Queen of the Night

by J. A. Jance, Greg Itzin (Read by), Gregory Itzin (Read by)

Overview

The fourth book in New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance’s Walker Family series is a chilling tale of murder past and present that connects and devastates three families.

 “Brilliant....[Jance] has crafted a mystery that Hillerman would be proud of and that her fans will love.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Two murders committed generations apart resonate through three separate families, threatening to destroy them. The first case, involving the long unsolved murder of an Arizona State University co-ed, is passed off to retired homicide detective Brandon Walker, who is now a volunteer with a cold case squad called The Last Chance.

In the second, Dan Pardee, a member of a border patrol unit operating on the Tohono O’odham Nation west of Tucson, joins with Pima County homicide investigator Brian Fellows to track a killer who has gone off the charts. Throughout, the stories and traditions of the Desert People illuminate their efforts and help them find a most dangerous criminal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665064200
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/09/2021
Series:	Walker Family Series , #4
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and a number of novels featuring the Walker family. Before becoming an author, she worked as a librarian and teacher on a Native American reservation.

Gregory Itzin is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as President Charles Logan in the series 24, a role for which he was twice nominated for a Primetime Emmy. He has had appearances in a number of television's most popular shows during the span of his career, including, Matlock, ER, CSI, Friends, The West Wing, and three different Star Trek series. He's also had roles in numerous films including, Adaptation, The Ides of March, and Lincoln. Most recently he's had recurring roles in The Mentalist and Covert Affairs.

Hometown:

Bellevue, Washington

Date of Birth:

October 27, 1944

Place of Birth:

Watertown, South Dakota

Education:

B. A., University of Arizona, 1966; M. Ed. in Library Science, University of Arizona, 1970

Website:

http://www.jajance.com/

Editorial Reviews

Dedicated to the late Tony Hillerman, Jance's brilliant fourth suspense novel featuring former homicide detective Brandon Walker and his wife, novelist Diana Ladd (after Day of the Dead), spans some 50 years, from a murder in 1959 in San Diego to a rash of killings in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Tucson, Ariz., in 2009. Interwoven with these crimes are legends of the Tohono O'odham Indians (aka the Desert People) and the lives of such contemporary Native people as Lani Walker, Brandon and Diana's adopted daughter. Jance's masterful handling of a complex cast of characters makes it easy for the reader to appreciate the intricate web of relationships that bind them across generations. The title refers to the night-blooming Cereus, a desert plant that blooms once a year and is of great symbolic importance to the Tohono. Jance, perhaps best known for her J.P. Beaumont series (Fire and Ice, etc.), has crafted a mystery that Hillerman would be proud of and that her fans will love. 7-city author tour. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Brilliant....[Jance] has crafted a mystery that Hillerman would be proud of and that her fans will love.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Queen of the Night

“Jance offers that rare—and welcome—hybrid: the suspense novel with heart…[She] is at the top of her game and just about irresistible.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Queen of the Night

“Fans of police procedurals with a Southwestern flair will love Joanna’s determination to manage marriage, motherhood, and policing in this 19th Joanna Brady book.” — Library Journal on Missing and Endangered

“The two parallel cases provide plenty of action, while keeping a premium on character studies and violence to a minimum. Once again, the compassionate, intelligent Joanna balances a busy home life and a complex job with aplomb. This long-running series consistently entertains.”  — Publishers Weekly on Missing and Endangered

“Bestseller Jance’s enjoyable 25^th J.P. Beaumont mystery…J.P. is a fully developed character, and his frequent calls to [his wife] Melissa to discuss the case are both touching and insightful. They make a good team even at a distance. New readers will happily join the ranks of longtime fans.” — Publishers Weekly on Nothing to Lose

From the Publisher

Jance's (www.jajance.com) fourth Brandon Walker title follows Day of the Dead (2005), also available from Recorded Books/HarperAudio. It is a somewhat complicated weave of plots and characters revolving around Arizona's Tohono O'odham nation. In it, unstable Jonathan Southhard kills his entire family in California and travels to Tucson, AZ, to find and exact revenge on his estranged mother, Abby. Enter Brandon Walker, his wife, and their adopted daughter; a Native war vet; and a dying cop haunted by an unsolved murder, each of whom has a story to tell. Not as compelling and well written as some of Jance's previous titles (namely, those from her Ali Reynolds and J.P. Beaumont series), this nod to author Tony Hillerman will nonetheless appeal to her fans as well as to fans of Nevada Barr, Kathy Reichs, and Faye Kellerman. Actor/narrator Greg Itzin does a fine job of voicing the wide cast of characters and with the many Native American words and touches.—Nicole A. Cooke, Montclair State Univ. Lib., NJ

Library Journal

Jance offers that rare—and welcome—hybrid: the suspense novel with heart.

Jonathan Southard is one of those unhappy men whose unrequited love affair with life has caused a volatile, long-term, internal simmering. One day the mixture explodes, resulting in a crime that is both horrific and, in a sense at least, foreseeable. He shoots his wife, her dog and their two young children, construing this last as an act of mercy inasmuch as it will spare them an aftermath of humiliation and shame. Having wiped out his San Diego family, he sets off for Tucson and the home of his mother, planning to clean the slate. He's always hated Abby Tennant, attributing to her voluminous maternal shortcomings, of which she is largely innocent. With less difficulty than Southard expected, the bodies are discovered, clues are put together, identities established and soon enough the manhunt is on, participated in by multiple police forces from several states. Among these are the elite Shadow Wolves, Indians who patrol reservation land near the Mexican border. Enter Dan Pardeey. Half Anglo, half Apache, he has a special connection to the small survivor of another of Southard's monstrous crimes. Angelina Enos, age four, has remained alive only by virtue of being tiny enough to escape notice. Eerily, this parallels Pardee's own long-ago experience, and when she reaches out to him he has no choice but to respond. Because he does, his life is irrevocably changed and, in a kind of chain reaction, so are the lives of a variety of other players, one way or another, for good or ill, in Jance's absorbing cast.

A storytelling machine, Jance in her 41st (Trial by Fire, 2009, etc.) is at the top of her game and just about irresistible.

Kirkus Reviews