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Samantha Cody #3
Original Sin
Samantha Cody thought she was done with trouble when she quit her job as Deputy and watched a dirt ball Sheriff take over Mercer's Corner, but she can't seem to stay away. When Sam's longtime friend and former boxing buddy, Dr. Lucy Wagner, finds her career, and maybe even her life, in jeopardy, Samantha runs to her side. Dr. Lucy Wagner was on top of her game, her practice thriving, and her reputation impeccable. She was the only cardiac surgeon on staff at the Medical Center in small-town Remington, Tennessee, and she just had a new pediatric cardiac unit dedicated to her. When John Scully, the spiritual founder and leader of a local snake- handling church, dies on her operating table, Lucy's success comes to a screeching halt as she begins to have a series of strange fainting spells and nightmares, and her patients begin experiencing violent psychotic breaks. Samantha is forced to lead Lucy on a journey into the past to confront old and powerful forces she never knew existed.
374 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2014
5 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
D.P. Lyle
34 books153 followersDP Lyle, MD is the Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Silver Award winning and Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Scribe, Silver Falchion, and USA Best Book Award nominated author of many non-fiction books as well as numerous works of fiction.
He has worked with many novelists and with the writers of popular television shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, House, Medium, and Pretty Little Liars and others
For the past 35 years, he has practiced Cardiology in Orange County, California. He is the co-host, along with Jan Burke, of Crime and Science Radio, a twice-monthly program on Suspense Radio.
He has worked with many novelists and with the writers of popular television shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, House, Medium, and Pretty Little Liars and others
For the past 35 years, he has practiced Cardiology in Orange County, California. He is the co-host, along with Jan Burke, of Crime and Science Radio, a twice-monthly program on Suspense Radio.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 4, 2021
Creepy and cultural, the real and the surreal
“Original Sin” is book three in the “Samantha Cody Mystery” series; new readers will be able to follow along without having read the previous books, any needed information is included in the current story. This book combines cultural nuances with creepy and almost surreal events. Things might seem too bizarre to be real, but they absolutely have an authentic foundation.
The story unfolds in alternate narratives mostly by Lucy Wagner and Samantha Cody, although other points of view occasionally appear. Cody, a former detective from California, is visiting her childhood friend Wagner, a heart surgeon in Remington, Tennessee. The tale opens with an adrenalin rush as Wagner performs emergency heart surgery on John Scully, the preacher in the local church who practice snake handling. People are afraid of these “religious nut jobs,” as they call the congregation. Lucy soon finds that she has an unexpected connection to her now-deceased patient.
It is a small town, so everyone knows everyone else and everyone’s relatives. Conversation drives the plot, and the narrative includes everyday activities, easy-going banter, humor, food and drink of all sorts, and, of course, serious discussions about the odd things going on around town including dreams, disappearances, and two unsolved murders from the past. Of course, murders do not happen in a vacuum, and Cody finds that sorting everything out is difficult. This community has deep dark secrets; however, secrets never remain secret forever, no matter how hard people try, especially not now with DNA.
“Original Sin” is well written, compelling, and yet disturbing with a unique cultural element. People know each other, and that familiarity provides many motives for murder. I was given a review copy of “Original Sin” by D. P. Lyle, Reputation Books, and Independent Publishers Group. It is quick to read and has danger on every page, and not just from the snakes. Vindictiveness, jealousy, and greed have no bounds
“Original Sin” is book three in the “Samantha Cody Mystery” series; new readers will be able to follow along without having read the previous books, any needed information is included in the current story. This book combines cultural nuances with creepy and almost surreal events. Things might seem too bizarre to be real, but they absolutely have an authentic foundation.
The story unfolds in alternate narratives mostly by Lucy Wagner and Samantha Cody, although other points of view occasionally appear. Cody, a former detective from California, is visiting her childhood friend Wagner, a heart surgeon in Remington, Tennessee. The tale opens with an adrenalin rush as Wagner performs emergency heart surgery on John Scully, the preacher in the local church who practice snake handling. People are afraid of these “religious nut jobs,” as they call the congregation. Lucy soon finds that she has an unexpected connection to her now-deceased patient.
It is a small town, so everyone knows everyone else and everyone’s relatives. Conversation drives the plot, and the narrative includes everyday activities, easy-going banter, humor, food and drink of all sorts, and, of course, serious discussions about the odd things going on around town including dreams, disappearances, and two unsolved murders from the past. Of course, murders do not happen in a vacuum, and Cody finds that sorting everything out is difficult. This community has deep dark secrets; however, secrets never remain secret forever, no matter how hard people try, especially not now with DNA.
“Original Sin” is well written, compelling, and yet disturbing with a unique cultural element. People know each other, and that familiarity provides many motives for murder. I was given a review copy of “Original Sin” by D. P. Lyle, Reputation Books, and Independent Publishers Group. It is quick to read and has danger on every page, and not just from the snakes. Vindictiveness, jealousy, and greed have no bounds
September 4, 2022
Original Sin by D.P. Lyle
Sam Cody is no longer a cop at Mercer’s Corner. She is touring the country and ends up visiting an old friend, Dr. Lucy Wagner. While visiting her friend, strange events start to occur. Dr. Wagner’s patients begin exhibiting lethal behavior. Does the snake handling minister have anything to do with the weird occurrences?
Sam is pugnacious as is expected. Dr. Wagner is distraught over discovering some personal information. Sam’s experiences in Mercer’s Corner provide her with a frame of reference to see the possibility that Lucy’s troubles may be of a supernatural cause.
A pair of intellectually stunted good ole boys try to intimidate Sam to their resultant dismay. Sam discovers a new admirer in Ty.
A good story and an entertaining read.
Sam Cody is no longer a cop at Mercer’s Corner. She is touring the country and ends up visiting an old friend, Dr. Lucy Wagner. While visiting her friend, strange events start to occur. Dr. Wagner’s patients begin exhibiting lethal behavior. Does the snake handling minister have anything to do with the weird occurrences?
Sam is pugnacious as is expected. Dr. Wagner is distraught over discovering some personal information. Sam’s experiences in Mercer’s Corner provide her with a frame of reference to see the possibility that Lucy’s troubles may be of a supernatural cause.
A pair of intellectually stunted good ole boys try to intimidate Sam to their resultant dismay. Sam discovers a new admirer in Ty.
A good story and an entertaining read.
June 10, 2025
I enjoyed this story line due to the friendship of Sam and Lucy. Lyle does have some non conventional plot lines considering this and Book 1. I was very annoyed by the horrible editing (or lack thereof) resulting in multiple typos and punctuation errors and wonder if this was a straight OCR conversion to the ebook format with no proof reading afterwards. Hopefully the original book did not contain this many errors. At least Sam does get to use her boxing skills against one of the bad guys in this book.
June 26, 2015
New to me author who I will read again. Very intriguing premise for plot. I'm conflicted if I believe this could happened, but I enjoyed reading about it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews