Judith Ann Jance is an American author of mystery novels born in 1944 in Watertown, South Dakota. She has built a career writing interconnected mystery series that have developed devoted readerships over multiple decades. Jance is best known for three main series. The first centers on J. P. Beaumont, a retired Seattle Police Department detective. The second features Joanna Brady, an Arizona County Sheriff. The third follows Ali Reynolds, a former Los Angeles news anchor who becomes a mystery solver. These series are notable for their interconnected narratives, with storylines crossing over between them. The Beaumont and Brady series first intersect in the novel Partner in Crime, which serves as both the 16th Beaumont mystery and the 10th Brady mystery. The two series intersect again in Fire and Ice, demonstrating Jance's ability to weave together multiple narrative threads across her body of work.