FICTION
Special Assessment is a mystery of sophisticated white-collar crime set against a backdrop of community association activities and characters. It provides an inside view of the distinctive social fabric and politics of community association living.
The new American neighborhood—the community association—is an experiment in close living and private self-government at the most intimate level. And it's a rich experiment indeed. These condominiums and planned communities have eighteen billion dollars in reserves held in accounts across the country.
Despite such outrageous assets, the associations that govern these private communities have quietly existed, untouched by white-collar crime. Until now.
Special Assessment unfolds with the seemingly perfect crime: an invisible electronic transfer of millions of dollars by a computer genius using a malicious new applet virus. Attorney Joshua Fyler and community manager Michelle Gratiot join forces to protect her business.
They investigate a growing list of suspects, encountering a ruthless condominium president, hungry with lust and power; a paranoid and litigious owner who sues everyone in search of respect and revenge; an information technologist whose greed is exceeded only by his own ineptness; and countless other characters from the world of community living.
While the clever, but bumbling, criminals strain to pull off the heist of their lives, Joshua and Michelle carry on a resourceful, feisty, and unrelenting attack to stop them. Along the way, Joshua and Michelle are forced to confront their fear of a career-ending crisis as well as their mutual fears of commitment.
"No one writes about community associations like Nodiff does. What a treat to read a novel that takes place in an association just like mine and laugh out loud at the antics of board members ... and sometimes managers . . . also just like mine." Birute Shafer, Reston, Virginia
ALSO AVAILABLE IN THE CAI PRESS BOOKSTORE:
The Condo Kerfuffle, a novel by Marv Nodiff
No Spitting on the Floor, a novel by Marv Nodiff
The Dark Condos, a novel by Marv Nodiff
HOA Gobsmack!, a novel by Marv Nodiff COMING SOON
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marv Nodiff is a pioneer in community association law, a founding member of the College of Community Association Lawyers, a top St. Louis attorney, a university law professor, and he leads a double life as a novelist, capturing all the foibles of community association living in his humorous and engaging mysteries. Through attorney Joshua Fyler, Marv captures the essence of community association business with humor, insight, and intelligence. Anyone working—or volunteering—in or for a community association will recognize Joshua, his associates and their board-member clients. Groan or laugh, you're guaranteed to find a character you know.
