While investigating the chilling deaths of three teenage girls in the remote town of Briarwood, Detective Evan O'Riley is drawn into the unsolved mysteries of a notorious 1960s serial killer. Three sixteen-year-old girls have plunged from the roof of their school. The question lingers: did they jump, or were they pushed? Tasked with uncovering the truth, Evan O'Riley---seasoned by years of crime-solving in Riverton---arrives in Briarwood, determined to discover whether he's facing triple homicide or a heartbreaking suicide. As he delves into the case, Evan uncovers unsettling whispers about the town's infamous SAD Killer, whose string of brutal murders left Briarwood haunted---and whose identity was never discovered. Fifty years later, the ghosts of the past resurface as Evan combs through long-buried evidence, tracks down survivors, and seeks out old investigators tied to the original crimes. Driven to find answers for both the present and the past, Evan is relentless in his pursuit of justice. But as old secrets come to light and the investigation intensifies, Evan realizes the SAD Killer's legacy isn't as distant as he believed---the danger may be closer than anyone imagines.

[ORIGINAL DRAFT SAMPLE] She is twenty-nine when the FBI comes for her, but Catherine Themis was only seventeen, grieving and naive and angry, the first time she wiped someone else's blood from her fingers and felt the snake rise in her chest. She was seventeen when she stepped into the dark and never looked back. ***** By day, Catherine Themis is an unassuming civilian administrator for the Dedwich Police Department, but by night, she is a notorious vigilante known as The Hangman. Struggling with her violent urges and the psychological cost of her actions, Catherine becomes the target of an obsessive serial killer and a relentless FBI agent, and as the hunt for the Hangman intensifies, Catherine must decide which life she wishes to live and what she values more: vengeance or her fading humanity? A psychological thriller in the vein of MINDHUNTER and HANNIBAL, SERPENT HEART is a deep-dive into the life and history of a conflicted vigilante forced to confront her inner demons and evade a national manhunt. Catherine questions the efficacy of her own convictions as the FBI closes in and a vindictive murderer puts her family, love, and identity in jeopardy. With everything on the line and time running out, who will Catherine Themis become? --- [[AVAILABLE ON AMAZON]] [[REMOVED 24 DEC 2021]] [[2019 Watty Winner - Mystery & Thriller]]