Michael D Lieberman

Christmas Alfredo Michael D Lieberman

When first year George Washington University law student Matthew Felder returns to Ristorante Alfredo to work the lucrative Christmas season, he unwittingly finds himself entangled with Alfredo's cocaine slinging brother, Saverio 'Sammy' Casartelli, who was released from prison the day that Matt returns to his undergrad gig. Among the new staff is Dulce, an ethereally beautiful busgirl, a local New Brunswick Dominicana. Matt trips over his heart at first sight. Dulce is mysteriously 'engaged' to Belamino, a dishwashing thug also employed the restaurant who, rumor has it, fled the Santo Domingo in fear of his life. No one at the restaurant understands how Dulce has been promised to Belamino. Enter Junior Diaz, Sammy's illegitimate hoodlum son who also goes for Dulce. Karen, Sammy's illegitimate alcoholic daughter with a violent, unseen, huge ex-boyfriend who is jealous of Matt's accidental liaison with Karen. While Matt is falling hard for Dulce he is caught in a complex romantic labyrinth with deadly consequences. When Matt accidently overhears Sammy's next planned criminal venture, he finds himself cornered into a caper involving Sammy's two drug dealing partners, a fake marketing firm, a Colombian cocaine kingpin in Miami, a corrupt local mayor who wants to be the next governor of New Jersey, an illegal high stakes poker game, a federal corruption investigation, a murder, a fire, all while serving the delectable cuisine of Chef Alfredo to the dysfunctional business elites of Central New Jersey celebrating the Christmas season as the Reagan presidency nears its end. With its colorful cast of characters and surprising turns of plot, Christmas Alfredo is a wonderful feast of a novel.