The Inheritance

Billionaire Milton Hughes - the puzzle, board game, crossword, and brainteaser mogul - is dead in an untimely and horrific accident.Wanting his love of fun and games to continue beyond his death, Milton prepared for such a fate, and his will is not a basic assignment of his assets to different beneficiaries. Instead, six rightful heirs separately receive single clues, allowing the entire group to easily locate and divide the fortune, provided they merely work together to solve the riddle and find his substantial riches.Unfortunately, due to feelings of being cheated, a tainted past, bad sentiments between different family members, old-fashioned greed, and one unknown among the six recipients, the game becomes neither simple nor straightforward.The pursuit has many twists and turns, as the various players plot, connive, scheme, and conspire with and against each other. Alliances are formed and disbanded as quickly as one gains an advantage and chooses to backstab another. Cooperation, suspicion, honesty, and mistrust seem virtually interchangeable. And ultimately, the game turns deadly.

From the Inside Flap

Billionaire Milton Hughes the puzzle, board game, crossword, and brainteaser mogul is dead in an untimely and horrific accident. Wanting his love of fun and games to continue beyond his death, Milton prepared for such a fate, and his will is not a basic assignment of his assets to different beneficiaries. Instead, six rightful heirs separately receive single clues, allowing the entire group to easily locate and divide the fortune, provided they merely work together to solve the riddle and find his substantial riches. Unfortunately, due to feelings of being cheated, a tainted past, bad sentiments between different family members, old-fashioned greed, and one unknown among the six recipients, the game becomes neither simple nor straightforward. The pursuit has many twists and turns, as the various players plot, connive, scheme, and conspire with and against each other. Alliances are formed and disbanded as quickly as one gains an advantage and chooses to backstab another. Cooperation, suspicion, honesty, and mistrust seem virtually interchangeable. And ultimately, the game turns deadly.

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Amy Johnson slowly walked up the concrete steps of the imposing twenty-five story office building in downtown Chicago. There were other, much taller buildings surrounding her, but this structure was higher than anything she d seen before today. The skyline of Atlanta she witnessed in the morning was impressive, but feeling protected within the familiarity of her mother s car at a secure distance kept it from being intimidating. Now, although she was seventeen years old and less than two months away from starting her senior year of high school, she held her mother s hand out of utter fear. Becky Johnson used her right hand to pull herself up the stairs with the aid of one of the six, gold-plated brass rails. With her left hand she assisted her daughter, and she felt Amy s angst. Becky was quite confused as well, along with being very anxious, but she tried not to let Amy sense her discomfort. As they ascended Amy glanced over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of the rear of the taxi which transported them from O Hare airport after their bumpy, two-hour flight from the South. As she turned, someone in a window across the street quickly snapped several pictures of the young lady s profile in a flurry similar to what occurred when the two females exited the vehicle only moments before. The sight of the cab leaving made Amy wonder if they were being abandoned, and her heart skipped a beat. If she only knew about the camera, her heart might stop completely. It was ten minutes before four o clock on this pleasant and at times gusty summer afternoon. Only a few people exited the building, and they did so at a much quicker pace, clearly with a purpose to their step. Amy wasn t certain if this was normal for a Wednesday, and her mother didn t care. Along with her anxiety, Becky was frustrated with the travel agenda forced upon her by the man responsible for Amy s existence and the financial well-being of the pair. She thought a large deposit into her bank account would be easier and more appropriate. Milton Hughes more than adequately provided for Becky these last twenty years, and it wasn t clear how things would change now that he was dead.

About the Author

After a successful engineering career in the computer industry, Chris "CJ" Jones left the demanding yet rewarding life of running a high-tech business for the unknown and perceived fun of writing novels. A renowned storyteller at his long-time employer, CJ held firm to his demonstrated creativity and determination for success, trading physics, formulas, simulations, and spreadsheets for a word processor with a spelling checker, hoping to entertain readers. Having lived in multiple places in the Midwest, South, and Western U.S., CJ and his wife once again reside in the South, where he is writing his next suspense story of white-collar crime, while also working on his golf game and climbing other branches of his leisure tree.

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