Substantial Penalty — Robert Rhode

Max Carruthers wonders if his grandmother seriously considered the risk that bright, balmy day in Biloxi when she persuaded him to rob the family bank of two million dollars. When he breaks into the bank vault, he discovers recently postmarked letters that appear to be from his father who was presumed dead after disappearing on a single-handed sailboat crossing of the Atlantic. Along with the letters is a computer disk containing a program to transfer money electronically.

Max concludes that either his father is a fugitive and receiving money or bank insiders are using his father's absence as a cover for embezzlement. Max's attempt to solve the mystery draws him into the dangerous world of his father's dark past where he encounters greed, revenge, and murder and discovers the truth about himself and his family.

Substantial Penalty is a thought-provoking story about complex family relationships, how they can engage us in unexpected ways, and how they can lead to personal revelations: the search for a father inevitably becomes a journey of self-discovery.