An Absolute Scandal, by Penny Vincenzi [$24.95] – Having read another of her books and knowing what I was getting into, I picked up this one to give her another chance. Turns out she does this genre of book very well, and, even though I don’t particularly care for the type of book, the reader does continue on with its fast-paced chapters to find out just what happens to each of the many, many characters. Penny Vincenzi, master of the contemporary blockbuster, returns with a moving, engaging portrait of people coping with a notorious financial disaster and its unpredictable emotional repercussions. Set during the boom-and-bust years of the 1980s, An Absolute Scandal follows the lives of a group of people drawn together by their mutual monetary woes when the great financial institution Lloyd's undergoes a devastating downturn. For Nigel Cowper, this means the destruction of his family business; his wife, Lucinda, is willing to do everything she can to help him—except give up her irresistible lover. The powerful, charismatic banker Simon Beaumont and his wife, a highly successful advertising executive, lose everything they worked so hard to acquire; but the ultimate tragedy is something that neither one could have anticipated. The well-to-do are not the only ones suffering: a self-sufficient widow is suddenly deep in debt; a single mother struggles to maintain a comfortable home for her children; and a schoolmaster and his frustrated wife find that financial problems deepen the cracks in their troubled marriage. As their lives begin a downward spiral, these characters intersect in ways they never saw coming. We have adultery, bullying at public (private) and private (public) schools (that’s the way it is in England), absolutely beautiful women (who always have fantastic legs it seems), handsome men in Armani suits, women in Chanel, and on and on and on. Written in what has become her signature style of both wit and candor, Penny Vincenzi draws back the curtain and offers an inside view of the greed and social power-plays that occur behind the closed doors of upper-crust society . . . where money isn’t everything. Sometimes, it’s the only thing. It seems the book is nothing but tragedy until the final chapter when EVERYTHING comes together, and jerks become warm human beings, and warm human beings become even warmer.