Book ~ "Serpents Rising" (2014) David A. Poulsen

From Goodreads ~ In 2005, journalist Adam Cullen's wife, Donna, was 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, Cobb and Cullen will come face-to-face with a cruelty they could never have expected. 

In 2005, Adam was a journalist and very much in love with his wife, Donna.  When she is killed in a house fire, he assumes that it was because of a story he had written sometime and someone was seeking revenge.  He hires a ex-cop/private detective named Mike Cobb to check into it when the police come up empty.  Mike finds nothing and Adam tries to carry on with his life.

In 2013, Adam is a freelance writer and Mike contacts him for help.  Mike has been hired by a father to find his drug-addicted son, Jay.  Since Adam has written stories about this subject, Mike hopes he has some insight.  In the meantime, Adam starts to wonder if maybe Donna had been the intended instead of an innocent victim so he starts to investigate again, using Mike as a sounding board.

I liked the writing style and enjoyed this book.  The editing could have been tighter, though.  For example, something happens 30 hours ago yet they reference it as happening that night.  It is written in first person perspective in Adam's voice.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

I like that this story is set in Calgary and the author doesn't try to hide the fact that the story is happening in Canada.  There are numerous references to Calgary and many many references to Canadian musicians, even obscure ones I've never heard of (Adam is a big music fan with eclectic tastes).

This is the first in the Cobb and Cullen series and the first book I have read by this author.  I look forward to reading others in the series.