J. A. Jance at Noon

I met my friend R.B. today, just before noon, at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Silverdale to attend a book signing by J. A. Jance of her latest mystery, Fire and Ice. Neither of us bought the book and thus we didn’t stick around to get her autograph. But the brief talk she gave was well worth our time. For the record she looks just like her author photo on the dust jacket of Cruel Intent, minus the dogs of course.

Roughly 80 people attended the event, most in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, with a female-male ratio of about 3 to 1. Everyone I saw was attentive and seemed to be hanging on each of Jance’s observations. For her part Jance is a good speaker who knows how to work a crowd. She was spot on in providing detailed insights into how she approaches storytelling so the group would have something to share with friends. Plus she plugged her next two books without making you think it was a sales job. She’s a people person too, handing out a chair to a gentleman with bad knees and declaring that the lady with the baby would be first in line for the book-signing session.

There were several good laughs. Her talk had barely started when it was interrupted by a ringing cell phone (hers). “I’m not taking any calls,” she said and handed the phone to a B&N staffer. She mentioned an email from a fan who complained that the scholarship details in Cruel Intent were filler and not needed. “Everything between the book covers is filler,” she declared, “It’s fiction.” The biggest round of applause came when she explained how the bad guys in Hour of the Hunter were based on men she had encountered early in her creative writing career who basically told her she had no future in the profession. Thirty-nine books later she’s still going strong.

My best takeaway came when she talked about her favorite and least favorite works. Her opinion there had nothing to do with the quality of the novels or what the critics said. Instead it was based on what was going on in her life at the time. While she was writing her least favorite, a son-in-law was dying of cancer. When she sat down to write her favorite, her husband had just recovered from a successful knee operation and they were able to travel painlessly again. I’m curious whether other authors feel the same way.

Jance was discussing character development when I had another insight. She mentioned that she never makes her characters any smarter than she is. Since Jance never worked in law enforcement, all of sudden I understood why Seattle detective J. P. Beaumont and Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady have so much trouble solving cases. By the way she’s paired them up for a second time in Fire and Ice.

In setting up the event, the B&N rep warned Jance that a noon book signing might not draw much of a crowd. Our group looked puzzled when Jance passed this tidbit on. To me it was a no brainer. Grab some lunch, do a little shopping, and hear what a well-known author has to say. Sounds like a pretty good use of the noon hour. But even after observing the large and well-satisfied crowd, the rep still wasn’t convinced. She asked us if noon would be a good time for some future book signings she was lining up at the store. Every hand went up in favor of the plan.