Unwelcome Ties

Toni Horvath is tired of being an orphan-again. No matter that she's thirty this time instead of a newborn. She's alone in the world, except for the needy fiancé she's stuck with because of a death-bed promise to the only father she's ever known. Her best friend encourages Toni to ditch Gordon and the ring he offers, but loyalty is a powerful tie.

As if life weren't complicated enough with Gordon's political ambitions, a letter arrives at Toni's desk on the anniversary of her adopted father's death. The handwritten note from a seemingly-repentant felon recalls an off-hand comment Toni made when he passed through Toledo, Ohio's federal court two years earlier. His carefully printed words, "I can help you find the family you so desperately seek," set Toni off on a journey to find her family ties.

But her naïve quest ensnares her as a mule for a counterfeiting ring. She must decipher not only phony documents but phony family and relationships before the FBI arrests her - or the villain makes good on his threats. Only by calling on connections with ties stronger than family does she have a chance to free herself from the tentacles of history and misplaced loyalties.

For readers of Forty & Out (2014) and Burned Bridges (2018): Toni's adventure introduces us to a younger Jadz who is still a patrol cop. "Pulled a Star Wars" as they say, with Unwelcome Ties as a prequel.