Dance of the Bones audiobook

I have been a fan of J. A. Jance since I read her first J. P. Beaumont book. This book is one of her best. It is set mostly in the Tuscon, Arizona and partly in Seattle. Beaumont is at looses ends folllowing demise of S.H.I.T. and refusing to become involve with Ralph Ames TLC group. He is asked to look into a case in Arizona that Brandon Walker is planning to added to TLC and they talk together. Meanwhile Lani and Gabe are spending the night at Tohono O'adham sacred place and they become involve with diamond smugglers. The events are brought skillfully together into one story.

I would appreciate it more had I read all the Walker Family books first. It's not just a J. P. Beaumont book. I'll give a reread when I get through the Walker Family books.

3.5 Picking up the latest J.A. Jance book is like settling down on the porch to catch up on the latest with an old friend. That latest is her new book, Dance of the Bones. And the old friends? Well, this is the 22nd book for J.P. Beaumont and the 5th book featuring members of the Walker family.Detective Brandon Walker is retired as is Special Investigator J.P. Beaumont. 1600 miles separate them, but a cold case from 40 years ago, brought to light with new evidence from The Last Chance group will have them working together. Faithful Beaumont fans, take note - Brandon has the lead role in this novel.Prospector Amos Warren and his partner Big Bad John Lassiter had a violent argument in a bar full of witnesses. When Warren's body is found, it is Lassister who is convicted. Except - we know who the real killer is - the opening prologue details Warren's death. The reader is along for the ride as the two men try to track down the real murderer. Knowing 'whodunit' early on did not detract at all from my enjoyment of the book.Readers not familiar with the Walker clan and their friends may find the first few chapters a bit busy - there are many characters and the relationships go back many years. (Dr. Lani Walker is my favourite) But, Jance does provide enough backstory that the reader will be quickly brought up to speed.The Walkers live in Pima County, Arizona. Every chapter opens with lore and legends from the Tohono O'odham, people of the desert, that mirrors much that is happening in the book. I really enjoyed these and the way that Jance wove First Nations culture into her book.Jance's mysteries are not cozy, but they're not difficult overly difficult to suss out either. For me, it is the characters that draw me to Jance's writing. It's comfortable and comforting to reconnect with characters I've enjoyed over the years. And I'm always curious as to their lives will evolve from book to book. This melding of two series with a new cold case group may provide many opportunities for other crossovers.

I read this book in preparation for the author's next book to be published. I always had a difficult time with the Walker Family books. However, this one was easier to read. I especially enjoyed the stories of Little White Feather and her tribe at the beginning of each chapter.

In 1970, Arizona sheriff Brandon Walker had arrested John Lassiter for the murder of Amos Warren, a man Lassiter had once considered like a father. Lassiter is still in prison in 2015 and suffering from MS but, when offered a plea deal, he refuses. He wants Walker, who is now retired and working for a group that reviews cold cases, to look into Warren’s murder to find the real killer. At first reluctant, as he looks deeper into it, Walker begins to have doubts about the conviction. He discovers a link between the Lassiter case and an unsolved homicide in Seattle. He contacts retired Seattle detective JP Beaumont to help him unravel what is turning out to be a very far-reaching mystery. When two boys disappear from the Tohono O’odham reservation where Walker’s daughter Lani and her husband Dan Pardee live, Walker is convinced this is somehow tied in and he has very little time left to solve the case if there is any hope of finding them alive. Then Lani disappears…In Dance of the Bones, author J.A. Jance brings two of her most popular detectives out of retirement and they work very well together to solve one of the most challenging cases either has ever faced. With a plot full of twists and turns and infused with the legends and culture of the Tohono O’odham people, Jance has created a very intelligent, entertaining, and suspenseful novel, one that keeps the reader’s attention from the first page and never lets up until the end.

Mixing Indian legend with old-fashioned sleuthing, J.A. Jance has utilized a long-time favorite character, retired detective J.P. Beaumont, with a recently introduced protagonist, retired Sheriff Brandon Walker. The two, 1,500 miles apart, work to identify the culprit. Beaumont has now appeared in 24 novels, and Walker makes his fourth appearance.It all begins with the murder of Amos Walker, whose remains in the Arizona desert are not discovered for some years. On purely a circumstantial case, his partner, Big John Lassiter, is convicted and sentenced to life without a chance of parole. Now, 30 years later, as a result of efforts by an organization that seeks to rectify wrongful past convictions, he is offered a deal: release on pleading guilty to a lesser charge for time served. He refuses to plea guilty to a crime he didn’t commit. So, it remains for the dynamic duo to substantiate his claim.It is a suspenseful story, supplemented by Indian lore and well-drawn characterizations. Written crisply, the plot develops swiftly continually propelling the reader forward. While there is never any doubt who the culprit is, it is a race against time before a conclusion can be reached. And it is an exciting end.Recommended.

#22 in the J.P. Beaumont series / #5 in the Walker Family series. Certainly a Walker Family novel, but Beaumont's presence is minimal. A good percentage of his presence is backstory to the novella Stand Down: A J.P. Beaumont Novella (2015).J.P. Beaumont series #22 / Walker Family series #5 - Years ago, Amos Warren, a prospector, was gunned down out in the desert and Sheriff Brandon Walker made the arrest in the case. Now, the retired Walker is called in when the alleged killer, John Lassiter, refuses to accept a plea deal that would release him from prison with time served. Lassiter wants Brandon and The Last Chance to find Amos's "real" killer and clear his name. Sixteen hundred miles to the north in Seattle, J.P. Beaumont is at loose ends after the Special Homicide Investigation Team, affectionately known as S.H.I.T., has been unexpectedly and completely disbanded. When Brandon discovers that there are links between Lassiter's case and an unsolved case in Seattle, he comes to Beau for help. Those two cases suddenly become hot when two young boys from the reservation, one of them with close ties to the Walker family, go missing.

I received this book free from GoodReads.This book is being marketed on the gimmick that it is in both the Brandon Walker and JP Beaumont series which is fine but Beaumont doesn't really factor in much and any Seattle cop could have been substituted. This isn't a criticism of the book, which reads quite well--in fact the best of the few Jance novels that I've read---but rather the need for gimmicky marketing.I liked this book right from the start where a series of crimes began in 1970 with an old ex-con desert dweller. The book then transitions to the current day, but keeps looking back to the past for hints on why that initial crime shaped the present and how one murder would eventually affect many people. Jance does a great job of making the various characters interesting.

A rather brief appearance of J.P. Beaumont in this tale of murder and wrongful conviction in the southwest. J.P is brought in well into the story when asked to look into a cold case that occurred in Seattle. Private cold case groups are looking into the case of the murder of a hunter of artifacts and minerals and the conviction of his younger partner for the killing. The convicted killer has always maintained his innocence and even though he is given the possibility of a lesser sentence and release from prison, he refuses, not wanting to admit to something he knows he did not do.

I won this books from Goodreads, which makes it more special. Below the title it says "A. J.P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker Novel," which is somewhat deceptive, as there is very little J. P. Beaumont occurring in the book. The characters are interesting, and for those readers who like Native American lore, there is a fair amount of storytelling and such. We are reminded that drugs and artifacts can be what cause people to get into trouble.A big thank you to WmMorrowBks--I don't tweet.

I haven't yet read any of the Walker Family series, but I like this book as an introduction to those characters. I enjoyed the way JA Jance gave the backstory of the cold cases through the eyes of those who were originally involved in them and tied that part of the plot to current crimes in progress. Jance never disappoints me and "Dance of the Bones" is as suspenseful and interesting as the other novels of hers I've read.