Rattlesnake Crossing Quotes

“Joanna heard the unspoken subtext in that simple statement. Jeff Daniels could call his parents and tell them the news. Marianne couldn’t. Marianne’s parents had never recovered from their daughter’s public defection from the Catholic Church and becoming a Methodist minister. Over the years, Marianne had given Joanna helpful hints about resolving the mother/ daughter rifts between Joanna and Eleanor Lathrop. That didn’t mean, however, that she had ever been able to heal the long-standing feud with her own mother.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“Joanna stared off to the horizon, where periodic flashes of lightning continually backlit a towering cloud bank. “Evidence or no evidence,” she muttered, “I say bring on the rain.” “Don’t let her Highness hear you say that,” Ernie said, nodding toward Fran Daly, who was crouched on all fours next to what remained of the burial mound. “We’re pretty well down to the body now. If it starts to rain before she finishes up, I’m afraid she’ll go nuts.” “She already is nuts,” Joanna said. “But what’s going on? From down where I’ve been standing, I couldn’t see a thing.” “You didn’t notice that Dr. Daly got awfully quiet all of a sudden?” Ernie asked. “Well, I did, but…” “Maybe you’d better come take a look.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“Another president like Richard Milhous Nixon,”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“kids have been getting adults to buy their booze ever”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“swiftly flowing current”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“geodesic domes.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“According to the VA, his deafness isn’t service-related.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“the valise began to move,”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“as thought”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“That’s just what I need this morning, Joanna thought grimly, another dose of Marliss Shackleford.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“I noticed the sign down by the road. No feds allowed. Is that why he’s mad at them, because he thinks they mismanaged his VA claim?” Sonja shook her head. “He’s mad at them because every time he turns around, there’s some other federal regulation or requirement that gets in the way of his being able to run his ranch. He’s sick and tired of governmental interference, and as far as I’m concerned, the man’s entitled to his opinion.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“As Joanna drove north, she turned her thoughts from one case to the other. In Cochise County, crimes involving gunshot livestock were fairly commonplace. Ordinary murders—the kind of crime where people kill people—usually occurred among folks who were known to one another. Killers and victims often turned out to be relatives, lovers or ex-lovers, former partners, or former friends. When it came to the unauthorized slaughter of livestock, Joanna had learned that was generally a stranger-to-stranger kind of crime. That was especially true during hunting season when good-old-boy city-slickers came down from Phoenix and Tucson to shoot up everything on four legs and occasionally a few things on two legs as well.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing

“Long after she put down the phone, Joanna lay on the couch, staring up at the ceiling, her heart seething with a combination of worry and anger. Why do kids have to be such monsters? she wondered. The incident reminded her of the little flock of leghorns Eva Lou used to keep out in the chicken yard. Among chickens, even a small difference from the rest of the flock would be enough to provoke an unrelenting attack. After a while, the different one would just give up. It wouldn’t even bother to fight back.”
― J.A. Jance, Rattlesnake Crossing