A California Closing Review – The Perfect Set of Characters for A Summertime Read

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Ready for a digital detox? Looking for the perfect summer read, a purely fun, page turner, turned down corners, smudged pages, a no app necessary, trashy, romance novel or high brow biography; soft or hard a genuine book?

For those who still read actual books, a new novel, A California Closing, from acclaimed novelist Robert Wintner, is on the shelves and beckoning readers looking for the fast poolside, ocean-side, or deck side vacation read.

"A California Closing is a bit different from my other works in subject matter and approach, but I'm still an old school writer with niggling compulsion on grammar, diction, syntax style and entertainment value, line-for-line," Wintner said. "Beyond the fundamentals, I strive for insight as a function of character and action. You know when the lingering provocation of a good novel keeps you thinking for a while."

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A California Closing brings a unique set of larger than life characters that like any industry in Los Angeles, from showman to salesman, it's all about the pitch which is where we meet Michael Mulroney, "Big M," OK Used Car magnate, who closes with the finesse of any high-powered industry executive; his wife, Allison, who drinks a little too much. We also meet Betty Burham, who is down to her last billions and is looking for love, after forty years of marriage. We also meet Rose Berry, who wants to live the fantasy and then John Walson, an art forgery swashbuckler whose skill and lust keep him on the lam.

Mulroney is insolvent. To hear him tell it it's a bit of a reversal. He'll tell you the difference between poverty and insolvency. Poverty is for poor people and insolvency is merely a shortfall, a nuisance of ephemeral character, unless of course the odds stack up.

So, when the red is on the spreadsheet Mulroney explains that is the best time to buy and buy big! No cutting back production here! That's for the boys over the hill; for us living in the city red sends me shopping. Today to prove to his neighbors and keeping up appearances he buys the most useless and extravagant purchase a $20,000 bicycle.

Mulroney, like anyone who has surfed any industry, understands riding the waves isn't for the faint at heart. So what if he's leveraged beyond his means? Welcome to the big boys' club. So what if his wife drinks too much and his neighbors are on the pervert side watching when they shouldn't? Mulroney knows the movers, shakers, and is known from hill to valley as the closer. He'll be back in no time.

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Robert Wintner is an acclaimed author of twenty books, including fiction, memoir, and photography. His short fiction appeared in the Hawaii Review and Sports Illustrated. In A California Closing, Wintner draws on his life and life experiences to paint these larger than life and yes, a bit exaggerated, maybe, and all survivors in California's Golden money machine.

A California Closing, for those who can't imagine a digital detox, is also available on Kindle and in paperback.