The Benefactor — John Moran

A young widow discovers her husband's accidental death is the latest in a series of murders-for-profit reaching back more than a decade.

Kay Daniels's troubled marriage ends when her wealthy husband dies in an auto accident. Kay believes she and her daughter can begin a new life following a marriage that had become increasingly abusive due to her husband's alcoholism.

Then a stranger, calling himself her benefactor, reveals the truth about the accident. An urbane foreigner of indeterminate origin, Nikolas Seifer explains how he targets a rich couple in irreconcilable conflict, disposes of the wealthier partner, then demands half of the estate from the spouse. The spouses are compliant because they have perfect alibis, with no connection to the perpetrator, and are now enriched by inheritance and life insurance.

Compounding Kay's perilous situation is a police detective who, suspicious of the convenient accident, launches an investigation of the newly rich widow. Isolated between a vengeful predator and a hardened detective, Kay finds herself in a labyrinth of deceit, suspicion, and unrelenting danger. Unlike the typical pliable beneficiary, however, she refuses to acquiesce to Seifer's demands, leading to a battle of wills that escalates into a life-or-death ordeal to protect herself and her daughter.