Renay Jackson. Sweetpea’s Secret (2008) 253 pp. [tpo]
Publisher’s description: “Leading a double life as a mortgage broker and successful hitman, Sweetpea (a.k.a. Horace Boudreaux) doesn’t kill for pleasure, though he’s sadistic enough to smile while doing it, he kills for revenge. Oaktown’s notorious gangster Big Ed Tatum is one of his clients and normally immune from Sweetpea’s wrath. But Big Ed crosses the line when he courts Sweetpea’s older sister Crystal, and worse, almost kills Sweetpea’s little sister Peanut. The hitman is happy to slash Big Ed’s throat in a Vegas parking lot. The dead don’t always stay dead though, as Sweetpea learns. Facing death or possible jail time, Sweetpea has no choice but to take on a pair of ruthlessly amoral, baby-faced thugs working the City Center.”
Setting: Oakland