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    Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense
    Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense
    Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense
    Audiobook10 hours

    Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense

    Written by J. A. Jance

    Narrated by Greg Itzin

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    “J.A. Jance is among the best—if not the best.”
    —Chattanooga Times

    In Queen of the Night, New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance brings back the Walker family—introduced in Hour of the Hunter, terrorized in Kiss of the Bees, and last seen in Day of the Dead. A multilayered thriller, gripping and unforgettable—evocatively set in the breathtaking Arizona desert—Queen of the Night is a chilling tale of murder past and present that connects and devastates three separate families.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 3, 2010
    ISBN9780062009944
    Author

    J. A. Jance

    J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, six thrillers about the Walker Family, and one volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, she lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington.

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    Reviews for Queen of the Night

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    • 5/5
      Queen of the Night is the fourth in the Walker family series. This series has always struck me as a bit darker and grittier than Jance's other series, but with Queen of the Night she seems to have written a more intricate suspense novel that takes the focus off of the evil deeds of the bad guys and places it on the connections between characters. The resultant beauty in those connections and the blessings that can come out of tragic events and circumstances is a major focus in this book.The complex character relationships could have been difficult to follow, but Jance's story flowed exceptionally well and made those connections effortless to follow. The relational aspect of the book also had an extraordinary symmetry to it -- rather like the "circle of life" concept. There was a lyricism to this story that I haven't fully experienced in Jance's other works and, I think, makes this one shine above the rest.For those, like me, who have grown up in the Southwest there is plenty of regional atmosphere. The desert flora is represented by the Night-blooming Cereus which blooms once a year and has symbolic significance to the Tohono O'oodham people. Jance also weaves into her own story some of the legends of the Tohono O'oodham people (Desert People).This is, hands down, the best Jance novel I have ever read. Get it. Read it. Really.
    • 4/5
      I read most of J.A. Jance's books so I am familiar with her writing and generally enjoy her work. While I enjoyed this novel, too, it took me forever to read it. I can't think when I last spent over two weeks reading a novel. It's a little hard to pinpoint exactly what is out of kilter with this book except that maybe there are a few too many characters to keep up with and too much Indian lore to digest at the beginning. Jance might want to be the "new Tony Hillerman", but as he is irreplaceable, she should abandon that notion, if it is indeed in her head. The story revolves around a husband from California who lost his job and then killed his wife and two children before she could get part of his 401(k) and leave him. He then went to Arizona and killed his mother, from whom he was long-estranged, and her husband in the desert. He also killed two Indians who happened onto the crime scene. It takes a big chunk of the book to get all of this killing accomplished. Thanks to some good police work, the solution did not take quite so long. It's a good story that probably would have benefited from better editing. It's not a must read, but it's still a pretty good read. I just wish it had flowed a little better.
    • 4/5
      I'm a long time fan of J.A. Jance, but somehow had missed this Brandon Walker series. (This is book 4 in that series.) As always, I care for her believable characters and the struggles they face. This was an interesting story with multiple characters whose paths cross because of the crimes described in the book. She combines the modern world incidents with Native American tales. I wish I had read the other books in the series first, but she includes background information from the other books in the series, so reading them first is not required.
    • 5/5
      I was right in remembering Jance as someone who could write female characters without getting soppy or lost in details about their appearance. Such a relief.The story circles in general around the night-blooming cereus (otherwise known as the Queen of the Night), a flower of the deer horn cactus which blooms only one night a year, and then every flower at once. I remember reading about this flower somewhere before, and that it's quite a sight since the white, dahlia-like blooms are often the size of a dinner plate. I may get a chance to see this myself one day, if I carry thru on my plans to move to the Southwest after retirement.But back to the story. At first I had a hard time keeping all the characters straight as there are quite a lot of them and the point of view changes from one to the other every few pages, but the story was so interesting that I could barely put the book down and finished it in 2 days. With that much concentration, I was able to get my bearings on everyone quickly enough.There are, in fact, two plots. The minor one concerns a dying detective's desire to solve the 1959 murder of an young co-ed, into which he draws an old partner and friend when he can no longer leave his bed. The partner is also connected to the major plot, that of a man who goes on a killing spree that covers two states and eventually involves members of the second detective's family.Mixed in this this are a lot of details about the many characters that make me eager to read the first three books in the Walker Family series. A trip to the library is in order.
