J.A. Jance first read “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” when she was in second grade.

But unlike many of her peers, she was not fascinated with the Wizard behind the curtain. Instead, it was author L. Frank Baum — the person who put the words on the paper — who caught her interest.

In addition to “Oz,” Jance grew up reading the Nancy Drew series as well as books by John. D. MacDonald. With a preference toward mysteries and thrillers, she said it is understandable that she has grown up to write mysteries for a living.

And on Tuesday, she will be releasing her latest mystery, “Dance of the Bones.”

On that same day, Jance will give a talk and hold a book signing from 2-3:30 p.m. at the Redmond Regional Library, 15990 N.E. 85th St. Attendees will be able to purchase books at the event. She will return to Redmond Sept. 11 for another talk and reading from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Emerald Heights Retirement Community, 10901 176th Circle N.E.

In addition to Washington locations, Jance’s current book tour will include stops in Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

Jance, who lives in Bellevue, said “Bones” brings together characters from two of her series — Seattle homicide detective J.P. Beaumont and Arizona sheriff Brandon Walker. The two men team up through a cold case in Arizona and an unsolved murder in Seattle.

Despite having more than 50 books under her belt — with 23 featuring Beaumont and four featuring Walker — this is the first time Jance has brought the two together in an act of what she calls “author cross pollination,” to bring in readers from one series on board with the other series.

“It was difficult,” she admitted about merging the two characters’ stories.

Jance said many people think the author is in control of things when they write, but that is not the case — it’s the characters who are in charge. And this is exactly what happened when she started writing “Bones.” She said Beaumont kept on wanting to take over things. So to remedy this, Jance wrote “Stand Down,” a novella featuring Beaumont. She said pieces of both Beaumont’s and Walker’s stories play into the plot of the novella.

Having written so many books — the first of which was published in 1985 — Jance said one of the ways she is able to keep things fresh is to not always write about the same characters. Instead, she said, she goes from character to character (she has four series featuring four different sets of characters). Jance said if she didn’t do this, Beaumont — the first character she ever created — would have died.

When asked what is her favorite thing about writing, Jance said the writing itself.

“I think it’s pretty wonderful to live my dream,” she said. “I’m incredibly grateful about that.”