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For Love and Money

by Leslie Glass

For Love and Money is probably not the best effort of author Leslie Glass. Although Ballantine Books has published a number of her titles (A Clean Kill being the only other work I've reviewed) the plot defects in this saga put me off right at the beginning: It isn't the fact that the protagonist's family is so dysfunctional – that happens in many books – but then there's this phone call from a supposedly best friend, demanding that the heroine put her very job and family support on the line to help her out. The protagonist, to quote the advertising hype, is a superstar stockbroker – and the requirements for becoming a superstar stockbroker include plenty of common sense, a close adherence to the rules of the game, a keen sense of just how far relationships can go or interfere with the job, the ease of saying no, and the definite trait of order and rectifying anything out of it in their lives as soon as possible. None of that is evident, especially in the opening chapters of the book. Probably I just don't understand women!

Annie Custer is the stockbroker – she lives in New York and spends her days on Wall Street. Her husband Ben (and former work partner) had left his job and has been refusing to work ever since 9/11. Maggie Custer is Annie's oldest daughter, with a habit of buying expensive things she doesn't really need, going through her mother's closet without permission, and spending most of her days in bed ever since graduating from high school. Annie's youngest daughter Bebe is smoking pot regularly and lying about it. Every one of them is relying on Annie to pay the bills.

Then her best friend Carol calls, demanding that her loyalty in time of need requires Annie's complicity in traveling out to Staten Island to retrieve Carol's father's 'stash' – then bring it back to Manhattan for investing properly. To do that would place both Annie's job and her family's only means of support in jeopardy. One of the rules regarding a stockbroker's actions is that clients must come to them with any money or stock certificates they want Annie or her company to invest. Not to mention the fact that when Annie travels to Carol's childhood home, there are a number of bearer bonds mixed in with hundreds of others dating all the way back to the 1930's. No stockbroker in their right mind would touch bearer bonds or even move them without another official individual present at all times, yet Annie permits herself to carry them back alone all the way to New York.

For Love and Money is a mystery, yes – the bearer bonds, worth half a million – have somehow disappeared from the shopping bag everything was stuffed in after she and an accountant had listed everything. But the novel's only bow to murder is that fact that someone dies from starvation by another on purpose – with a view to profit.

Everything is remedied by the end of the novel, including Annie's family and discovery of the missing bonds. So if you're not a stockbroker, or blind to facts and can skip over reality, and can enjoy a mystery novel without questioning the premise, this book is for you. However, like I said, I'd never call For Love and Money Leslie Glass' best.

Alan Paul Curtis

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