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J.A. Jance biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

J.A. Jance
Photo credit: Jerry Bauer

J.A. Jance

J.A. Jance Biography

J.A. Jance (Judith Ann) is the New York Times bestselling author of the Joanna Brady series, the J. P. Beaumont series, three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family, and the Ali Reynolds series.

Born in South Dakota in 1944 and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona. Before becoming an author, she worked as a school librarian on a Native American reservation, as a teacher, and selling insurance. She lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

J.A. Jance's website

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Interview

In this inspirational essay J.A. Jance explains how she struggled to become a writer but that the experience helped her become the writer she is because 'one of the wonderful things about being a writer is that everything–even the bad stuff–is usable!

As a second-grader in Mrs. Spangler’s Greenway School class, I was introduced to Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz series. I read the first one and was hooked and knew, from that moment on, that I wanted to be a writer.

The third child in a large family, I was four years younger than my next older sister and four years older then the next younger sibling. Being both too young and too old left me alone in a crowd and helped turn me into an introspective reader and a top student. When I graduated from Bisbee High School in 1962, I received an academic scholarship that made me the first person in my family to attend a four year college. I graduated in 1966 with a degree in English and Secondary Education. In 1970 I received my M. Ed. in Library Science. I taught high school English at Tucson’s Pueblo High School for two years and was a K-12 librarian at Indian Oasis School District in Sells, Arizona for five years.

My ambitions to become a writer were frustrated in college and later, first because the professor who taught creative writing at the University of Arizona in those days thought girls "ought to be teachers or nurses" rather than writers. After he refused ...

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Books by this Author

Books by J.A. Jance at BookBrowse
Left for Dead jacket Fatal Error jacket Queen of the Night jacket Trial by Fire jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for J.A. Jance but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Harlan Coben

    Harlan Coben

    Harlan Coben was born and raised in New Jersey.  After graduating from Amherst College as political science major, he worked in the travel industry. He now lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Exit Wounds

    Try:
    No Second Chance
    by Harlan Coben

  • Peter de Jonge

    Peter de Jonge

    Peter de Jonge has coauthored three New York Times bestsellers with James Patterson: Beach Road, The Beach House, and Miracle on the 17th Green. He has been a reporter for the Associated Press and a contributing writer for ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Exit Wounds

    Try:
    The Beach House
    by Peter de Jonge

We recommend 6 similar authors

View all 6 Read-Alikes

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