For Love and Money: A Novel of Stocks and Robbers [Hardcover]

Leslie Glass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

Known for her deliciously wicked novels depicting the subtleties and pitfalls of modern relationships, Leslie Glass now takes stock of life’s two most compelling priorities: love and money.

Successful stockbroker Annie Custer is the perfect working mom: Her only problems are her career and her domestic life. Impossible clients are driving her mad at work, while home is total chaos. Her burned-out husband refuses to tackle anything more strenuous than his golf game. As for her two teenage daughters, one won’t get out of bed, and the other is flunking out of school. And now Annie’s housekeeper, Dina, the glue keeping them all together, has just quit.

When her best friend, Carol asks Annie to do a slightly illegal favor for Carol’s eccentric parents, Annie reluctantly agrees and is swept into a family feud that proves to be as dangerous as it is cantankerous. Carol’s father accuses Annie of stealing valuable assets, and soon Annie’s job and family are at risk in ways she never could have imagined. Fraud, theft, and a possible cruel murder challenge her loyalties and threaten to change her life forever. Pitted against the shady side of the cutthroat brokerage business, Annie faces the ultimate betrayal from the friend she tried to help, her husband (who still won’t get off the golf course), her kids (who still can’t get their act together), and a younger lover . . . who happens to be her boss.

With the same masterly storytelling and deft characterization that charmed readers in Over His Dead Body, Leslie Glass navigates the highs and lows in the life of a woman who decides it’s time to take stock of her situation–and chart a new course for happiness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A bunch of valuable bearer bonds are at the rather prosaic heart of this stock market suspense novel by Glass (Over His Dead Body). When stockbroker Annie Custer's wealthy best friend, Carol, begs her to pick up bond certificates from Carol's elderly parents in Staten Island, Annie knows she should say no. There's already bad blood between the two families after a bitter lawsuit pitting Annie's husband against Carol's husband, and Annie is leaving herself open to charges of theft. But Annie needs all the business she can get—her husband, Ben, is suffering from PTSD after escaping the World Trade Center collapse and Annie is the sole support of their two teenage daughters—so she picks up the bonds. Sure enough, Carol's father, Dean Teath, a crotchety miser, accuses Annie of stealing securities worth a quarter of a million dollars and threatens to sue her firm. Annie's boss, Brian, provides crucial support, but it soon becomes clear he expects payback. On the home front, Annie is distancing herself from Ben; her eldest daughter decides to forgo college; and her youngest daughter is experimenting with drugs. Annie's vividly sketched domestic crises are more involving than the lethargic twists and turns of the bond incident in this financial thriller turned family drama.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Praise for Over His Dead Body

“Beguiling . . . [Glass] displays the same wit and steady hand of Susan Isaacs, cleverly capturing the style and pretensions of life in the New York suburbs.”
–Orlando Sentinel

“In her wryly humorous and richly textured novel, Leslie Glass reminds us that sometimes life is a minefield that can only be traversed . . . over his dead body.”
–JUDY FITZWATER, author of Dying to Get Her Man

“For fans of Susan Isaacs and Olivia Goldsmith . . . a winner.”
–Library Journal

“Scabrously funny . . . a romantic comedy in basic black.”
–Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345448014
• ISBN-13: 978-0345448019
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,130,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars poignant family drama, November 13, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: For Love and Money: A Novel of Stocks and Robbers (Hardcover)

She never wanted to be the sole breadwinner in her family, but she finds herself exactly in that position. Her husband never recovered from the destruction of the World Trade center or the betrayal by a friend who sued him for something he never did. Unable to cope, he quit his job as a stockbroker and became a vegetable couch potato. Annie, a stockbroker at the same firm her spouse left, tries to make her income cover their bills as two salaries used to do while allowing her housekeeper to raise their two children.

Her boss is coming on to Annie and she is ready to succumb to his charms. As she ponders an affair, her best friend's father accuses Annie of stealing bearer bonds from him and her housekeeper abruptly quits leaving behind two emotionally wrecked children in her wake. Annie realizes she must straighten out her own life, be strong for her daughters, and uncover what happened to the bonds while knowing she cannot truly aid her children or her husband until she helps herself.

Leslie Glass displays her wry wit and cutting edge humor in a poignant family drama with a touch of mystery that hooks readers from beginning to end. The protagonist learns that she is strong because circumstances require her to be so; fortified with moral fiber and courage Annie takes charge of her life before she ends up in the same abyss as her husband. He is an intriguing character, her opposite for when the going got tough, he quit. Readers will appreciate this strong tale with a memorable cast who laugh on the outside, but cry on the inside.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining read, ended too quickly..., February 1, 2005

By 

lawyermommy (cleveland, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For Love and Money: A Novel of Stocks and Robbers (Hardcover)

This book started out really well, and kept my attention throughout, however- Ms. Glass seems to have rushed the ending. The story develops the characters well, and is believable and entertaining. I just thought the climax was rushed. Everything happens in the last chapter, and it just seemed like she wanted to finish the book without finishing the story. I would recommend this book for an easy read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Money can be quite a headache, January 26, 2005

By 

Lexie (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For Love and Money: A Novel of Stocks and Robbers (Hardcover)

Annie, a stockbroker, is not just asked but begged to go to to the home of a friends elderly parents,who both seem in the grip of dementia, and remove a lifetime of securities for safekeeping. She reluctantly does so. After bringing them back to her office it is determined that a large block of bearer bonds are missing. Carol's father then demands the securities back.

Her husband is suffering from post trumatic stress syndrome having survived the attack on the world trade center. He has since turned into a couch potat

Carol, the friend who got her into this mess, is a fantastic
decorator, living in a loveless marriage. Will an affair bring her happiness?

The book is a well written view of the neurotic tendencies
of New Yorkers under a lot of stress.