CLARE

Jim was an award-winning advertising writer/creative director in NYC and Buenos Aires, Argentina. He then created and managed a Four Star Country Inn. Father of two, he shares his home, an art-filled converted barn in NY State with a partner, a Nanny, and two rambunctious pooches.

In today's world, there are many wildly successful women. Imagine how much more difficult it was for them to shoulder all the requirements of being 1. A wife 2. A mother 3. A human in her own right 4. And then, on top of it all, a successful executive in the edgy world of the stock market.Clare O'Brady Glickman was all of that and more. She's terrific. Besides her finely tuned mind, it doesn't hurt that she's drop-dead beautiful. All the parts work-her smile warms a room, her eyes see and understand everything. Her friends and clients adore her, even her employees love her. And her Mother (wish we all had a mother like hers) worships her beautiful daughter. You'll like her Mother, too. Not just growing old gracefully, she's discovered a passion standing at an easel-and she's honestly talented.
Back to Clare: A woman who's made so many of the Right Decisions, it's hard to understand how and why she would be married to a man like Richard. Her taste and gentility was often overshadowed by his vulgarity and lack of humanity.
One man, you'll like him, has loved Clare since she was a newcomer to the exhausting and exhilarating world of Manhattan, where her feminine appeal didn't always lead her down the safest, calmest streets. You'll get to know Carl very well, and learn to count on his obviously heartfelt feelings for Clare. Can you care too much? Ask Carl.
You'll enjoy a brief escape visit with Clare to the lush tropical charm of the Virgin Islands, where fate introduces her to a terrific woman. Rita is actually as likeable as Clare. She's beautiful, successful, a devoted heart-and-soul mother, and becomes the love interest of a sweet guy, Gordon, who accidentally fell head-over-heels-out-of-his-mind in love with Clare.
Where? In a flawless country inn while visiting England's romantic lake district. Gordon doesn't score romantically, but he does leave a smiling memory of his face & personality with Clare. Turns out, Gordon, like Clare, is a Wall Streeter.
Meanwhile, life goes on in Manhattan and Clare is subject to Richard at his worst, in a restaurant, with some despicable people at their table. Words, nasty ones at that, are exchanged. This echange has Clare walking out. To any observer, had you not heard the exact language thrown across the table, you would not be surprised to learn Clare was the main suspect when Richard was found murdered the next day.
Court cases bring out the best and the worst of everyone. Clare felt fortunate with her attorneys, the very best that the loving Carl could find. And there were many surprises, some bad, some remarkably good as the various witnesses took the stand. But the prosecutor had one goal-to prove Clare was guilty of killing Richard. In your heart you won't want Clare to be guilty, and didn't Richard deserve to die? But that's why court cases are so compelling. Maybe there will be a new realization, a new discovery. And there were.
The court cases also attract people you might not expect. The darling Rita, knowing that her Gordon admired Clare- didn't know how strongly he felt about her-attended one day, just to report to Gordon. And a girl Clare had known from her early modeling days, but hadn't seen for years, appeared with love and support. When one of the "despicables" from that night took the stand, Clare trembled.
But what happens when beautiful, appealing, sensual people meet? Can common sense smother the emotional fireworks?
The author hopes you will open your hearts and minds to Clare, Carl, Rita and Gordon, and hope the choices they make will help each of them find the right path to his or her promised land-or is that land a jail cell? Or maybe a bed? C