Preston O'Neil, a twenty-eight-year-old public relations associate, isn't satisfied with his life, despite making close to six figures. He despises his job at Stenson & Rhodes and often dreams of working at a golfing paradise in the Carolinas. He is in the wrong place at the wrong time when a group steals a briefcase and a book that contains secret codes and kidnaps him along with them. The valuable briefcase and book are the property of a trio of evil men, who will continue the search for their treasures no matter how many lives are destroyed. They want their possessions back, and will summon assassins to finish the job if necessary. During the roller coaster ride of his abduction, Preston is taken to a mysterious abandoned warehouse. He discovers that he has friends who are fighting for his freedom among those more concerned with finding the briefcase and book. Startling truths about his family and a massive cover-up link the old tattered briefcase and secret-coded book to an evil triumvirate, and Preston learns he may be far more involved than he originally believed. Although an innocent discovery turns Preston into a hostage, he soon realizes this event may turn him into a happy man, as his lifelong dreams may finally come true.

The Briefcase is based on facts as the author recalls them. The Author has taken the literary license to embellish some of the facts and change the names of people and companies. This novel is a story about a young man growing up and facing some of the challenges faced in business and in life.....and what a ride it's been!

Juris "J.P." Prudence always wondered if her parents named her Juris because they knew that she was destined to become a lawyer. Her parents probably never expected that she would become a lawyer at just eleven years old and use her law degree to change history. Last year, JP and her best friends, Sofia "Sofie" Flores-Ramirez, Isabel "Izzy" Carrington, and Madeline "Maddy" Rosenfeld, finished the law program that they started at the National Kids Leaders Academy at the early age of five years old. Despite the fact that they are only eleven years old, they are now real lawyers. Since passing the bar exam, they have not done anything to put their law degrees to use, that is, until the day that J.P. and her best friends form a law firm to change the law for kids.

Tsukiko, thirty–eight, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei" in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is thirty years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship–traced by Kawakami's gentle hints at the changing seasons–develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to an enjoyable sense of companionship, and finally into a deeply sentimental love affair. As Tsukiko and Sensei grow to know and love one another, time's passing comes across through the seasons and the food and beverages they consume together. From warm sake to chilled beer, from the buds on the trees to the blooming of the cherry blossoms, the reader is enveloped by a keen sense of pathos and both characters' keen loneliness.

Is money truly the root of all evil? When Chester Harte finds a briefcase full of money—lots of money—a battle of wits ensues between the naval engineer and a dogged DEA Special Agent. From the Florida Keys to Connecticut casinos and some of the country’s best-known racing tracks, The Briefcase takes the reader on a riveting adventure as several parties join in the hunt for the missing sting money. Relationships blossom, wither, and are challenged; and mafia and drug cartel involvement lead to violence and murder. All the while, Chester Harte must race to stay one step ahead of those intent on recovering the briefcase.

THIS STORY CONSISTS OF CHAPTERS IN DECADES. THROUGHOUT MY LIFE I HAVE BEEN INSPIRED SIMPLY BY POSITIVE THOUGHTS AND A SIMPLE LIFESTYLE. DURING THE WORST TIMES AND THE WORST CIRCUMSTANCES, I ALWAYS MANAGED TO FIND SOMETHING POSITIVE. I WAS BLESSED TO BE A MUSE AND A POSITIVE THINKER.

Jeff Sams finds his investigative skills are to be put to the ultimate test due to his own father being murdered. By coincidence, his commitment to find the one responsible teams him up with a friend working for the CIA who elicits his help in a national security breech against the United States. As the plot thickens, it unfolds into an international involvement as well as a connection to his fathers murder. The similar interest of both friends leads them down a parallel and dangerous path, which for Jeff culminates in a troubling and surprising conclusion.