Angel Fire - Lisa Unger [0]
angel fire
“Gruesome, gory, baffling, shocking, awesome—and incredibly suspenseful describe this mystery.”
—The Oklahoman
“A captivating tale.”
—Tampa Tribune
“Remarkable and emotional debut … The touching love story that plays out in the background is refreshing in its sincerity and emotional depth.”
—New Mystery Reader Magazine
“Worthy of widespread acclaim. She has the ability to write with great beauty in describing the landscape of this character-rich debut … well recommended.”
—Deadly Pleasures Magazine
“An excellent debut novel … A smart, well-developed mystery that will leave you hanging on every page as you devour this book.… There’s a new author on the scene, Lisa Miscione. You don’t want to forget this name!”
—Book Review Cafe
“Taut prose, insidious suspense, psychological motivation, police procedural sidebars, and a would-be lover make this debut from a former member of the publishing world a real winner. Don’t miss it!”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Miscione hits the ground running, quite literally … in her debut novel featuring crime writer Lydia Strong.… There’s a surreal and nightmarish quality to the story.… It remains gripping and terrifying right through the carnage of its final scene.”
—Publishers Weekly
also by Lisa Unger
Darkness, My Old Friend
Fragile
Die for You
Black Out
Sliver of Truth
Beautiful Lies
writing as Lisa Miscione
Smoke
Twice
The Darkness Gathers
The setting of this book was inspired by the beauty and mood of the Santa Fe and the Angel Fire, New Mexico, areas. Readers intimate with these very real places will realize that I have taken significant geographical, topographical, and architectural liberties as per the demands of the narrative, my vision, and my imagination. Angel Fire, as well as its characters and setting, is entirely a work of fiction.
Copyright © 2002 by Lisa Miscione
Preface copyright © 2011 by Lisa Unger
Excerpt from Darkness, My Old Friend copyright © 2011 by Lisa Unger
Excerpt from The Darkness Gathers copyright © 2003 by Lisa Miscione
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Broadway Paperbacks, an imprint of the Crown
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Broadway Paperbacks and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in slightly different form in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, New York, in 2002 and subsequently published in paperback in the United States by St. Martin’s Press, New York, in 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miscione, Lisa.
Angel fire / Lisa Miscione.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Murder victims’ families—Fiction. 2. Women journalists—Fiction. 3. Mothers—Death—Fiction. 4. Santa Fe (N.M.)—Fiction. 5. Missing persons—Fiction. 6. Crime writing—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.I83 A54 2002
813′.6—dc212001048665
eISBN: 978-0-307-95310-0
Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
Cover photography by Dave Curtis/Trevillion Images
v3.1_r1
To my parents, Joseph & Virginia Miscione
Who gave me the tools to build the craft on which I travel …
To my husband, Jeffrey
The North Star,
The red sky at night,
The wind inside my sails …
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Excerpt from Darkness, My Old Friend
About the Author
Preface
by Lisa Unger
I was nineteen years old when I first met Lydia Strong. I was living in the East Village, dating a New York City police officer, and attending Eugene Lang College,