A tale of difunctional family ties, greed, and crime.
Let me introduce you to Barbara Ruby. When a police officer arrives at her apartment door, Barbara can’t imagine it’s good news. The officer informs her that her estranged, filthy-rich uncle, Stanley, has died. When Barbara learns he left no will, and she may be the only beneficiary, it’s like winning the lottery. Little does she realize it’s the beginning of her life unravelling.
The timing couldn’t be better for this single, divorced mom struggling to cover expenses, including paying for her entitled son, Curtis’s university tuition. It’s hard for her not to succumb to greed, as she goes to great lengths to protect what she believes is rightfully hers.
Sure, Stanley was a miserable monster of a human. Images of his most violent eruption at a childhood Christmas gathering still haunt her. She can still hear the adults yelling in Polish, a language Barbara barely understands. To this day, she can’t shake the feeling that there are family secrets.
Strangers crawl out of the woodwork, sniffing at the fortune to be had. Her too-good-to-be-true new boyfriend seems supportive at first. But love is blind, and Barbara ignores signs that she may be being duped. Adding to the rogue’s gallery of potential inheritors is her uncle’s self-proclaimed common-law wife. Her sarcasm and appearance make Barbara feel that this woman is somewhat shady. The truth is far worse than she could ever imagine.
available in paperback, hardcover, or ebook editions
Susan Charney is a retired social worker and lives just north of Toronto with her husband, Chuck, and rescue dog, Nikki.
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way arose out of her experience handling her own relative’s intestate inheritance case, a labyrinthine legal process that gave her new insight into the realities of dying without a will.