The Night Visitor

James D. Doss

Οκτ 2010 · Harper Collins

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“Wholly satisfying . . . mystery, archaeology, shamanism, and humor blended into an entertaining page-turner.” —Albuquerque Journal

Nathan McFain has discovered something astonishing buried beneath his foundering Colorado dude ranch: the bones of a gargantuan beast from a prehistoric age. It’s a find of enormous scientific importance that attracts the attention of a variety of individuals: paleontologist Moses Silver and his archaeologist daughter; esteemed scientists Robert Newton and Cordell York; an Arkansas sharpie named Flye; an overly interested local antiques dealer . . . and Charlie Moon of the Southern Ute Police Department.

Moon is at the McFain spread primarily to keep an eye on the disreputable Flye, but he’s also curious about the strange old bones ....and wary as well, for things this ancient and rare have been known to inspire evils in the past, including avarice, mendacity, and murder. And when one of the players in this drama vanishes, Charlie worries that his greatest fears have been realized.

But while Charlie investigates the disappearance—and a suspicious death that soon follows—using rational and accepted police methods, his aunt Daisy, the aged shaman, is being drawn by forces preternatural into a grimly related mystery. For craven murder is not the exclusive domain of contemporary Man—and a cry for justice from the past has reached Daisy Perika and two extraordinary young girls in her care, ensnaring them all in something old, dark, and dangerous. . . .

“Doss dazzles with his trademark blend of Native-American folklore, science, satire and suspense.” —Publishers Weekly

“Thought-provoking insights about modern and ancient life in the American West, and a quirky, effective mix of humor and melancholy.” —Booklist

“A hybrid of Tony Hillerman and Carl Hiaasen.” —The Denver Post

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James D. Doss, recently retired from the technical staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory, now spends most of his time in a small cabin above Taos -- writing mystery fiction. He also travels to the fascinating locations where his stories take place, often camping in remote areas to absorb the impression of an Anasazi ruin, a deep canyon, an arid mesa, or a Sun Dance. His Shaman series includes The Shaman Sings, The Shaman Laughs, The Shaman's Bones, The Shaman's Game, The Night Visitor, and Grandmother Spider. The unusual plots are a mix of high technology and mysticism (Shaman Sings), bizarre animal mutilations (Shaman Laughs), theft of a sacred artifact (Shaman's Bones), an unprecedented form of murder and revenge at the Sun Dance (Shaman's Game), a most peculiar haunting followed by the discovery of an astonishing fossil (Night Visitor), and -- because a small girl has killed a spider without performing the prescribed ritual -- the appearance of a monstrous, murderous, eight-legged creature on the reservation (Grandmother Spider, of course!).