The Unexpected Heiress

A Nick Williams Mystery, Book 1

By: Frank W. Butterfield

Narrated by: Brian Rollins

Nick Williams, heir to a vast fortune, lives with his lover, Carter Jones, in the Eureka Valley neighborhood of San Francisco in an unassuming bungalow. Little do the neighborhood ladies, who do their daily marketing on Castro Street, know that just down the street their neighbor is the richest homosexual since possibly Alexander the Great.

His no-nonsense secretary Marnie Wilson keeps things together at the office in the Tenderloin. To her frustration, Nick is always turning away clients. He doesn't really need the money, after all.

In The Unexpected Heiress, Nick is called in to see his lawyer and friend, Jeffrey Klein, whose mystery client, under contract to Metro, was just arrested at the Kit Kat Club on Polk Street but somehow got off with a bench warrant. Jeffrey wants to know who in the police department worked things behind the scene for the star of the upcoming blockbuster It Was Raining Then.

Meanwhile a late night phone call from his estranged father sends Nick into a tailspin and a family secret, along with a lot of other things better kept hush-hush, are all splashed on the front pages of the daily newspapers. It ain't pretty.

In the end, for Nick and Carter, it's actually the beginning of a whole new way of doing business.

Long before the Summer of Love, pride parades down Market Street, and the fight for marriage equality, San Francisco in 1953 was all about the Red Scare, F.B.I. investigations, yellow journalism run amok, and the ladies who play mah jong over tea.

©2016 Frank W. Butterfield (P)2018 Frank W. Butterfield

Loved it

I loved this book, and I was sad when it ended. The main characters are likeable, and it's funny without being silly. It took me a while to get used to the cadence of the reader, but I was won over after listening for a while.

Audible, please add the other books in this series to your library.

A Wonderful Start to the Audible Series

I love this book and was absolutely thrilled to find out the series was coming to Audible. I had such a good time listening to this, revisiting Nick and Carter, meeting everyone for the very first time. And the narrator did a great job. The series has a lot of characters and Brian Rollins is doing a great job of bringing them to life, Nick especially. I am very much looking forward to the release of the second book in the series, The Amorous Attorney, which I know he's already working on.

Expect the Unexpected

Frank's books always tell a great story and Brian adds another dimension. His narration is spot on.

read book, loved audio

Nick Williams books are a peek into a history of 1950s and illegality of " Deviant behavior" Really an eye opener. Mr Butterfield make that time live. He has a writing style makes the book enjoyable and fun

Absolutely Fantastic!

This audiobook was my introduction to Nick and Carter. The story is a crime noir story with a mystery, social commentary on the biases of the time, and plenty of twists and turns to keep the listener engaged. The mystery gets teased out against the backdrop of homophobia and political machinations, where being gay could get you fired from your job, and money talks loud and clear. I loved Nick and Carter and also their friends and co-workers. The gay community exists as a sub-culture and the members worked together to help each other out. I loved the way Nick was out and proud and didn’t hesitate to speak his mind. (A lot of money helps. LOL) Although Nick’s family drama was in ways tragic, it was also downright funny sometimes for me as a listener, especially the way Nick dealt with them. I really enjoyed this listen and the wry humor throughout. I am definitely interested in exploring more of these characters’ history and stories.

The narration was very good. The voices of different characters were distinguishable and unique, and the emotions and attitudes came through very clear.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.