony Hillerman, also with both feet firmly planted in the land of “genre” fiction, told me, “Literary fiction is where nothing much happens to people you don’t like very much.”

By the time you’re reading this blog on Friday morning, it’ll all be over but the shouting, but rest assured. This time around I have zero intention of starting off my Seattle Yacht Club appearance with several glasses of wine and a dirty joke. Hopefully I’ll be alive and well when it’s time for me to turn 80 on Sunday morning—still alive, still kicking, and still walking.

91 thoughts on “Back to the Scene of the Crime”

  1. Lol, I love this. Since getting two new cats a year ago I’m now a very early morning riser, 4:00 a.m. . Not by choice but I’ve grown accustomed to it and I’m accustomed to reading your Friday blogs and you made me laugh. Thank you. And a very very Happy Birthday ? ? to you J A, to many more wonderful years and many more steps????????

  5. Happy Birthday Judy!
    I’m so glad I met you on a book signing at Franklin College Indiana a few years ago..It was a wonderful night. You were tired from your flight from fla.
    So enjoyed the stories you told and the song you sang?.Thank you for being such a wonderful
    women . Love all your books..I hear your voice in everything you write ..
    Always, Jan Giles

  6. Happy Birthday to you! You have brought me many hours of enjoyable reading.
    Best wishes for many more birthdays to come.

  7. Happy Birthday Judy!
    I’m so glad I met you on a book signing at Franklin College Indiana a few years ago..It was a wonderful night. You were tired from your flight from fla.
    So enjoyed the stories you told and the song you sang?.Thank you for being such a wonderful
    women . Love all your books..I hear your voice in everything you write ..
    Always, Jan Giles

  8. I’m sure your appearances went very well and were well received. I can’t imagine how they wouldn’t!
    Happy Birthday to you on Sunday! I hope you have an incredible day and a proper celebration! Blessings in the coming year!

  10. Happy 80th Birthday. “Literary fiction is where nothing much happens to people you don’t like very much.” See Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner. See, oh so many.

  11. Many Happy Returns for Sunday, or just plain Happy Birthday. I hope you have a great day with many more to come.
    I’m a couple of months behind you and my motto is that “growing older is mandatory, but growing up is optional”.

  13. Thanks for the TH comment – spot on! I hope the book clubbers were paying attention and take the opportunity to expand their focus. Ceci

  14. Happy Birthday, Judy! Turning “80” is a monumental occasion that far too few get to celebrate—enjoy every moment! I’m an enthusiastic fan who has been following your work for years, hardback, audio, etc with all listened to or read over an over. Have the happiest, healthiest year ahead!

  15. Happy Birthday, and many happy returns. Your Den of iniquity was a wonderful book, and I enjoyed it very much.

  16. Your blog is the first thing I read on Friday mornings. Even before coffee!
    I hope the appearance at the Yacht Club went well …I’m sure it did.
    Have a wonderful Birthday weekend. Stay dry…
    Kind regards.

  17. I look forward to your books, blogs, and laughs from your sense of humor. Happy Birthday and Best Wishes for good health, happiness, and many more book ideas. I’m reading Den of Iniquity now and even made a first trip to Bisbee, AZ a few years ago.

  18. Happy Birthday on Sunday!!! I love all your books and am always ready for a new one .

  19. An early Happy Birthday, Sunday! I am sure you made it through the Yacht Club event with no problem. I wanted to tell you how much I’m enjoying Ali Reynolds’ series I just started. I will email you more on that. Thank you for another great Friday blog. I love seeing them in my morning email box.

  20. Hope all went well for you at the yacht club and that your celebration on Sunday is very special!! Mine was in September & it is hard to believe that we’re in this age group now. Just doesn’t seem like it was that long ago when I turned 40.
    Many happy returns of the day! Penny

  21. Hope all went well for you at the yacht club and that your celebration on Sunday is very special!! Mine was in September & it is hard to believe that we’re in this age group now. Just doesn’t seem like it was that long ago when I turned 40.
    Many happy returns of the day!

  24. I think the ladies who came to hear your talk may have had a bit of the grape before lunch so it went well.

    As for your name, P. D. James had to choose her name in 1962 when she wrote her first book. She tried several versions, Phyllis James, Phyllis D. James and finally decided on P. D. James as she thought it would look best on the book spine. She had never thought of using her married name which was White. Signing books wasn’t that popular in Britain, but she was glad to have a short name when signing books in the US.

