Serpents Rising — David A. Poulsen

A private investigator and a journalist take on a ruthless gang in Calgary to rescue a runaway and find justice for themselves.

In 2005, journalist Adam Cullen's wife, Donna, is killed by an arsonist. In desperation after police, fire department, and insurance investigators all give up trying to find the culprit, Cullen hires private detective Mike Cobb, but he, too, is stymied. Seven years later, Cobb re-enters Cullen's life. A search for a crack-addicted teenage runaway is tangled up with Calgary's most ruthless criminal organization -- and a possible lead on Donna's killer.

The parallel investigations take the two onto Calgary's meanest streets, populated by a vicious biker gang, a silky-smooth pedophile, and an assortment of people who aren't at all what they seem.

As they weave their way through long-buried secrets, Cullen and Cobb will come face-to-face with a cruelty they could never have expected … and a killer about to strike again.