    • 4/5
      The Walker family continues to grow as another mysticalTonono O'odham waif becomes tragically available. Lots of death and mayhem as the serial killer is tracked down and apprehended. Another interesting entry in this good series.
    • 3/5
      It's summer and a very important event for the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona is about to occur; the annual, one night only blossoming of the Queen of the Night flower. In the events leading up to this, a man kills his wife and children and then sets off to shoot his mother and stepfather and ends up killing more than he planned; collateral damage he calls it. Dr. Lani Walker is on call when Dan Pardee, border patrol and half Apache, historidal enemies of the Tohono O'odham Nation, brings in the lone, unknown survivor of one of the two massacres, she has to face her childhood trauma from before she was adopted. In the meantime, Brandon Walker is working on solving a cold case and is worried about his wife. Diana Ladd.The novel's scenes are broken up by time, temperature and location. Having not read the prior three Walker family thrillers, it took a little while to get everyone of the regular cast of characters straight, but that didn't hinder the book. I liked it fine, but not being a mystery/thriller fan per se, I didn't find anything special enough or riveting enough to make me like it more; as I say, it's not my cup of tea. This isn't a novel where you don't know who the murderer is; in the story that is in the present day of the story, you know who the murderer is before anyone knows any murders have happened, so it's more the suspense of finding out if the murderer will be caught, will people be safe. In the back story of the cold case, you don't know who the murderer is.
    • 3/5
      Not much mystery nor complicated plot, but lots of back-story that had been omited from previous novels about the Walker family. Sets the stage for the next generation and their adventures.
    • 3/5
      At first I didn't under stand it. Because it jumped around from one character to anther and someone killing people. after a will it started to make sence. I injoyed it.
    • 2/5
      I hated the beginning of this book – choppy writing, too many characters introduced too fast, cliches (“Now that Geet knew it was curtains for him....”), too much overly dramatic writing with not enough actual suspense. Too much explaining what was happening instead of working it into the story. Nope, this one definitely wasn't my kind of book even though I'm a fan of mysteries.If I weren't reading it for a book discussion group, an odd book to choose, I probably would have quit in the first 30 pages. I did slog through, though, and in the end, it was okay but no better than that.I did enjoy reading about the Tucson setting and about the Tohono O'odham Nation, I did enjoy some of the characters, although perhaps it says something that my favorite character was a dog. In the future, I'll avoid this author and stick to those authors whose writing I enjoy more and take chances on new authors. Hey, you don't know if you don't try, and I gave this one a try.
    • 3/5
      It starts with murder... murders. An unsolved murder from 40 years ago, a murder from 20 years ago that leaves a boy motherless and his father in jail, and the murder spree in current time of a man who blames everyone else for his failings.Dr Lani Walker, Brandon Walker and Diana Ladd Walker are back as the current murder spills over into the Tohono O'odham Nation during the once a year blooming of the Queen of the Night cactus flowers. With a blending of Indian lore and suspense all of the stories intersect resulting in answers with a cost.
    • 4/5
      I have read a few JA Jance books in the past but I have never read any of the Ladd/Walker series. I love the Western setting and the Indian background both of which I found very interesting. It would help to read others in the series but it is not necessary because Jance does a good job of describing what happened in the other books. The book does have multiple story arcs that will eventually meld together into one cohisive story. I would have liked to see more of some of the story lines with Gabe and Lani and Alicia and Dan. I enjoyed the story. It reads quickly and it is a good mystery
    • 3/5
      I found this book most interesting as I know nothing about Indian tribe folklore. The information on different tribes and their interactions with non- Indian people and how intermarriage affects acceptance int he communities was presented in an easy to understand sub plot of the book. The murder mystery itself was weak in my estimation compared with other current mystery authors, but I don't believe that was the main thrust of the book. I would read another of the series and look to increase my knowledge of the Southwest cultures.
    • 4/5
      troubles son murders family-sheriff and others are entwined in story- special flower that blooms briefly at night
    • 4/5
