From the TBR Pile: Blog Tour: Dance of the Bones by J.A. Jance

Author: J.A. Jance
Publisher:William Morrow
Date of publication: September 2015

J. P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker, two of New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance’s most acclaimed series characters, join forces for the first time in one of the most suspenseful works of her career

Prospector Amos Warren and Big Bad John Lassiter, his young protégé, were as close as father and son until a violent argument tore them apart. The next day, Amos disappeared, never to be seen again. Years later, his bones were found in the desert. All signs pointed to John Lassiter, and Detective Brandon Walker made the arrest in the case.

Now, more than four decades later, the retired Walker is called in when TLC—The Last Chance, a group of retired cops, criminalists, medical examiners, and district attorneys who devote their time and experience to solving stone-cold homicide cases—looks into the killing. Lassiter can get out of jail now for time served if he’ll plead guilty to a lesser charge, but he refuses to cop to a crime he didn’t commit. Lassiter’s daughter, Amanda Wasser, wants Brandon and TLC to find Amos’s “real” killer and clear her father’s name.

Brandon Walker’s search to find the truth about Amos’s killer eventually leads sixteen hundred miles north to Seattle, to an unsolved murder that could be connected to the case. Thanks to a mutual friend, Brandon gets in touch with crack investigator J. P. Beaumont. With the Special Homicide Investigation Team disbanded and his wife away at a conference, the retired Beau has plenty of free time to help, even though he’s skeptical about Lassiter’s claims of innocence.

J. P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker’s meeting proves all too crucial, for soon these seasoned detectives must pool their personal and professional expertise when someone close to Brandon falls into the hands of a cold-blooded killer involved in a recent multiple homicide—who may also hold the key to the cold case.

One of the problems with going into a book like Dance of the Bones without ever having read a book by the author in either series it is associated with is that you always feel late to the party. At least that is how I felt. I haven't read either series that the two detective characters are featured in, but I was hoping this would work as a stand alone. Unfortunately for me, it didn't hold up well. The author did put in a lot of background, but I kept feeling like I was playing catch up. Too much to enjoy the story. There were also too many characters to keep track of in the beginning. Again, that probably comes from the merging of two series into one book.

The premise of the story is that these two detectives end up helping each other solve a "cold case". The problem is that the reader already know what happened. You find out in the prologue. So, for me that kind of killed the thrilling part of it. I probably would have preferred solving the cold case with them. So, in the end it was just an OK read for me.

The one good thing that I can say about the book is that I liked both Beaumont and Walker. Enough to want to go back to the beginning and read both series from the start. Maybe once I do that, this book will be more exciting.

About the author:

J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, and five interrelated thrillers about the Walker family, as well as a volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Find out more about Jance at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Purchase Links

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J.A.’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, September 8th: Worth Getting in Bed For

Monday, September 14th: Dwell in Possibility

Friday, September 18th: Booked on a Feeling