by J. A. Jance
At the moment the two of them worked four ten-hour shifts a week. They went on duty at 8:00 P.M. and were off again at 6:00 A.M.
Dan was glad to have Bozo’s company through the long boring hours of patrolling and to have him there as backup during the occasional confrontation. Even the fiercest thug tended to give it up when faced with Bozo’s snarling countenance. And if one of them ever fought back and harmed the dog? Dan wasn’t sure what he’d do, but he didn’t think it would be inside the regulations.
While Bozo finished eating, Dan took his coffee, settled down in his one good chair, and turned on the TV. Punching the clicker, he paused briefly at CNN to pick up the headlines, and then moved over to his DVR to watch ESPN’s coverage of last night’s Padres game.
And that was how Dan Pardee spent a lazy Saturday afternoon, drinking coffee and watching the Great American Pastime with his faithful companion at his side.
Life didn’t get any better than that.
ALSO BY J. A. JANCE
Walker Family Mysteries
Hour of the Hunter
Kiss of the Bees
Day of the Dead
Joanna Brady Mysteries
Desert Heat
Tombstone Courage
Shoot/Don’t Shoot
Dead to Rights
Skeleton Canyon
Rattlesnake Crossing
Outlaw Mountain
Devil’s Claw
Paradise Lost
Partner in Crime
Exit Wounds
Dead Wrong
Damage Control
Fire and Ice
J. P. Beaumont Mysteries
Until Proven Guilty
Injustice for All
Trial by Fury
Taking the Fifth
Improbable Cause
A More Perfect Union
Dismissed with Prejudice
Minor in Possession
Payment in Kind
Without Due Process
Failure to Appear
Lying in Wait
Name Withheld
Breach of Duty
Birds of Prey
Partner in Crime
Long Time Gone
Justice Denied
Fire and Ice
and
Ali Reynolds Mysteries
Edge of Evil
Web of Evil
Hand of Evil
Cruel Intent
Trial by Fire
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
QUEEN OF THE NIGHT. Copyright © 2010 by J. A. Jance. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jance, Judith A.
Queen of the night / J. A. Jance. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-06-123924-3
1. Cold cases (Criminal investigation)—Fiction. 2. Arizona—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3560.A44Q44 2010
813’.54—dc22
2009038976
* * *
10 11 12 13 14 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE PAPAGO LEGENDS used in this book are retellings of the traditional oral tales of the Tohono O’othham, the Desert People. These are winter-telling tales, which must not be “told” during the summer when snakes and lizards are out, for if they hear the stories, Wamad, Snake, or Hujud, Lizard, may swallow the storyteller’s luck and bring him harm. There is, however, no prohibition against them in written form.
This book is set in the 1970’s, long before the tribal council renamed the reservation to reflect the people’s traditional name of the Desert People. References to the Papago Reservation are historically correct, although today’s maps will refer to the reservation located west of Tucson as the Tohono O’othham Nation.
Writing this book would not have been posssible without being able to use the works of Dean and Lucille Saxton as reference material: Legends and Lore of the Papago and Pima Indians and Papago & Pima to English Dictionary, both first and second editions, all three of which were published by the University of Arizona Press.
I am also indebted to the inspired retellings of some of these stories by Harold Bell Wright in his invaluable and unfortunately exceedingly rare work Long Ago Told (New York: D. Appleton, 1929).
Both the King County Library and Seattle Public, through their wonderfully convenient interlibrary-loan systems, supported my research by locating and helping me gain access to rare source material from libraries all over the country.
Of the “committee” who helped me on this book, I’d like to especially acknowledge Dick Sawyer, Carol and Charles Mackey, and Dan and Agnes Russell for their timely, deadline-type assistance.
In addition, I would like to say thank you to the splendid and delightfully humorous Tohono O’othham themselves, who, during my five years of teaching on the reservation, made me feel both welcome and appreciated, even though I’m really, as Pauline once told me, “a member of another tribe.”
About the Author
J.A. JANCE is the New York Times bestselling author of Kiss of the Bees and Paradise Lost. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.
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Praise for J.A. JANCE and
HOUR OF THE HUNTER
“Smashing good…[It] begs to be compared to the work of Tony Hillerman and Mary Higgins Clark. J.A. Jance can stand tall even in that fine company.”
Washington Times
“Chilling…satisfying…a good read…It’s no mystery why this writer is a hit.”
Seattle Times
“Jance’s novel delivers suspense through richly textured layers of flashbacks and gritty characterizations.”
Publishers Weekly
“A treat…”
Tucson Citizen
“Jance spins a good yarn. She seems to know intuitively what an audience will go for.”
Portland Oregonian
“Truly frightening…”
Arizona Republic
Books by J. A. Jance
Joanna Brady Mysteries
DESERT HEAT • TOMBSTONE COURAGE
SHOOT/DON’T SHOOT • DEAD TO RIGHTS
SKELETON CANYON • RATTLESNAKE CROSSING
OUTLAW MOUNTAIN • DEVIL’S CLAW
PARADISE LOST • PARTNER IN CRIME
EXIT WOUNDS • DEAD WRONG
J. P. Beaumont Mysteries
UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY • INJUSTICE FOR ALL
TRIAL BY FURY • TAKING THE FIFTH
IMPROBABLE CAUSE • A MORE PERFECT UNION
DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE • MINOR IN POSSESSION
PAYMENT IN KIND • WITHOUT DUE PROCESS
FAILURE TO APPEAR • LYING IN WAIT
NAME WITHHELD • BREACH OF DUTY • BIRDS OF PREY
PARTNER IN CRIME • LONG TIME GONE
and
HOUR OF THE HUNTER
KISS OF THE BEES
DAY OF THE DEAD
EDGE OF EVIL
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
HOUR OF THE HUNTER Copyright © 1991 by J.A. Jance. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition June 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-203278-2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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