Rizzoli & Isles star Angie Harmon prefers to keep the law close in her roles. Having both her big breakout roles as a detective in Baywatch Nights followed by being an assistant DA on Law & Order, she can’t get enough of closing the book on bad guys.

While Harmon has studied up on fictional crime-fighting in many of her previous roles, one TV credit stands out the most as being strikingly similar to Jane Rizzoli. Just 2 years prior to the first time Harmon would hit the streets of Boston as Jane Rizzoli, she starred as Lindsay Boxer in the short-lived Women’s Murder Club TV series.

The series was a procedural crime drama centering around a detective, a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter, and a young assistant district attorney who all worked together to solve cases around San Francisco.

Angie Harmon as a homicide detective that has to work with a medical examiner? Sounds familiar! Along with similar occupations and friendships, both Women's Murder Club and Rizzoli & Isles are also based on a series of crime novels.

The series lasted only 13 episodes and was canceled for poor ratings. Following the show’s cancellation in 2008, Harmon got a call the next year to audition for the role of Jane Rizzoli.

“Women’s Murder Club was sort of a dress rehearsal for Rizzoli & Isles. First of all, we’re on cable, so we get to do more. We’re scarier, we’re sexier, we’re funnier. The relationship between Maura and Jane is a lot more in-depth,” said Angie Harmon on the going from one crime drama to the next.

While it would have been interesting to see Women’s Murder Club given another chance on-air, we’re grateful that Harmon had the chance to grow into Jane Rizzoli before truly becoming Jane Rizzoli.