Prologue
Had Ralph Decker foreseen how high the cards were stacked against him, he never would have played bookie in hopes of making a cache of tax-free money to pay off the mortgage on his shop.
We are all guilty now and then of trying to cheat fate by investing in faith in Lady Luck, and when she turns her back on us, it's a lonely, desolate feeling indeed. If luck is not on your side, what have you to turn to when all else fails?
The Blackmailed Family is the story of one man's struggle against a giant con man shielded with black belt body guards and limitless resources who will stop at nothing to force payment out of his debtors. Arson... kidnap... extortion... rape.
A family man of modest means, Decker experiences the hell of being on the wrong side of Simon Tucker's list. Fear for loss of his life and hard earned savings disrupts their family life to the point of chronic heckling. The self righteous older daughter finds herself taking sides against her stubborn, promiscuous fifteen year old sister, and the submissive, solicitous wife is bullied about by the distraught, emotionally torn husband who tends to take out his woes on his younger daughter.
It's a vicious cycle until Sara, her father's favorite, is abducted out of her home when the womanizing con man decides the innocent young housewife will pay her father's debt-in flesh.
We are proud to present another of Edward Mitchell's hair-raising, entertaining novels of Crimes against women.
The Publisher