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Emmett Parker and Anna Turnipseed #5

Dance of the Thunder Dogs

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Wounded and estranged from his partner and love interest, Anna Turnipseed, Emmett Parker has come home after 13 years of federal law enforcement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. At once a son of the Comanche and a government investigator, he has ties to both sides--and is about to discover which side pulls harder.

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

17 people are currently reading
160 people want to read

About the author

Kirk Mitchell

39 books69 followers
Kirk Mitchell is an author who is known for his time travel, alternate history, historical fiction, and adventure fiction novels. Mitchell has also created several novelizations of movies.He writes under the pseudonym of Joel Norst

Kirk Mitchell served as a deputy sheriff on the Paiute- Shoshone Indian reservations of the desert country that includes Death Valley, and was a SWAT sergeant in southern California, before beginning his career as a full-time writer.

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5 stars
100 (31%)
4 stars
139 (44%)
3 stars
61 (19%)
2 stars
10 (3%)
1 star
3 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for Mike.
821 reviews30 followers
June 11, 2019
I read this final book in the Emmet Parker series. This book finds Parker entering retirement and badly abused by the FBI in a case of mistaken identity. This book has some interesting back ground in it concerning the Comanche Indians and other tribes in Oklahoma. It features some interesting twists and turns in the plot typical of Mitchell's previous books that last right up to the very end of the book. Sadly, Turnipseed, his partner throughout the early part of the series does not make a direct appearance.

I recommend this book to fans of Hillerman and Doss. Although, it could be read as a standalone book, the references to previous books renders the closing book of the series best if you have read the rest of the series. I enjoyed it and was sorry to see the series end.
Profile Image for Cj.
29 reviews6 followers
June 7, 2023
I became involved in all of these books. It was like really being there. It was dramatic as well as a learning experience. It slso made me angry at some of the things i learned and has inspired me to create some mixed media art!
Profile Image for Karen Bales.
35 reviews
February 8, 2011
I love the books in this series. Mystery with a Native American twist. I especially enjoyed this entry because we get to see Emmett Parker in Oklahoma where he grew up and learn about several relationships that began in childhood. We learn more about what makes this character tick.
187 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2011
I liked it well enough, but it just isn't Tony Hillerman
Profile Image for Wanda.
1,677 reviews17 followers
October 23, 2021
Not sure why this was presented as a Parker & Turnipseed book as Turnipseed wasn't in it. This book focused on Emmett Parker. He was being framed for the murder of a fellow tribal member and is chased all over the west by some FBI agents who are intent on pinning the crime on him. Several others are killed along the way and it is thought Emmett killed them also. He is trying to figure out what is going on and who framed him and who the real killers are.
The story alternates between Emmett's side of things, the FBI agent who is chasing him and the killer. There is also a scheme going on with money laundering and stealing money from tribal members.
Story moved along well.
7 reviews
November 25, 2020
Action packed with tons of information on Native Americans , history, and traditions

Really good read....action packed. The Native American background, political, historical, old and current with visible impacts on the people populating the book...really interesting, very complex,.......page turner!
Profile Image for Randy Daugherty.
1,156 reviews43 followers
June 21, 2021
Wounded and estranged from his partner and love interest, Anna Turnipseed, Emmett Parker has come home after 13 years of federal law enforcement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. At once a son of the Comanche and a government investigator, he has ties to both sides--and is about to discover which side pulls harder.
Profile Image for Jan.
626 reviews
January 23, 2024
It started off well, I was so hopeful, I was engaged until it became a never ending tale. I gave up before the end, lost interest. Wondering if all the other books by this author might be a never ending tale.

It takes a lot for me to really enjoy or rave about a read. I liked the narrator.
Profile Image for Randal.
223 reviews3 followers
August 24, 2018
I took this book along to read on a road trip to Oklahoma, and that was a really good choice. The novel is a top-notch thriller effortlessly interspersed with history and insight into the state's complicated Native American past.
Profile Image for Steve.
743 reviews2 followers
March 13, 2019
I think the author lost interest in this series and characters long before the book was done. No Anna Turnipseed in this book and Emmet Parker is on the run from unjust charges. Parker's fate is sorted out at the end, but it was the last in the series.
Profile Image for Susan DELLNER.
177 reviews
August 18, 2021
I liked this book for all the reasons I loved the books in this series. This one had a complex crime to solve but Parker & Turnipseed never get together. I was very disappointed with the book not see Turnipseed back with Parker. Bummer!
Profile Image for Andy2302.
282 reviews4 followers
June 3, 2017
Sorta fun & interesting but no real thrill or excitement. But I'm no fan of Mysteries.
1,824 reviews7 followers
November 8, 2018
A good book in a good series. Did this in audio books, worked pretty good.
5 reviews
November 1, 2019
Good book, I love the 2 characters he has developed in these stories.
Profile Image for Susan Coley.
773 reviews5 followers
October 9, 2021
This was another enjoyable book based in my geographical area. I’ve been on many of those back roads and I enjoyed the references to Mt Scott.
Profile Image for Kimberly.
303 reviews2 followers
July 21, 2022
The best one of the series. Never slow downed.
Profile Image for S.G. Benson.
Author 2 books3 followers
January 4, 2024
Excellent whodunit in the tradition of Tony Hillerman.
352 reviews2 followers
January 5, 2025
Probably the best book of the series. Embezzlement, fugitive,vindictiveness, strange people and myths. Liked the last third of the book; fast paced and exciting.
Profile Image for Doris.
2,047 reviews
May 25, 2016
This book brings Emmet as an investigator returning home to recover from his wounds, and to reconnect with his heritage.

While there, he meets with the President, previously a peer in law enforcement, and goes afoul of others in the community. He is framed, shot, betrayed, beaten, starved, and overall treated as a criminal with vile intent.

He does find help in unexpected places, and the story comes to a satisfactory conclusion with building new friendships.

Note - the main reason this did not rate 5 stars has to do with the complete absence of Turnipseed. She is mentioned in an off-hand way a couple of times, but never makes an appearance, and is never sought out.
Profile Image for Tom Gorski.
732 reviews4 followers
July 20, 2012
Last in the group of books about Emmitt Parker and Anne Turnipseed. The latter is only refenced in this book and not active. I find it the best of the series...the villian is not identified until very late, the story lines merge well together and the insight into the Commanche nation is extremely interesting.
Profile Image for Arizonagirl.
723 reviews
July 16, 2016
Emmett Parker and Anna Turnipseed series, Book #5. Emmett has returned home wounded and estranged from his partner Anna Turnipseed. After a celebration to welcome Emmett home with the POTUS in attendance, Emmett finds himself mixed up in a scandal and accused of murdering an old friend. Emmett must become a fugitive and find out the who the real murderer is in order to clear his name.
Profile Image for Edna Little Fish In Running Waters Spring.
42 reviews1 follower
Read
January 10, 2009
Another exciting book by Kirk Mitchell.
This one was just using Emmett Parker, Comanche, so I learned a lot MORE about the Comanches. I didn't know their Rez was in Oklahoma, I thought it was in Texas. I learned alot more about the Tribal Finances and it was even worse than I knew.
1,818 reviews84 followers
August 24, 2013
Good book as a physically and mentally wounded Emmett Parker comes home to the rez only to be set up as a murderer in a money laundering scheme. Of course he is innoncent and catches the bad guys. Plenty of excitement and plot twists but I miss Turnipseed.
Profile Image for Christine.
699 reviews
January 14, 2015
One of the best ones I didn't figure who was the bad guy till the end. And for me that rarely happens!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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