      Queen of the Night is a novel of suspense involving the murder of four people at a formal dinner on an indian reservation in the middle of nowhere. The book tells parallel stories set decades apart, and the stories of several separate individuals whose lives become intertwined. This is the fourth Brandon Walker book. I hadn't realized that when I started, or I would have preferred to start with the first. I can't say if that would have made things clearer. I thought the book got off to a slow start. The different characters were initially hard to keep apart, and there was nothing to tie the stories together. However, once the stories did connect, I found the pace of the book pick up distinctly and it became much more interesting. The characters are interesting, if a little flat. Although the murder was unusual, it didn't seem to matter. I thought some of the information came a bit easy, so I classify the book more as suspense than mystery. The book does provide some interesting insights into the Tohono O'odham tribe, its culture, and a little of its language. The writing was good, but not great. It had a good flow and was easy to read. I did enjoy the book, but found it difficult to read prior to the murder.
    • 3/5
      I found it very hard to get enterested in this book. I have always enjoyed J.A. Jances books and in the end I liked this as well. I am looking forward to her next books.
    • 5/5
      First Line: They say it happened long ago that a young woman of the Tohono O'odam, the Desert People, fell in love with a Yaqui warrior, a Hiakim, and went to live with his people, far to the South.Every summer in the Tohono O'odam Nation, the flowering of the night-blooming cereus-- the Queen of the Night-- is celebrated, but this year a man and his wife are murdered during their own private celebration, and a little girl loses the only family she's ever known.To the little girl's rescue come Dr. Lani Walker, who sees similarities to her own childhood trauma in Angie, and Dan Pardee, an Iraq war veteran and a member of an unorthodox border patrol unit called the Shadow Wolves. With the aid of Pima County homicide detective Brian Fellows, they must keep the child safe while tracking down a killer.Meanwhile retired homicide detective Brandon Walker-- stepfather to both Dr. Lani Walker and Detective Brian Fellows-- is investigating a cold case involving the murder of an Arizona State University coed. These two cases have the power to tear three families to shreds.I have long been a fan of Jance's Joanna Brady series set in Bisbee, Arizona. Jance grew up in Bisbee, and her knowledge and affection infuse the setting with a very special quality. The Walker family series (Hour of the Hunter, Kiss of the Bees, Day of the Dead, Queen of the Night), set in Tucson and the Tohono O'odam Nation, reflect another stage in the author's life when she taught on the reservation.Once again Jance deftly weaves together the two plot lines, imbuing both with a palpable sense of urgency and danger. Her characters in this series are not ten feet tall and bullet-proof; bad things can and do happen to them, and this adds to that sense of danger. One of the highlights of this series for me is the way that Jance incorporates Tohono O'odam teachings and legends into her storylines.Yes, this book is the fourth in a series, but it's not necessary to read the first three in order to make sense of what's going on in Queen of the Night. Don't be surprised, however, if you read this book and then immediately want to find the others. They are always on my list of recommendations for anyone who wants to read well-crafted mysteries that give a true sense of southern Arizona.
    • 4/5
      more review to come..... I received this as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. When I realized that it was actually the forth (4th) book of the series, I decided that it would possibly be best to read the first three (3) of the series before I read this one so that I could understand the story line a little better. I was right to do that, I felt that if I had just read this story as a stand alone I would have not been able to follow all of the characters as well (there was a lot of characters in this one), most were reoccurring from the previous books. The bouncing back and forth between stories and years and places was a little confusing at times, but the main story line covered only a couple of days in early June 2009. Enjoyed the side story of Brandon and Diane, this did have the feel of the last of them, kind of a conclusion. I suppose if JA Jance wanted to continue this particular type of series, she could follow Lani, Brian and Dan. I never did figure out why the temperature was so important that it had a title type position with the places, dates and times, but it does help show how the desert can be different times of the day. I like reading about Tucson (I lived there for a long time) and this series has been an interesting way to remember the city.
    • 4/5
      At this point with J. A. Jance having written a long string of mysteries in a few different series, I was looking for this new one to be a let-down. And in the beginning, the numerous characters did cause me to question whether I wanted to take the time needed to keep everyone straight. But the timeline style of adding segments kept me interested. The finish of the mystery was a bit predictable and toward the end, I was focused more on how Jance crafted this tale differently. Still I think this was not on the level of her earlier work. Doesn't that happen with most successful mystery writers that keep churning them out? (lj)
    • 5/5
