"I wanted you to have this on your birthday so to see whom you are trusting."

A perfect couple, living a gilded, comfortable life with their only child enter a period of turmoil when the husband receives an envelope with just these words in them.

Suddenly, all certainty melts away. "Undoubtedly," all that Chris Burton could say, "whoever sent it, wanted it to be picked up on my birthday."

Chris is a very wealthy and successful man who is desperately in love with Vera his wife who, at 36 years, is a very attractive and devoted wife and mother.

Intrigued and troubled by the mysterious letter, Chris decided to search for the writer of the message. He meets with Robert Owen, a handwriting expert from the Detroit Police Department who tells him he has found a perfect match for the handwriting. The letter sender seemed to be very agitated at the time of writing. A left-handed woman posted the letter in Chicago.

As it happened, days later, Chris saw his wife enter a clinic when she should not have been there. What was Vera doing at a reconstructive surgery clinic? What other secrets may be there?

On a hunch, Chris went to Dillon Craig Corporation in Chicago to trace the watermark on the paper. He meets with Megan Tavey, a Relations Executive with Dillon Craig. Who is she? Could she be a relative of Vera?

This is a powerful story of secrets, lies, deceptions, murder and redemption.

It is an intriguing tale that will keep readers guessing from beginning to end, a story full of twists and turns, a page-turner that packs a lot of mystery and drama as the plot thickens are reaches its climax.

There is nothing about Malta in the book, except, possibly, the name of its author.

A Child to Cherish is published by Xlibris of Dartford UK and is available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Xlibris.

 

Charles Cassar

A Child to Cherish

Xlibris

2013

178 pp