My Last Busy Season

Book excerpt: Simon & Rockaway appears to be a topnotch CPA firm with glamorous clients in sports, real estate, and entertainment. But look closely, and you find its flamboyant leader, Frankie Rockaway is a publicity-seeking schemer, and his inner circle of partners little more than street thugs, embezzlers, and corrupt hustlers. What attracted a young and innocent Cody Gardiner to this firm? Why do the partners treat him so well, and what does he do when he finds out who they really are? It all starts one summer on the rocky coast of Maine when Cody, as a teen-ager, falls in love with the beautiful daughter of Kaptain Teal, the legendary circus promoter. Their plans to meet again are ruined but neither will ever forget the adventures they had or the promises they made.... Years later, Cody marries Jessica. Brilliant and desirous, she stumbles upon an opportunity to make a fortune working on a secret project with Cody's ex-boss, the distinguished Harold Wilcox, which puts the pair directly up against Simon & Rockaway. Can Jessica out-smart Frankie Rockaway and his cronies while hiding her involvement from Cody? And, all the while, can Cody keep his new secret relationship with the flirtatious and irresistible Sandy Munsen from Jessica? Follow the dangerous but sentimental trail of three generations of the Gardiner family through the shadowy corners of America's boardrooms, the back offices of big time sports, and the magical folklore of the old European circus bands, as Cody's and Jessica's separate worlds collide and explode in a whirlwind of love, lust, blackmail, and revenge.