I could tell you about the day Marina DiPietro ensnared me while I was playing Blackjack in Venice, but it would be better if I told you about the day I saved her in Monte Carlo.

I’m Nick Donahue, a professional Blackjack player, and citizen of the world, who travels from casino to casino playing to win.

Finding myself in Monte Carlo on that fateful day to rescue Marina had not been in the cards and I didn’t know if my luck would hold. Especially since I had a mandatory appearance at a ten-million-dollar, winner-take-all Baccarat game in the Salon Privé at the Casino de Monte Carlo. For me, it was a whole new game with all the wrong people. And stakes high enough to make me dizzy.

That was thanks to Mr. Tomasso “Tommy B” Bonnannio, head of the New York mob
who’d taken exception to the fact that Mr. Florian Emminger, head of SuisseBank, had had the bad luck to be caught skimming from the money he was laundering for Tommy. Of course, they both blamed Marina, an MI6 agent, who had infiltrated the game and blown the whistle on the whole operation.

Tommy was extremely unhappy and his plan for his vendetta against Emminger—who loved to gamble and loved losing even more—unfortunately included me. As Marina’s man, he was sure I was the one who would turn the tables on Emminger by eliminating the other nine players in the game, until it was just me and him, mano a mano, and then finally just one man left holding all the cards, me.

It sounds simple, right? Not exactly. Tommy B, who had taken Marina hostage, made it clear I had to win, or all bets were off. If I didn’t pull in that ten million, I wouldn’t just lose the game. Marina would lose her life.

I’m happy to report it all worked out. I won, although I had a little help from the casino, and my good friend, Nigel Phillips, a media mogul with strong ties to MI6. I walked away from the table and handed over the ten million to Tommy’s minion. And Tommy B kept his word and released Marina. I’d broken the bank, beat the odds, and bet the max I’d win back Marina.

Nick of Time, A Nick Donahue Adventure Book #1
Genre: Traditional
Release: June 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

In this fast-paced international suspense thriller, Nick Donahue, an American Gambler living in London, is in Venice playing Blackjack when he meets a beautiful woman in desperate need of help. Nick obliges and is soon embroiled in a whirlwind of mystery and intrigue.

He is kidnapped by jewel thieves, then released and dumped in the woods outside Prague. Calling on his brother Alex, a banker at Zurich’s SuisseBank, for assistance, Nick soon finds himself juggling Alex’s problem: the murder of his boss and a worldwide money laundering scheme the bank has been running. When Nick blows the whistle on SuisseBank, its main client, the New York mob is none too happy with his interference and their loss of revenue.

They demand revenge and restitution, which only Nick, with all of his gambling tricks, can provide.

About the author
Cathi Stoler is an Amazon Best Selling author and Derringer winner. She has written four novels in her Murder On the Rocks Series: Bar None, Last Call, The Silver Falchion finalist Best Suspense Novel 2020, Straight Up, the Chanticleer Clue Book Awards Short List Finalist 2022, and With A Twist, as well as the Nick Donahue Adventures, and the Laurel and Helen NY Mysteries, plus multiple short stories. She is a member of MWA, SinC, and ITW. You can find her at cathistoler.com.

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