On All Souls Day, Selena De La Cruz’s name is entered in her parish church's “Book of the Deceased.”

The problem is, she's not dead.

And someone thinks she should be.  


VIPER
a mystery

by john desjarlais
coming Fall 2010 
from Sophia Institute Press

the thrilling sequel to BLEEDER

Haunted by the loss of her brother to drugs and a botched raid that ended her career with the DEA, insurance agent Selena De La Cruz hoped to start afresh in rural Illinois. But her gung-ho former boss needs her back to hunt “The Snake,” a dealer she helped arrest who is out of prison and systematically killing anyone who ever crossed him. His ‘hit list’, appended to a Catholic Church’s All Souls Day ‘Book of the Deceased,’ shows Selena’s name last. Working against time, small town prejudice and the suspicions of her own Latino community, Selena races to find The Snake before he reaches her name while a girl visionary claims a “Blue Lady” announces each killing in turn. Is it Our Lady of Guadalupe or, as others believe, the Aztec goddess of Death?

See the 30-second video trailer here:
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY1wljwPe5w

READ AN EXCERPT HERE.

The reviews are coming in...sort of...

"Exquisite! I raced to the end!"
     John's retired racing Greyhound, Bobby

"Muy bueno!"
     John's rescued Mutt, Pepper


"An amazing thrill-ride against a gorgeous tapestry of Aztec mythology and Mexican Catholicism."
     John's neighbor's cat who he's looking after this weekend


"It was so exciting I galloped through it to the astonishing end."
     John's horse, Rusty

"Near the end of the drafting, John woke me up in the middle of the night speaking Spanish in his sleep and he doesn't even speak Spanish."
     John's patient wife, Virginia

 
"I just couldn't put it down! More compelling than BLEEDER!"
     John's editor, Regina

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For more information on Our Lady of Guadalupe, click here.
For the Mexican holiday "The Day of the Dead", click here.
For the Aztec calendar click here.
For "Saint Death," click here.

Check out Selena's postings as John's guest blogger here.