No Honor Among Thieves: An Ali Reynolds Novella (Ali Reynolds / Joanna Brady)

The book is excellent like all J.A. Jance books. I gave it three stars because the CD was no good. It quit working a few chapters in. Unfortunately, we were passed the return window. Hope the other two work.

The story isn't very developed and plods along pretty slowly before it gets to where it is going. The characters aren't very interesting and neither is the story. Even the narrator doesn't bring much excitment to what is supposed to be a crime story. It is an OK story, but I wouldn't want to ever hear it again or suggest it to anyone.

Big fans of this writer . This is the "good stuff"

Typical J.A.Jance mystery, will keep ya guess'n til the end!

J. A. Jance is the best author ever!!!

A few (relative term) years ago, J.A. Jance wrote a standalone novel about a Los Angeles news anchor who lost her job when the crows' feet began to make an appearance. The newscaster, Ali Reynolds, was replaced by a younger less talented woman, and returned to her parents' restaurant in Sedona, Arizona – where, as one might expect from a J.A. Jance novel, she became embroiled in a murder investigation. At the end of the novel, Ms. Jance asked her readers if they'd like to see more of Ms. Reynolds in future adventures.

Her fans eagerly responded. After 10 books in the Ali Reynolds series, Ms. Jance finally came up with a mechanism to bring Sedona's Ali Reynolds together with her famed Arizona sheriff, Cochise County's Joanna Brady. In “the novel No Honor Among Thieves” (which I listened to on 2 audio CDs), Ms. Reynolds travels to the outskirts of Sierra Vista on behalf of one of her husband's clients to investigate a truck crash – a truck hauling potentially collectible Lego box sets. A truck crash caused by a series of gunshots to the driver – bringing Cochise County's law enforcement along, as well.

I enjoyed this novella – it is a good demonstration how tight plotting and description can effectively tell a story in a short period of time / number of pages. Yes, things like complicated subplots and red herrings are not possible in order to keep the size under 2 hours / 100 pages, but they aren't always necessary in order to properly convey an entertaining story. (NOTE: Fans of each series WILL find at least one subplot related to their character that helps to advance their lives and relationships.)

An aside: J.A. Jance has a talent for conveying enough information about her characters to inform new readers as to the relevant aspects of their history in order to enjoy the current book without dragging things down for existing readers. I wish more authors would take a lesson from her on this – they typically have a habit of simply assuming that the reader already knows all about the character from prior novels.

My rating: 5 stars. My recommendation: buy it.

RATING: 5 stars