• Dance of the Bones

  • A J. P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker Novel
  • By: J. A. Jance
  • Narrated by: J. R. Horne
  • Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (428 ratings)

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Dance of the Bones  By  cover art

Dance of the Bones

By: J. A. Jance
Narrated by: J. R. Horne
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Publisher's summary

J. P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker, two of New York Times best-selling 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.

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' 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. Can two seasoned cops, working together, decipher the missing pieces in time to keep them alive?

©2015 J. A. Jance (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Dance of the Bones

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Painful to follow

Could not even finish the book. Attempt to educate on historical Native American customs overshadows and takes away from becoming engaged in a weak story line. Very disappointed.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • TB
  • 09-09-15

A Good Walker Mystery

I enjoyed the story but feel the inclusion of J P Beaumont was just a way to get readers of that series to buy this book.
I would rather have waited another year for a Beaumont novel. With little more than a chapter's involvement, I was left wanting a Beaumont story.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not even if it was free

This book was so bad I could barely get through it! The narrator was so monotone that you could not keep up with the back-and-forth timeline of the story. I had to return the book it was that bad.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Very disappointing

What disappointed you about Dance of the Bones?

Very disappointing if you are expecting more than a cameo appearance by JP. Story bounces around a lot. I would love to see some more books with JP, but as a main character, maybe with another homicide job.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Cold Case Heats Up

In this book J. A. Jance has her two semi-retired detectives working together, J. P. Beaumont of Seattle Washington and Bandon Walker a former Arizona sheriff whose adopted daughter is a member of the Tohono O’odham people. Jance has woven facts and legends of the Tohono O’odham people into the story. I noted the similarities of the folklore story and the current story Jance was telling. I enjoy reading about the Tohono O’odham mythology.

The current story is about John Lassiter who was convicted of killing Amos Warren, a prospector. Lassitor has refused a plea deal that would release him from prison with time served. Lassiter wants Brandon Walker and the Last Chance to find the real killer. Walker contacts J. P. when he discovers a link between Lassiter’s case and an unsolved case in Seattle.

The book is well written, interesting Native American folklore, suspenseful, fast paced and entertaining.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Nightmare of a book

This is the first time I've ever rated a book so low, and "it's ok" isn't even close to accurate. It's a nightmare of a book. I've read J.A. Jance for as long as she's been writing and this is a HUGE disappointment. Huge. By chapter 15 there were so many mispronunciations and missed edits that I packed it in. This may work if you read it. But the narrator's pacing is odd, and he slaughters so many of the common names it became a total frustration trying to listen. If you're from the area, as I am, it will make you crazy. One wonders why someone didn't fill the narrator in on the pitfalls he faced. I can only guess how badly the native language comes across to native speakers. Visitors frequently mispronounce the name of our stately saguaro cactus, and Tohono O'odam really is a challenge. But OMG, one expects more of a professional narrator. He even butchered the name of the grocery store chain Basha's, and the mountain range Rincon. I thought about providing a phonetic key but the list of words became unwieldy. The only reason I stuck with it as long as I did was the fun of hearing about old familiar places in Tucson, the rock house in Gates Pass, the ratty old bar on Speedway, Kitt Peak, etc. This one is going back. I'm pretty sure I know how it ends anyway.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

In which J.P. Beaumont phones it in, literally.

Make NO mistake, this is not a J.P. Beaumont story, despite what Audible says. This is a Brandon Walker story, and not my cup of tea. It is full of Native American folklore and language, and since I am a visual learner, hearing all this foreign language without being able to see it was, well...foreign to me. Names, places, items...and though initially defined, they’d crop up again, and mean nothing to me.

Each chapter starts with the folklore, and then bounces around from one character’s POV to another’s. I imagine that, on the written page, there are blank spaces between each character’s story, but the narrator doesn’t even pause to take a breath, so I just ended up confused, because the narrator also chooses to use the same voice for every single character. They all sound exactly alike. I sure to miss Gene Engene!

Beaumont finally appears after more than half the book is over, and he pops up a scant 2-3 times, to make phone calls. I wish I were kidding about this. It’s like Jance needed a way to shoehorn him into the story to sell it as a Beaumont mystery. His contributions are nothing the main character (Walker) couldn’t have achieved another way. As Beaumont chimes in at the end of the book: “Well, I didn’t do much.”

So true. What a rip off.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Just ok

If you could sum up Dance of the Bones in three words, what would they be?

not very specail

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

seemed too close to microphone....distorted at times.

Any additional comments?

I like how the author combined JP Beaumont and Brandon Walker together in a story. That was cool. I did not like every chapter beginning with a part of some Indian tale. A bit boring. I would have skipped those parts but not easy to do in an audio book. In spite of this, the was fast paced book and mostly held my interest.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent native American stories

I had a little trouble when the characters switched, in a visual read there is probably a paragraph break, but the narration seems to barely have a breath. still a very good story. I had hoped for more JP, but good none the less. All the native American stories were fastenating.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Mishmash

Not your usual Beaumont type detective mystery. I prefer Seattle, NW themed locations. Takes too long to get Beaumont involved.

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