Jacaranda

The Jacaranda is a hotel on Galveston Island, off the southeast coast of Texas. In its first and only year of operation, two dozen people have died inside it. The locals call it cursed. The Rangers call that nonsense, but they know a man who might look into it, and Horatio Korman crosses over from the mainland to try.

The deaths keep coming, and a hurricane is building. One guest, Eileen Callahan, can see that time is short. She has a problem that needs solving and a secret she has to keep, so she sends word to a priest in El Huizache, a man known for solving problems quietly.

That priest is Juan Miguel Quintero Rios, a former gunslinger. He broke a promise to the Virgin and was punished for it, yet because his intentions were pure, he was blessed as well. He now travels the southwest with second sight and a tattoo across his back that reads Deo, non Fortuna, meaning By God, not chance. He crosses himself and heads for the hotel.

The story is told through three figures: the Ranger, the nun and the padre. It is a novella with a haunted-house setting and a storm closing in. It takes place 20 years after the events of Fiddlehead and is unrelated to that series' main arc.