Serpent's Tongue — R.F. Sharp

R.F. SHARP, Winner of the first Discover Mystery Award hits a home run with the continuing saga of Sydney Simone in this highly unique mystery - suspense novel. MacGyver meets Dexter in the guise of Sydney Simone, contract killer and righter of wrongs. When the system fails to provide justice, Sydney steps in--for a price. The call for a contract hit on Earl the Cannibal came through Sydney's website, HumanPestControl.com. Taking out Earl, a child killer who had been wrongfully acquitted of horrific crimes was almost a public service--so she did it. But that wasn't the end. A week later she was called upon to eliminate a notorious con-man. Both hits fit her standards of bringing justice to those whom the system had failed. Apparent accidental death is Sydney's preferred method of killing, and the authorities buy that explanation--at first. Sydney thinks her work is done and settles back into her routine, running the Rose Madder Gallery with her partner/possible future husband, Oscar. But her life is soon turned upside down. The press ties both killings to the murder of a teenage boy. A police task force is created to track down what they call the Bible-Rose serial killer. Sydney is being framed. The first two killings were paid for by Pastor Luke Anger, a snake-handling revivalist preacher with nasty habits involving children. Convinced that Pastor Luke is using her as a serial-killer surrogate to cover up his own crime, Sydney must find a way to bring Luke to justice and keep herself out of the eyes of the authorities. It's a fight or flight situation and Sydney never flees.