Under Pain of Mortal Sin

Fergus Mann, an assassin hand-picked by men he deems to be true believers and protectors of the supreme center of his beloved church, plunges into action as an agent of divine retribution.

Placing the cincture over the hanger s hook of her garment bag, Reverend Laura Spivak noted with curiosity the crunch of car tires on the gravel drive in front of the lodge where she had just celebrated Mass. Maybe a park ranger coming to secure the lodge for the night. The door of the lodge opened slowly, and she turned to see instead, standing full in the doorway, a man of average height in a nylon workout suit. He stood still for a second, as if posing for a picture, his shadowed eyes dark and unblinking.

May I help you? she asked, her voice thin and tight.

You have sinned, woman, his voice sharp and cold as a condemning judge. You have sinned mortally.

So begins the story of Bishop Bryn Martin s new engagement with powerful forces determined to preserve and protect their particular orthodoxy. The bishop s first months as the ordinary of a Roman Catholic diocese will bring him face-to-face with the darkest impulses of the human heart, to a place where sins and consequences are too often mortal.