An unusual crime novella will ensure you never think of a FAMILY TRUST the same way again. A legal trust to manage inheritance is established in Australia, but the mining wealth is intended to benefit two families. Years later, this has gone so badly wrong that the story opens with a family member, Melanie, shooting someone dead in self-defense.
 
The action revolves around an upcoming wedding in Sydney. During the 1960s, we learn that a young financial lawyer, Henry Taylor, was retained by two best friends to manage their money. William Harris and Edward Griffon are certain that their children, still awaited at this point, will marry, and when Henry points out that this may not happen, the men are amenable to their grandchildren marrying down the line. They don’t care as long as the families stay bonded.
 
A few billion dollars later, those grandchildren consist of Mel, who has recently broken up with her beau David; her twin brother, James; and James’s fiancée Rachel. David is a complete outsider and never knew how much Mel was worth. Rachel can’t get her wedding over soon enough, because she wants to be free of her control freak, violent father Arthur Harris. Plus, she stands to gain a lot of money as do James and Mel Griffon. 
 
The moral of the crime story is that wealth and corruption go hand in hand. While Henry Taylor tries to moderate the terms of the trust over the years, he’s still organising this controlling behaviour. Money gets messy. Nobody in this is really innocent.
 
Detective Senior Constable Kirsty Campbell finds a lot of fishy tales and loose ends when she is called on to investigate a shooting of a man in an expensive hotel. How was she to know how far the trail would reach? The crime story gets thoroughly updated. Expect strong language and plenty of adult references.
 
Peter Wilson is an established author who has penned his first crime fiction with FAMILY TRUST. This is a tautly written, layered account of family, friendship and the tragedy of losing both.