Code of Honor

This dramatic tale of Chicago mafiosi in love ends on a frustrating cliffhanger. Pietro Gustovi’s parents were executed by the Mafia when he was just 15. He is consumed with finding out why his parents were killed, but no one will give him a straight answer. Giovanni Spontagio, a family friend who took him in, knows something, but claims Pietro is not ready for the information. Pietro’s distant cousin Benito knows, but won’t say a word. Giovanni’s only child, Lucia, stays out of her father’s business, but she chafes at his restrictions. At 21, she is ready for independence; she moves into an apartment in New York so she can perform in a premier ballet company, and she takes Pietro as her lover. Stubborn and feisty, Lucia doesn’t shy from making hard choices. Every step is a hard-earned victory and her relationship with Pietro is more than just passion. Given Pietro’s dedication to earning a master’s degree in economics, not to mention how his parents died, his willingness to enter the shady world of crime and murky mob politics is incomprehensible. There is joy, but with the Mafia looming in the background, it’s hard to see how there can be a happy ending. Agent: Marisa A. Corvisiero, Corvisiero Literary Agency. (Sept.)