The Gold Coast preceeds The Gate House, a suspense story that I reviewed here a short time ago.  The Gold Coast introduces us to tax attorney John Sutter and his artist wife, Susan Sutter.  A new neighbor has moved into the estate next to the Stanhope estate.  Since the Stanhope estate belongs to Susan Sutter's parents, they gave her the guest house to live in, along with ten acres of land.  But with the prenuptial agreement, John's name was on none of it.

The new neighbor was a reputed Mafia don who wanted to fit into a neighborhood filled with the snobbish newly rich and the more accepting, but more aloof heirs of old money and members of the social register.  He was not greeted with the open arms he had envisioned.  No one outside the Mafia wants to befriend someone they cannot trust, who lives a violent and dangerous lifestyle of which they want no part.

When the don offered John the job of defending him against federal murder charges, even though John knew he really didn't want the job and knew his reputation would suffer if he took it, he found himself powerless to say no.  Especially after an IRS audit left John facing a huge fine and prison.  The don provided him with a way out.  John found himself in the unenviable position of owing the Mafia don a favor.

The Gold Coast is well-written and absorbing from the first sentence to the last.  The characters are interesting to say the least.  And the plot frequently changes course.  There are sex scenes, very detailed, that do little more than take up space and slow the progress of the story.  The amount of profanity is unnecessary and disrupts an otherwise fascinating story.  But give The Gold Coast a try.  It's a good story.