  25. One of your books was similar to Tony Hillerman’s subjects. I almost went back and read them again.

  26. Happy 80th birthday, I’m still nine years older than you. Keep up right. Love Wanda Seale.

  27. Dear Judy, Happy Birthday! You are a marvel in so many ways. You are much more than just alive and kicking. You are thriving and inspiring all the time. I wish you a day filled with love and joy and know that you will be around for years to come.

  29. Happy early Birthday–best wishes for a great day. And, hope your Seattle Yacht Club appearance went over well.

  31. Let us know how the yacht club event went…with out the wine!
    Wishing you a blessed, peaceful, and happy birthday!
    80 is awesome!

  32. Tony Hillerman was right. A long time ago, after college, I tried reading books recommended in the NYT and the NY Literary Review. They were tedious and boring and I never finished them. So I stopped, and ever since I have been reading and re-reading books I liked, which includes all of yours.

    • Linnea, I saw “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century” which was the lead article of the NYT Book Review on 1 September, 2024.

      I have read only five on the list. Two were historical novels by Hilary Mantel. The others fiction. Most authors and books I’d never heard of. I tried reading some, but gave up. It’s amazing what is out there.

  33. Happy Birthday to a fabulous woman. I have followed your wit, sensitivity and intelligence in over 70 books or so. I have no doubt you will be a great 80?

  34. Judy, just reading this blog makes me laugh as I am trying to visualize you after the 3 glasses of wine and wondering just how naughty was that joke?

    Bless you for signing all of the books. Now, that seems like a good time to have a glass of wine nearby.

    Happy Birthday many times over. Please do continue kicking and living well and writing to make so many people happy.
    With love, Janice Molina

  35. Birthday wishes, you have many years to go before you reach my age enjoy! I began reading Beaumont back in the 80’s. A group of us at work, in Seattle, discovered Beaumont and became J.A. Jance fans. About that time there was an event (can’t for the life of me remember what it was) but I found you sitting in a little corner of the area with your books. I am a fan of Brady and Reynolds’s in addition to Beau. Thank you!

  36. I love all your books! I’ve seen you at The Festival of Books at the U of A and in SaddleBrooke. You are always entertaining and that’s not easy.
    Wishing you the happiest of birthdays!
    Donna

  37. Happy Birthday, Judy! A milestone birthday for sure. You keep writing and we’ll keep reading!
    Fondly,
    Jackie Olsen

  40. Happy and a blessed birthday. Hope you have a wonderful day. I’ll be 81 in December so I know how daunting it can be so I say thank you and appreciate every day. ??????

  41. Happy Birthday and enjoy your day and have a glass of wine, you deserve it. I look forward to reading another of your books.

  42. Thank you for all the kind comments. As far as the Seattle Yacht Club appearance? For those of my contemporaries who actually took Latin in high school—Veni, Vidi, Vici, or—as Julius Caesar once said, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” It was great fun.

    • I actually did take Latin in high school. I was in the seminary and at the time Latin was required as the Mass and other parts were in Latin. I remember it being very difficult. But do remember that particular quote. Great fun indeed.

  48. I’m one of those readers that would have never read a book written by a Girl!! LOL! My first book was Tombstone Courage that I picked up at a thrift store. I was thinking it was a western about Tombstone. I started reading it and realized it wasn’t a western! I opened it to the back page and a woman wrote this book! I couldn’t put it down! Then as I was nearing the end and didn’t want it to end! I did my research and glory be it’s a series! Proudly I can say I have all of the J A JANCE books! I have been to two Book signing in Mesa Arizona!!! Good Work (Judy) Miss Janice

  50. Happy birthday young lady. Just do what i do and tell everyone that you’re 27. They will think that you’re nuts and not go into the age thing any more.

  52. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday. I’ll be turning 91 on the 2nd. And I wait anxiously for each of your new books.

  53. Happy Birthday, Judy!
    I’ll looking forward to seeing you again in Tucson Festival of Books next year. Maybe Beau can tell your dirty joke?
    Carol
    Wisconsin & Arizona

  54. Oh!! Happy 80th!! Many Blessings to you! Have a wonderful Birthday weekend.
    I, too, turn 80 this year (Dec 9). I’m looking forward to it!
    I Love your books. J. P. Beaumont and Johanna Brady are my favorites.
    Again, Happy Birthday!!

  57. I laughed out loud regarding your “returning to the scene of the crime” story (and I don’t usually laugh out loud for just anything).

    Wishing you a very happy birthday, with or without the wine!

    Suzy

  58. HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY!
    I first met you at Parkplace Books in Krkland. One summer evening, as you swept into the store wearing a chiffon dress & large hat with flowers.
    Ive always enjoyed your books and found you to be quite entertaining?
    Be well, Kathy

  62. Happiest of birthdays to you!!!

    Our nearly 87 yr old boss just passed away last month so our office is in a bit of a dither with his 85 yr old wife now in charge. He worked 6 days per week (in real estate development/management).

