Judgment Call

In bestseller Jance’s satisfying 15th novel of suspense featuring Cochise County, Ariz., sheriff Joanna Brady (after 2009’s Fire and Ice), Brady’s 15-year-old daughter, Jenny, discovers her high school principal, Debra Highsmith, shot to death in the desert near their family home. Jenny phones Brady, who hops on her horse and rides to the crime scene. Who might have wanted to kill the extremely private Highsmith, who appears to have had no friends and no next of kin? When a second murder follows within as many days, Brady really has her hands full, especially since important intel about the crimes is hitting the Internet even before she can begin lining up suspects. Meanwhile, Brady’s trying her best to juggle the life-or-death circumstances of her job with a private life. Jance smoothly intertwines the threads of multiple subplots, complete with a red herring or two. The solution to a 25-year-old mystery surrounding the death of Joanna’s father is a bonus. 10-city author tour. Agent: Alice Volpe, Northwest Literary Agency. (Aug.)