      This may be my favorite Jance book to date. It has all of what has become a trademark of this series; a moderate build-up with a fast-paced climactic ending, great story telling, mixing of Papago mythology and culture and great character development.The start of this story was unique in that three different crimes that happened decades apart are eventually intertwined and become related and relevant to the main focus of the book. This weaving carried through to the warp-speed development of the main characters. While Jance uses a somewhat moderate chronology in her other series, it’s not uncommon for decade time spans to elapse between Walker novels. Within this one book, some chapters skip through six-month time frames. A lot happens to the characters in this book.Finishing the book, I have the distinct feeling this may be the end of the Walker series. From the start of the series four volumes ago, the reader has covered 30 to 40 years of the characters’ lives. Brandon and Diana are now in their 70’s and the events of this book simply don’t leave much more room for growth. However, given the past time jumps, it’s possible the series could pick up with some of the newly introduced child characters. This book ends in 2010 however, so this would require Jance to venture into science fiction or fantasy.I’ve really enjoyed the style Jance developed in this series and I’ve become attached to the characters. I hope the author will consider continuing this series if there’s any reasonable way to do so.
    • 3/5
      I was a huge fan of J.A. Jance's J.P. Beaumont mysteries set in Seattle, but my interest dwindled when she started writing the Joanna Brady and other books set in the southwest. The quality of her writing was still there, but I just didn't connect with the Brady character or the setting, so I went into reading Queen of the Night with some skepticism. In fact, the book was a quick read, and I even stayed up really late to finish it in a single night. As other reviewers mentioned, there are a lot of characters with complex relationships to one another, making it slightly challenging to keep everybody straight. Because I haven't read Jance's last few books, I wasn't sure if the characters were recurring or if they were a completely new bunch starting with this book. I did enjoy them, as well as the storyline, although I'd place this book squarely in the "thriller" category because we know from the start who the killer is. The characters are well-drawn and nuanced, and I found myself wanting to know more about them--I will probably go back and read the other books about the Walkers as well as Jance's next books in this series. The only complaint I have is about the killer. He's the least developed character and I really didn't see his motivation for anything and didn't understand his personality. But maybe that's okay. Who wants to identify with a mass murderer, anyway?
    • 4/5
      I read most of J.A. Jance's books so I am familiar with her writing and generally enjoy her work. While I enjoyed this novel, too, it took me forever to read it. I can't think when I last spent over two weeks reading a novel. It's a little hard to pinpoint exactly what is out of kilter with this book except that maybe there are a few too many characters to keep up with and too much Indian lore to digest at the beginning. Jance might want to be the "new Tony Hillerman", but as he is irreplaceable, she should abandon that notion, if it is indeed in her head. The story revolves around a husband from California who lost his job and then killed his wife and two children before she could get part of his 401(k) and leave him. He then went to Arizona and killed his mother, from whom he was long-estranged, and her husband in the desert. He also killed two Indians who happened onto the crime scene. It takes a big chunk of the book to get all of this killing accomplished. Thanks to some good police work, the solution did not take quite so long. It's a good story that probably would have benefited from better editing. It's not a must read, but it's still a pretty good read. I just wish it had flowed a little better.
    • 4/5
      While reading J.A. Jance’s new novel Queen of the Night I had such a hard time figuring out who all of the characters were and how they were related that I had to read chapter One twice, and referred back to it and chapter Two quite often. I’m glad I did because once I had a better handle on the cast I found it hard to put down. The legends of the Tohono O'odham Nation and the descriptions of the reservation added to the overall feel.Until I read some of the other reviews I had no idea that there were other J.A. Jance books that included the Walker family. I did keep wondering how some of the side stories were related. Like how the story of the young woman that was killed on spring break in 1959 fit in, and I really thought it had no place in this book. I guess it would make sense if any of the characters involved came from an earlier book. I may have to read the earlier books because I did find the Walkers interesting.I found Dan Pardee, the member of the border patrol unit called Shadow Wolves and his canine sidekick Bozo, to have the most compelling back-story and would like to see the next book follow him and his new family.
    • 3/5
      For me, this series is not memorable enough to bridge a six year gap between books. Although I read the earlier books, I was floundering with this one. As other reviewers have said, this is not a series entry which can be read out of order.The cast of characters is large and point of view constantly changes. I found myself frustrated that there was not more time spent on each major character.A reader new to J A Jance's work should not start with this book.
