Queen of the Night

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