Bone Treasure

By Paul Bedford

The Crowood Press, November 2017

In a sheltered basin, high up in Colorado’s remote Rocky Mountains, two field collectors discover an awesome array of dinosaur bones. Knowing that two competing and irreconcilably hostile palaeontologists will pay big money for knowledge of such a find, the men realise that they have struck bone treasure. Unfortunately for all concerned, a supposedly extinct race of Anasazi Indians regard these relics as sacred and are prepared to slaughter anyone who tries to remove them.

Only one of the men makes it back to Denver, his hair turned prematurely white by his horrifying experiences, but what he brings with him touches off an unstoppable chain of events.

Joe eagle, a frontiersman desperately in need of money, agrees to lead a large party into the Rockies to plunder the fossil beds, but word of the find has got around and their ruthless competitors are never far away. And, somewhere up ahead, the terrifying Anasazi await them all…

From the opening scenes of almost palpable tension Paul Bedford had me hooked. His story is filled with superb characters, from the out-of-their-depth scientists to tough hired guns, the hard-as-nails Joe Eagle and the savage Anasazi I was soon wondering how many would be left alive at the end. The author also includes elements of mystery, such as why Joe Eagle needs money and who is supplying information to the rival bone hunters?

Once the searchers begin to home in on their prize the book becomes one long struggle to stay alive and the author paints some horrific scenes, not least what happens to one man caught by the Anasazi. As well as this ancient race of Indians wanting to protect what they see as their property they also set out to kill all those who venture onto the land as they need to keep their presence a secret as well as the location of the bones. You’d have thought the white men would have the advantage with their guns against the Anasazi’s stone tipped weapons but the ferocious Indians prove to be more than a match for the bone seekers.

As Joe Eagle’s party is whittled down you have to wonder how the survivors will get out with any bones assuming they get to them, as there is the second group of fossil hunters waiting to ambush them on their return journey.

So are the bones worth the cost in human life? Does anyone survive? Not for me to reveal the answers to those questions here but I will suggest you grab a copy of this book and find out for yourselves and at the same time you’ll discover why I keep reading Paul Bedford’s books and am looking forward to his next. 

Also available as an ebook