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Overview
The Walker family survived the atrocities perpetrated by a serial killer and his crazed acolyte in both Hour of the Hunter and Kiss of the Bees. But can they escape the vengeance of a new enemy whose target is their precious daughter, Lani?
Told they’re traveling to a loving adoptive family in southern Arizona, young girls are being spirited away from an orphanage deep in Colonial Mexico. But the fate that awaits them is truly horrifying. And when death comes, it will be a blessing.
Former Sheriff Brandon Walker is a reluctant retiree. Golf just can’t replace the action and sense of purpose his job provided. When he’s invited to join The Last Chance Club to review and long-cold unsolved cases, he has no idea that the first case to cross his path will be one he may have botched as a young sheriff. And when the case from all those decades past becomes entangled with a current murder, it seems a serial killer with a very long and shocking track record may be back in business . . .
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780061945373 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 06/29/2010 |
| Series: | Brandon Walker and Diana Ladd Series , #3 |
| Pages: | 480 |
| Sales rank: | 203,727 |
| Product dimensions: | 4.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Hometown:
Bellevue, WashingtonDate of Birth:
October 27, 1944Place of Birth:
Watertown, South DakotaEducation:
B. A., University of Arizona, 1966; M. Ed. in Library Science, University of Arizona, 1970Website:
http://www.jajance.com/Read an Excerpt
Day of the Dead
A Novel of Suspense
Chapter One
They say it happened long ago that I'itoi, Elder Brother, came to a village to see if his Desert People had enough water after the long summer heat.
As he walked along he heard a crowd of Indian children playing. He stopped for a while and watched them, listening to the music of their voices and laughter. About that time Elder Brother saw an old woman carrying a heavy load of wood for her cooking fire. Old Woman was not as happy and carefree as the children. She had no energy to sing or play.
About that time an old coyote came and stood by I'itoi. He, too, watched the children. Old Coyote's ribs showed under his thin, ragged coat. Like Old Woman, Old Coyote could no longer play and dance. His paws were too stiff and sore from just walking around in the desert.
Seeing Old Woman and Old Coyote made I'itoi sad. Because Elder Brother's heart was heavy, he couldn't walk very fast. He went to the shade of some cottonwood trees to rest. It was autumn, so the leaves on the tree had turned yellow, but they still made shade.
As Great Spirit sat under the trees, he thought about the children at play and about how different they would be when they grew old. He thought about some young calves he had seen that morning in a field and about how they would change as they grew older. He thought about a young colt he had seen kicking up its heels with joy, and he thought about how, one day, Young Colt would become Old Horse. He thought about flowers and about how their leaves withered and their colors faded when they grew old.
Thinking about these things, I'itoi decided he would like to have something around him that would not change as it became old. He wanted something that would not grow heavy like the cows and horses or wrinkled and bent like old men and women or dry and colorless like dead flowers. Great Spirit wanted something that would always stay happy and beautiful like the children.
As I'itoi was thinking these things under the cottonwood trees, he looked up. He saw the yellow leaves. He saw the blue sky through the leaves. He saw the shadows under the yellow leaves. He looked down and saw streaks and spots of sunlight dancing around on the ground just as the Indian Children had danced. Then Great Spirit laughed, for you see, nawoj -- my friend, I'itoi had found just what he wanted.
March 16, 2000
Brandon Walker stood in front of the bathroom mirror locked in mortal combat with the stubborn strings of his bow tie. As sweat dampened his brow and soaked through the underarms of his starched white shirt, he longed for the good old days when, as Pima County sheriff, he could have shown up at one of these cattle calls in his dress uniform instead of having to put on a stupid tuxedo.
There was a tap on the door. "Are you ready?" Diana asked. "It's getting late."
"Then you'd better come help me with this damned tie," Brandon grunted.
Diana opened the door, and her reflection joined his in the mirror. She was so beautiful that seeing her took Brandon's breath away. She was dressed in a deep blue full-length taffeta gown that complemented every inch of her still slim figure. In the cleft at the base of her throat a diamond solitaire pendant hung from a slender gold chain. That single piece of jewelry had cost more than Brandon's first house. Her auburn hair, highlighted now with natural streaks of gray, was pulled back in an elegant French twist.
"Hi, gorgeous," he said.
She smiled back at him. "You're not so bad yourself. What's the trouble?"
"The bow," he said. "I'm all fumble fingers." It took only a few seconds for her to untangle and straighten the tie. "There," she said, patting his shoulder. "Now let's get going."
