“Whoever looks for the writer’s thinking in the words and thoughts of his characters, is looking in the wrong direction.”
The Poker Club
Published: Mar. 5, 2020
When northern New Jersey homicide detective, Dennis Conti, learns that Tina Slater, his estranged wife Karen’s best friend, has gone missing, he takes the case. When he discovers she’s been murdered, Tina’s husband Chick becomes the prime suspect.
Conti, with help from his sometime partner, gets to work on solving the case. His efforts lead him to Chick’s bosses, who run a shady poker club, which serves as a front for a unique, and very successful, crime syndicate.
Conti painstakingly investigates the men behind the crimes hoping to find out why Tina was killed. As he gets closer to the truth, the men behind the poker club become increasingly desperate. More people who can implicate the bosses turn up dead. When Conti gets close to the ultimate truth, his own life is in danger.
On the ropes, the bosses kidnap Conti’s wife, Karen, intending to use her as ransom so they can flee to a country where they can’t be found or touched.
Determined to rescue Karen and solve the case, Conti hatches a bold plan to chase the two men to their secret haven, hoping to use their own greed to bring them to justice.
Deceived
Published: Jul. 30, 2018
Blake Stevens, a high school teacher in a small Tennessee town, has his life in order. He’s engaged to a beautiful woman. When she suddenly runs out on him, leaving him at the altar, he’s at loose ends. Wanting a fresh start, he moves to another small town in southern New Jersey, where he meets co-worker, Claire Clark. He quickly falls in love. But, due to a misunderstanding, Claire is slow to recognize Blake’s charm. A series of events, including Blake’s rescue of a fellow teacher, changes her mind. She falls in love with Blake.
His life is seemingly repaired until Blake is arrested for a bank robbery and murder. The evidence against him, crime scene photos and DNA, appears to be overwhelming. The life he and Claire imagined is shattered. On a visit home to Tennessee, during his darkest hour, a shocking revelation, changes everything. Or does it? The detective on the case is too busy to pursue a seemingly invisible suspect who could be anywhere from Fort Worth, Texas to Paris, France. To save his life and make his dreams of marrying Claire come true, Blake is forced to take matters into his own hands.
The IOU
Published: Feb. 8, 2016
When Sam Inverno, divorced and recently retired, meets Anne Holt, his quiet life is upended. Against his better judgment, he gets involved with Anne, a much younger woman, who claims she was jilted at the altar under very mysterious circumstances. Anne is bright, sexy and alluring. Sam can’t resist. He falls for her in spite of the difference in their ages.
When Anne’s former fiancé turns up missing, she quickly becomes a suspect. Anne swears she is innocent and Sam believes her. He ignores the sage advice of family and friends. When the inevitable happens and Anne is charged with murder, Sam, already in too deep, plunges ahead, supporting Anne emotionally and financially.
As Anne’s trial date gets closer, her story begins to unravel, forcing her to develop yet another strategy, one that leaves Sam in the lurch. Faced with desperate circumstances, Sam does what many of us do. He misleads and hurts the people who matter most, while, at the same time, leaning on them. In the process, Sam learns the truth of the French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre’s words; “We are our choices.”
Keep Breathing
Published: July 19, 2013
Two men embark on a road trip, heading south along the I-95 corridor. It’s a last gasp for Miracle Morgan. In his highly compromised physical condition, it is a dangerous, even foolhardy journey. But a letter from a lover he hasn’t heard from in 40 years energizes Miracle. She’s kept a secret from him all these years and now, out of options, she is pleading for Miracle’s help.
Miracle convinces his best friend Ray, an itinerant tennis pro, to help him make the trip. Accompanied by Tara, a beautiful and much younger woman, Ray is more than willing to help…for a price. With each mile and with every harrowing roadblock the trio encounters, Ray’s plan to get his aching bones off the tennis court for good seemingly unravels.
As they make their way down the east coast, the complexity of Miracle’s and Ray’s lifelong friendship is revealed. Miracle also uncovers Tara’s secrets. She is about to rock the world of two men
Back to Newark
Published: May 12, 2010
Phil Falco, an executive in his late fifties, living in Orlando suddenly finds himself on the unemployment line. Recently divorced, he struggles with alimony, dwindling assets and no prospects. A valuable property at the Jersey Shore should have been his ace in the hole. But then money earmarked for the mob, mysteriously disappears thanks to his best friend Carmine, a freelance courier for a notorious mob boss. Carmine’s serious miscalculation draws Phil into a life and death struggle with the underworld that could cost him his big score. His estranged daughter Lisa, a wannabe actress living in LA, has more bad news. Forced to start over, he returns to Newark, the city he once called home. While he searches in vain for the missing money, Phil stumbles onto his own redemption instead.