COSTLY PRIORITIES tells the tale of two girls who become fast friends. Because of the bond they form, the lives of the members of their families become inextricably intertwined. After an accident hospitalizes one of the friends in the 1950s, the young women go off on separate paths. One of them becomes obsessed with achieving instant fame. Her hunger for the success that will make her immortal takes her to Hollywood and a quest for stardom. The other finds love and loses her need for material wealth.
The father of one of the girls is a highly successful lawyer employed by the reigning Don of organized criminals. When his daughter’s friend loses her father, he steps in to protect and provide for the widow and her sons as well as his only childs best friend. Dangerous events occur as the family becomes ever more deeply entangled with mobsters. Raging fires in California and attempts on the life of one of the young men the lawyer befriended convince him that his chosen profession, an accountant in his benefactor’s law firm, was less than wise. His adoration for his mentor’s daughter is rejected consistently. He finally accepts that hes only a pawn in his beloveds game. He determines that he probably will be annihilated by the enemies of his employer. He rethinks his aims and sets out to destroy the violent men he previously worked to protect.
The action takes place from the early forties through the late fifties. The characters lead the reader from Brooklyn and Long Island to California, Chicago and upper Illinois, as well as Virginia and Europe. The twists and turns in the changing priorities of the cast keep the reader wondering where and when the next tragedy or victory will occur. Those members of the families who survive are left with a sense of some measure of success.
