Jack Houston St. Clair Series (Books 1-3) / A Jack Houston St. Clair Thriller (ePub)

The Keystone File - Part 1

Governor Sam Houston St. Clair is the Republican candidate for President when on Election Night it's discovered that there's been a tie in the Electoral College, resulting in a deadlock.

The Constitution requires that in such a case the election is thrown into the House of Representatives, where each state has a single vote.

Incumbent Republican President Jeffrey Norwalk is determined that St. Clair will succeed him because St. Clair will continue his policies.

The Russians have already bombed a dam built by the Chinese, but now the Chinese are ready to open a new canal dug that will divert the water, thus crippling Russian agriculture. Policymakers around the world are sitting on the edge of their seats.

Norwalk's aide, Phil Slanetti, has been keeping top-secret files on all members of Congress, a secret weapon Norwalk has never used.

As it becomes clear what's at stake, everybody prepares to travel to Washington to begin the deadly bargaining that will eventually produce a new President.

The Keystone File - Part 2

Jack Houston St. Clair, while trying to help his dad as he lobbies members of Congress to vote for him, discovers that the lawyer Derek Gilbertson, whose ex-wife Jack had been sleeping with, is involved in a massive Cuban clandestine operation to smuggle cash siphoned from drug and Medicare fraud out of Miami and into the central bank in Havana.

Meanwhile, Phil Slanetti secretly recruits the British and Russian ambassadors to help him use the Keystone File to force congressmen to switch their votes to Jack's father.

Incumbent President Norwalk calls for a special session of Congress to convene to insure the Electoral College remains tied. Or so he says. His real reason is much more sinister than that.

Jack runs back and forth between Key West, Miami and Washington as he tries to dampen fires that pop up more often than he can put them out, all while dealing with his jealous Cuban girlfriend, Babylon Fuentes.

The Keystone File - Part 3

Crooked lawyer Derek Gilbertson is furious when he learns that a narco-sub has sunk off Key West taking down with it some $65 million in drug money he'd been trying to get out of the U.S. He teams up with Vlad Kucherov, a Russian club owner on South Beach, to get it back.

Slanetti, meanwhile, continues to blackmail members of Congress, bringing them over to the St. Clair side-but it's slow work.

Handsome Matt Hawkins, newly arrived in Washington, meets Jack and attends a ball at the National Geographic Society where he meets socialite Patricia Vaughan. She's estranged from her husband, the wealthy Jonathan Vaughan.

When lame duck President Norwalk asks Patricia for the first dance, all Washington is abuzz. She is stunned. While they dance, Norwalk says that he knows she's sleeping with Congressman Neil Scott, and that he needs Scott's support for Sam Houston St. Clair in the upcoming vote. "Get it for me," he says.