The Many Revenges of Kip Flynn — Sean Dixon

It all started with a black rose and a rich young man. And a house with a creek running through it. And then there she was, Kip Flynn, standing beside her dead boyfriend and agreeing to take a large sum of money from the young man's father to keep quiet. As if she could have done anything else, being so scared and grief-stricken and maybe pregnant.

But that's not the end of it. A rising-stakes vendetta develops between the young rose seller and the building developer, spiralling outward to envelop family, lovers, friends, landlords, wormpickers, window cleaners, Vietnamese gangsters, stand-up bass players and tour-bus guides, involving subway accidents, arson, drainpipes, buried rivers, backhoe wars, stretch limos, ultrasound technicians, poorly fitted windows and an aubergine Saab.