Nothing's for Real

The year is 1980, and President Jimmy Carter has given away the Panama Canal. The Russians have invaded Afghanistan, and Iranian radical Muslims are holding fifty-six American embassy employees hostage. Interest rates and unemployment are in the double digits. At this point in history, the world is a nasty place, and for the Palm Avenue Auction Gallery in Sarasota, Florida, things are equally bad.

The auction business had been a source of entertainment in small resort areas throughout most of the 20th century. Then, times began to change as young people threw ink on fur coats. It became dangerous to wear expensive jewelry, and silver tea sets were no longer a status symbol. Summer stock, dinner theaters, and comedy clubs filled the entertainment appetite.

Colby chose a bad time to join the auction business. He spent his early years as an SAS British Army officer, same as the secretive Delta Force. Making his transition as a resort area auctioneer felt natural. At the Sarasota gallery, Colby is a comedian one minute and a salesman the next. Then, within one month's time, two people end up dead, two are missing, and twenty million dollars has been stolen. The craziness of world history can take a back seat to Florida.