Brandon picked up his jacket from the bed and shrugged his way into it as he followed his wife down the hall. "Which car?" he asked. "Mine or yours?"
"Yours," she said.
They drove east from Gates Pass and into downtown Tucson to the community center where the Tucson Man and Woman of the Year benefit gala was being held. The honorees, Gayle and Dr. Lawrence Stryker, were friends of Diana Ladd's dating back to her days as a teacher on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. Now a local luminary, Diana had been asked to give a short introductory and no doubt laudatory speech. Brandon's plan was to go, be seen, and do his best to be agreeable. But when it came to Larry and Gayle Stryker, he intended to keep his mouth firmly shut. That would be best for all concerned.
Larry Stryker sat on the dais overlooking the decorated ballroom filled with candlelit banquet tables and listened as Diana Ladd stood at the microphone and spoke about old times.
"As some of you know, in the early seventies I went through a rough patch. I was teaching on the reservation, had lost my husband, and had a brand-new baby. Not many people stuck with me during that time, but Larry and Gayle Stryker did, and I'll always be grateful for that. Over the years it's been gratifying for me to see what they've done with their lives and to watch as they've turned a single idea into a powerful tool for good."
Larry searched the sea of upturned faces until he caught sight of Brandon Walker sitting at one of the foremost tables. The former sheriff, looking uncomfortable and out of his element in what was probably a rented tux, sat with his arms folded across his chest. Their eyes met briefly. Brandon nodded in acknowledgment, but there was nothing friendly in the gesture -- on either side.
Former sheriff. That was the operant word here. While Diana Ladd spoke of the good old times, Larry was free to let his thoughts drift back to those times as well. Fortunately, no one in the room -- most especially Brandon Walker -- was able to read his mind.
Day of the DeadA Novel of Suspense. Copyright © by J. Jance. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
Interviews
Just Jance
Since her first book was published in 1985, J. A. Jance has captivated readers with her suspense stories -- from her two bestselling mystery series (including the Joanna Brady and J. P. Beaumont team-up, Partners in Crime) to thrillers like Hour of the Hunter and Kiss of the Bees. Day of the Dead is another powerful Southwest thriller, featuring characters from her previous "stand-alone" novels (what the author prefers to call "standing togethers") to tell a gripping story about a pair of cold-blooded killers. Gayle and Larry Stryker have been secretly preying on defenseless young women for years…and are more than willing to broaden that range to include anyone who gets in their way.
Here's what J. A. Jance has to say about Day of the Dead, in which retired homicide detective Brandon Walker faces every cop's worst nightmare when his cold case turns unexpectedly hot and puts his family and friends at risk from a danger that has eluded justice for more than 30 years:
J. A. Jance: In 1970 I spent 60 days being stalked by a man who killed his victims at 2:20 on the 22nd day of the month. Living through that time -- when I carried a loaded weapon and was fully prepared to use it -- changed me. It brought me face to face with a kind of evil and fear I had never known before. It also taught me a lot about my own strength and determination. I use that knowledge when I create characters, put them into situations, and then watch and report on what they do.
Ransom Notes: What made you decide to reveal the killers' identity to the readers early in the book, as you did in Day of the Dead?
JAJ: With mysteries, the reader doesn't know who the killer is until the end -- at the same time the detective discovers the answer. With thrillers, the killer is known from very early on. The only question is whether or not he'll get away with it. Thrillers like Day of the Dead allow for the exploration of evil, and Larry and Gayle Stryker are definitely evil.
RN: What made you decide to weave the story line featuring Brandon Walker's investigation of the long-ago death of Roseanne Orozco into the contemporary serial killer story and the story about Brandon's adopted daughter, Lani's, maturing skills as a medicine woman?
JAJ: "Weaving" is the right word. The answers in Day of the Dead are revealed by utilizing all three ways of learning things -- the old, the new, and the ancient -- in conjunction. Brandon Walker happens to be a person where all three of these come together -- the detective's gut-level hunch, the crime lab's DNA analysis, and the medicine man's sacred crystals. Brandon's open-mindedness is part of what makes him an interesting character to write about and to follow through a story.
RN: What made you decide to use the culture of the Tohono O'odham people as a major background element in Day of the Dead, Hour of the Hunter, and Kiss of the Bees?
JAJ: I spent five years as a K-12 librarian on the Tohono O'odham reservation. Every week I told stories in 26 K-6 classrooms, and some of those were the ancient legends of the Desert People. Lots of ancient wisdom is distilled in those stories, and the wonderful thing about legends is that they cross all kinds of cultural barriers.
