Coin of the Realm

A Novel

Pete Hodge returns with another lively tale as he faces unforeseen challenges in this ever-changing world. The year is 2011, the real estate market has collapsed, and he can no longer support himself as a small-town dirt lawyer. Desperate for a steady paycheck, he finds work as a foreclosure attorney, persuading himself that he can become the human face of a heartless bank. But Petes new employer, an erratic narcissist who is pathologically obsessed with money, has hired him for the sole purpose of generating fees. Churning out three lawsuits each week, driving hither and yon for hearings and trials, Pete soon finds himself overwhelmed by a job that brings him no joy. Then the bank unwittingly engages him to foreclose against a neighbor, giving him an opportunity to do justice while also pushing back against his boss. Undeterred by the obvious betrayal of his clients interest, Pete files a deeply flawed lawsuit in hopes of giving his neighbor more time to save his home. Shortly thereafter, he discovers that his avaricious employer may be engaged in a more deplorable violation of the professions ethical rules. From that point, it becomes a race to see which one of them can get the other disbarred first . . . and the new boss has a considerable head start. Written in a tone best described as affable outrage, Coin of the Realm portrays a further skirmish in the ongoing battle between the shearers and the shorn.