SOUTHERN POISON

A former government operative’s failure to read the fine print in her retirement contract lands her in a load of trouble.

Jersey Barnes (Southern Fatality, 2007) has retired from her security business to Wilmington, N.C., where she owns a bar with Duke “Ox” Oxendine, a longtime friend who’s about to become her lover, and puts up with her father’s annoying shenanigans. Her peace is shattered when Ashton, her former boss at the secretive government agency known as SWEET, reminds her that she can be called back for duty at any time and he’s calling now to do just that. MOTSU, a nearby ammunition port, may be a terrorist target. Jersey’s job is to run a meal truck at the main gate and look for suspicious characters. In the meantime, her night of bliss with Ox is compromised by the arrival of his ex-wife on the heels of their daughter Lindsey, who’s fled their California home because she’s fed up with her mother’s new lover. Lindsey fits in to her new surroundings so perfectly that she’s soon landed a modeling contract with Derma-Zing, a peel-off tattoo product that’s wildly popular with teens. When Jersey reports her suspicions of MOTSU security contractor John Mason, Ashton blows her off. Both her involvement with SWEET and her dawning suspicions about Derma-Zing add up to big trouble.

Amusing stuff that could have used some pruning.