    All of us fans APPRECIATE YOU SO MUCH! We hope you keep writing for the next 20 years or so.

    Each day is a blessing! Enjoy this milestone birthday!!

  64. “Literary fiction is where nothing much happens to people you don’t like very much.”
    I have read some books that had tons of hype and praise, tons of them sold. Stinkers. Good to put a name to what they were. Still scratching my head for what the draw was. Had I known, 3 glasses of wine while reading would have been the antidote.
    Enjoy your birthday!

  66. Happy early Birthday wishes. Congrats on the Big 8-0! Gotcha beat by almost 3 years. December is the big 8-3. Two days before Pearl Harbor, still in the hospital with my Mom during the blackouts in Seattle. They wouldn’t let her go down the hall to the nursery to see me and I guess she was freaking out. I, of course, was oblivious! Ha ha.

  69. I think I would have enjoyed being at that yacht club talk back in the day. I bet you were very entertaining. Hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow.

  70. Actually, I don’t even know what “literary fiction” means–nor “genre fiction,” for that matter. I just know your books are my favourites.

  71. Well a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU on Sunday!!!
    I have just had mine and feel younger than the year on my driver’s license!!! HAHA
    My friends and I have enjoyed most of your books and still looking for any we have missed.
    We are an informal book club, ok we just read everything you write.
    So again, have a special birthday with loved ones and good health in the next year.
    A grateful fan.

  72. Well a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU on Sunday!!!
    I have just had mine and feel younger than the year on my driver’s license!!! HAHA
    My friends and I have enjoyed most of your books and still looking for any we have missed.
    We are an informal book club, ok we just read everything you write.
    So again, have a special birthday with loved ones and good health in the next year.
    A grateful fan.

  73. Happy, Happy milestone Birthday! You are a gift to your fans so I hope for you the gift of good health & many more years to do that which you love…..especially writing ! Looking forward to reading all of your stories yet to come!
    Enjoy your special day!
    Another grateful fan!

  74. This is my 3rd time trying to write this! Ended up replacing batteries. Sice it is already Sunday here in KS I wanted to wish you a very happy 80th birthday! wishing you a marvelous day and enjoy celebrating you. I will be joining you in January. Enjoy your blogs very much.

  75. I just want you to know how much I enjoy your books especially the JP ones. I read the entire series 5 or six years ago, and would you believe I have started listening to them in order again. They are great!
    I am originally from Seattle, grew up on Queen Anne Hill, moved to Atlanta and 84 came back and lived in Edmonds for five years, now back in Atlanta again really enjoy the references to Seattle area locations.

    Happiest of birthdays to you!

    • Susan, I send cards from Jacquie Lawson. They often are thought to be spam so I alert folks I’ll be sending a card from there. I hope Judy has gotten hers today.

  80. A very happy birthday to my favorite author! Thank you for all of your books, your personality, and your openness.

  81. GREETING TO MY FAVORITE AUTHOR: I JUST GOT MY COMPUTER UP & RUNNING!!!
    I WENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR EMAILS.
    THE TOGO2 LIBRARY WAS HERE ON THURSDAY & AT LONG LAST I GOT YOURBOOK I HAD ON RESERVE FOR A LONG TIME!! I AM SAVING IT BECAUSE I HAD EYE SURGERY 2 PLUS WEEKS AGO & I AM NOT COMPLETELY READY (THE EYES ITCH & BURN A TAD). WHEN THE EYES CLEAR UP I WILL BEGIN READING YOUR BOOK & SAVOUR IT.
    HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY !!
    I am waiting to see if I reach 90 next spring!!

  83. Belated Birthday greetings and best wishes for a dozen or two more happy, healthy laps around the sun. You rock!!

  84. Happy Birthday!!! I only wish I could’ve heard your naughty joke!!
    I wish you many more years of book signings<3

  85. Happy Belated Birthday, Judith Ann Jance! Wishing you many happy returns of the day! Thanks to The Poisoned Pen’s broadcasts, I have a face and voice to attach to your name. Now, when I read your enjoyable stories, I see your face and hear your voice speaking to me. For that gift, many thanks to you and the Pen! Please continue telling me stories for as long as you want. I await them eagerly.

  88. Happy belated 80th birthday JA. Hope you had a great day.

    I have been out of town, visiting my other Granddaughter for the past two weeks and have missed both Friday blogs. Once I clear out my email and Facebook and will come back and read all the replies.

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