Cole Sudden is an agent with the CIA.
In fact, he is an assassin for them. Not officially, of course, because officially the Agency does not conduct such activities any longer. Termination with extreme prejudice is a no-no so no one does it.
Except people like Sudden who operates very quietly and removes the people he is told to remove with considerable forethought and finesse. Usually those eliminated are looked at as having died from natural causes like heart attacks or the result of unfortunate accidents like falls down a set of stairs. Being as meticulous as is needed helps Sudden come, take care of business, and then leave with little or no wake.
Cole Sudden is also Cole Swift, a well respected author of thrillers that have sold well and made a modest name for himself though he has not hit the big time yet. His novels of suspense and murder have shown a talent for originality and superb planning resulting in excellent surprise endings. In a bit of enjoyable name-dropping, one scene has Sudden sharing coffee with famed author Nelson DeMille and the latter, obviously well familiar with Sudden's works, compliments him strongly and sincerely on his work so far. DeMille goes so far as to state, "You have a knack for murder, gore and chicanery. And a weird imagination. Nobody can kill people off like you do, even me." If only the man knew!
One aspect of Sudden's author sideline that is understandable is his determination that his books not have a picture of him on the dustjacket, for the same reason he uses a pseudonym. While he would like to be taken seriously and appreciated as a writer, being well known and recognized would play havoc with his ability to go undercover to set up a killing.
Interestingly about Sudden's chosen profession, it is said in the first recorded adventure that "being good at killing didn't mean he liked it."
Playing an important co-starring role in this series is a fellow agent, the lovely and sexy and extremely deadly Rebecca Soul, a former Mossad operative who is said to have an "air of suppressed menace". Soul told Sudden in one of their earliest meetings that she "was a lesbian who only slept with men she planned to kill". Despite that statement, the two have been intimate now and then and Sudden is still alive. At least for now.
Good Line:
About Naples, Florida's retirement communities - "The median age is dead."