Book excerpt: Beverly Hills resident and world-renowned antiques dealer Morris Maximilian DeLane III is still haunted by his dying mothers last words: I should have killed your father when I had the chance. Now days later, his mother is gone, and he is the sole inheritor of her estate, La Rose Blanche. Even though he is wealthy in his own right, a vast fortune awaits himor so he thinks. As Morris arrives at La Rose Blanche, he has no idea that James Hunt, the administrator of his mothers affairs, has disappeared, leaving Morris with unimaginable debt. As Morris sets out to track down Hunt without the help of the authorities, suspicion grows around the circumstances surrounding his mothers death. Morris delves into her past and unwittingly uncovers a secret from her childhood that changes the fate of everyone involved. In this spine-tingling tale, an antiques dealer caught up in the mysterious manner of his mothers death and the dangerous hunt for her missing fortune is about to discover that things are rarely as simple as they seem. Rollicking, entertaining and fun . An edgy (and, yes, sometimes even bizarre) novel that leaves the reader musing on any number of issues: family, sexuality, friends and the aftermath of lies. Michael Vincent, social worker