    • 4/5
      Being a JA Jance fan, I looked forward eagerly to "Queen of the Night". I only wish I had read this particular series to get the background of the recurring characters. The beginning of the book is a bit confusing as there are several accounts of seemingly unrelated murders with multiple character names which one thinks should be memorized for later in the book. Once past that, the book is a bit more interesting. The story takes place in the desert and Indian reservation, giving the reader glimpses into the customs and legends of the Tohono O'odham Nation. A series of murders which takes place and we know who did it, so this is not so much a murder mystery as a character-driven story. There is a whole cast of characters, some which I grew to care about, and I believe this is a strong point of Jance's writing. The crimes threaten to tear apart three separate families. All the stories are tied together by the book's ending.
    • 4/5
      I have avoided reading J.A. Jance, not wanting to start yet another series based in the Southwest. An Early Reviewers draw forced me to do so and I am pleased with the experience. My reluctance made it difficult to adapt to Jance’s writing style at first. She jumps from a San Diego Beach in 1959, to Los Angeles in 1978, to Thousand Oaks in 2009, only to land in Tucson in the first ten pages. I had not read any earlier books in the series so I was not sure if the main character was Brian Fellows, Brandon Walker, Diana Ladd Walker, Lani Walker, Dani Pardee, or the boy who sees dead people. Yes, I was confused, but intrigued enough to stay with the story. In short time, it all fell into place. It is correctly a novel of suspense since we know who did most of the bad things that happen in the book. How the various story lines merge and form a coherent whole provides most of the suspense, but it is a satisfying story that left me caring about the characters in the end and wanting to know more about them. Just when I thought I had made my peace with Jance and had resolved to read other books in the series, I realize that Queen of the Night is one of four in the Walker family series and that Jance is maintaining three other series as well. Oh well, I guess I will not run out of options for what to read while flying between San Jose and Phoenix for NASCAR races. I have found someone new to read.
    • 5/5
      J.A. Jance never fails to entertain, and this book is no exception. Having read the first three books in this series, I was happy to read this one and hope there will be more about the Walker family. However, with the large cast of characters, I would recommend that these books be read in the order in which they were written instead of jumping into the series with one of the later books. If one has read the books in order, it is much easier and less confusing to keep track of all the characters and their individual stories - I had no trouble following any of these, but feel I would have if this had been the first book I picked to read.
    • 4/5
      This is the sort of book that some people like and some people hate. It jumps from point-of-view to point-of-view and significant information is revealed piecemeal and sometimes very subtly. If you hate to leave a character in the midst of the action, this style can be uncomfortable.Reading this book made me want to go back and re-read this series from the beginning. There are a lot of complex interrelationships in this book and having the previous stories fresh in my mind would have helped me catch on a little quicker.This is a suspense novel, so there's no mystery to solve. The reader knows who the bad guy is from the start. The tension comes from not knowing when or what the crises will be. The varied reactions of the characters and complex back stories held my attention and gave me adequate intellectual stimulation. In addition, the portrayal of the complex cultural relationships that characterize the American southwest ring true. The writing is smooth and the book is a fast read. On of Jance's strengths, particularly in this series, is that she tells the reader enough about the victims of crimes so that reader feels a very real sense of loss when the victim is injured or killed. This makes the unknotting of the tangled threads of interwoven characters more immediate and compelling. Her characters are mostly likeable, with enough depth to make them easy to identify with.Worth reading more than once, but you can let the library store it for you.
    • 5/5
      My early reviewer's copy didn't arrive until 7.29.2010, started it on Friday and finished it Monday evening. It is a quick read if you can keep the cast of characters straight. I felt like I could have used a score card until you caught on to the reltionships. The way the each character is introduced reminded me of the vast cast of characters in the movie 'Crash'. The Walker family returns in this novel. The estranged son of one character has a psychotic break and goes on a rampage from California to Arizona. Dan Pardee, a member of a border patrol unit calld Shadow Wolves finds the bodies and helps to solve the murders. Jance nicely ties all the separate stories together with a somewhat happy ending. I love JA Jance's JP Beaumont serues as well as the Joanna Brady series. This was the first Walker family book I've read and will definitely read another. I enjoyed the native American folklore and descriptions of the Arizona desert.