Lee Stuesser

Old Bill's Last Will and Testament Lee Stuesser

It is the summer of 1972: the Vietnam War is still raging, the Cold War is still hot and WWII is still a lurking memory.

This legal thriller travels from the Canadian bush to the Australian outback; from courtroom battles to barroom brawls.

Old Bill has died.

He lived alone in a one room shack along the Blue River in Saskatchewan. His was a simple life; he needed little. But in death, he leaves an estate potentially worth millions of dollars.

In his handwritten will, he gives all to the wife and daughter of an Australian airman, who was killed in a prisoner of war camp at Niigata, Japan in 1945. To his surviving brother, he leaves 'absolutely nothing'.

Josef Manne, a young criminal lawyer, is charged with carrying out the old man's wishes.

The brother challenges the will. If it is overturned, he inherits all. Josef's biggest problem is the will itself. Why would Old Bill leave everything to the wife and daughter of this deceased Australian airman? Makes no sense. Josef needs to find out the why. What happened at Niigata in 1945?

First, Josef needs to find the wife and daughter. If both are dead, the will lapses, and the estate goes to the brother. The wife has died leaving the daughter, Rebecca, the sole beneficiary. Josef travels to Goondiwindi, Queensland in search of her. Little does he know that others are searching for Rebecca as well - to kill her.

Josef has to keep Rebecca alive.