"Dead Wrong" is right on

J.A. Jance, the New York Times best-selling author has a new murder mystery out, "Dead Wrong." If you miss it - no matter whether you are a mystery fan or not - you will have missed what I believe will be one of the best reads of 2007.

Jance is a master at blending topics of today - social problems, inadequate funding for law enforcement, handicapped people, illegal immigrants, gays, violent crimes, alcoholism, teen-agers, Huntington's Disease, humane treatment of animals - into her wonderful books.

Jance's heroine is a county sheriff in Cochise County, Arizona who is married, pregnant and has an impossible mother and mother-in-law to deal with. Her department is under-staffed and under-funded and is not only responsible for the safety of her domain but is also saddled with the animal control unit.

I lived in Southeast Arizona for a while and had the pleasure of visiting Bisbee in Cochise County, Sierra Vista, Benson, Tucson, Interstate 10 and other locations Jance uses in her books. I also had the pleasure (most times) of meeting many of the types of characters she portrays in her work.

But what I enjoy most about J.A. Jance is that she delivers a beautiful sermon about living while at the same time keeping you on the edge of your seat.

In one scene that I enjoyed so much, her mother-in-law, who is a complete jerk, belittles eveyone but herself, including a developmentally handicapped young man named Junior (whom Jance introduced so brilliantly in one of her previous masterpieces). Junior holds his own in that scene, and you will have to read it to appreciate how well it is done.

In another scene, her animal control officer is horribly beaten but saved from dying by illegal migrants who find her lying on the road and, like the tale of the Good Samaritan, take her to a hospital. The discussion between the sheriff and the leader of the migrant workers will lift you out of your seat.

Forgiveness is a big theme throughout J.A. Jance's books. So is women's intuition. Much like that of Sisters author Karen Grace Kassy's book, "Health Intuition" in which she tells the story of a young woman who planted seeds to grow "a garden of forgiveness."

While doing a book-signing in Sisters, Jance told of a period in her life when she suffered with an alcoholic individual and used those experiences to build a strong sense of forgiveness, one that she passes along to her readers in a beautiful way.

Even if you do not like to read about the dark side of humanity, you will miss the bright side of living if you pass up Jance's new book, "Dead Wrong."