These are some of the vehicles she steals.

LUXURY SECRETS

for

Female law enforcement officers who must work twice as hard as their male counterparts to achieve identical results.

We honor them through this work of fiction, drawing attention to the work of the female detectives tasked with locating and prosecuting those who take advantage of women modeling high end fashion and luxury items.

Copyright 2023

Jonathan McCormick

Writing of life as it is…and as it could be.

“Work to create a world as it should be.”

Michelle Obama

"Female Sleuths Enjoying Fashion, Cuisine & Jazz, While Investigating International Crime.”

100 % of Royalties are donated to Women’s Centers

Are luxury and wealth one and the same?

Luxury Secrets is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, and incidents are of the writer’s imagination or used with the permission of the owner. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead is coincidental. No identification with actual persons, places, buildings, or products is intended or should be inferred.

"Female Sleuths” are inspirational novels which inspire women who feel overwhelmed by the threat of violence in their environment & the challenges of restarting their lives.

Luxury Secrets portrays educated, articulate and driven women living in an age of Me Too and Times Up movements. As individuals, they long ago gave up the concept of marriage and family, forgoing an antiquated concept of caring for a man incapable of managing his own life.

Most have a deep-rooted dislike of men. Those who choose to date, do so with skepticism, having been jaded by the many evil men whom they have investigated and arrested.

Women who work twice as hard as men to be rewarded with half as little will see themselves championed in Luxury Secrets. Women who are struggling through domestic abuse or sexual assault survival will gain perspective, courage, and motivation through the actions of the female characters.

“Women have been taught to speak softly and carry lipstick. Those days are over.”

Bella Abzug

Barkley Sound Secrets

“Dominance, even the threat of it, is a form of dehumanization. It’s the ugliest kind of power.”

Michelle Robinson Obama

Readers’ Comments

“I really liked the use of the drone. I thought that was really cool. The cesium was great. It was the linchpin of the book. Rebecca was great as usual, especially when kicking ass.

You really have cut out your own territory with the integration of the fine-cuisine element in your books.

I always remember my mother loved the early James Bond books and the early movies because of “all the luxury and fantastic settings.” She loved opulence.

I think she would have liked your novels. And that is indeed my highest compliment.”

Les Wiseman

Royal Roads University

“A noble reason for writing (i.e., the author’s desire to end violence against women) supplies a sturdy foundation for Vancouver Secrets. Thematically, this thread works well in the novel in terms of protagonist creation and plotting. There is also lots of high-octane energy in the prose, especially with chapters like twenty-one where the scenes of discovery deepen the character development.

The author’s insight into law enforcement techniques reads as if he was one of them.

There are a lot of characters, but the author is good with descriptions. How many of them think is clear and the romance between two main female characters is handled eloquently. Why ‘bad guys’ do what they do is well-rounded.”

Writer’s Digest December 2021

Books

by

Jonathan McCormick

Wyoming Secrets (2012)

30,000 Secrets (2017)

Santa Barbara Secrets (2019)

Barkley Sound Secrets (2020)

Vancouver Secrets (2021)

Social Secrets (2022)

Luxury Secrets (2023)

Prologue

A vehicle is stolen very six seconds in Canada, 43 seconds in America.

Ford F-150 pick-ups are the most stolen vehicles in both countries with slightly older models of Honda Civics, Honda Accords, Toyota Camrys being the most to disappear.

Specific late model Lexus RX 350s and Toyota Highlander are prime targets in Ontario with target destinations as close as Montreal and Halifax and as distant as Belgium, Germany, Poland, Finland, and Italy.

Oddly, many exported stolen Canadian vehicles are shipped to New York City, Baltimore, Maryland and Savannah, Georgia according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The eastern African nations of Nigeria and neighboring Ghana are the recipients of thousands of stolen Canadian vehicles which are sold locally at gas stations and vacant lots, their identity and origin not disguised.

Investigators found several Honda Civics and Accords with Ontario license plates still attached.

Hundreds of American and Canadian vehicles’ final destination is the middle east where they are coveted by terrorists for their capacity to carry large quantities of explosives…Ford 150 being their first choice in a truck.

According to Douglas Quan of the National Post, the Canadian Border Services Agency often locate stolen vehicles in the port of Montreal concealed in shipping containers. The vehicles are tracked by their on-board GPS but the RCMP’s position is not to respond unless the CBSA sees a connection to organized crime or terrorism.

Other law enforcement agencies say they don’t have the resources to investigate the thousands of stolen vehicles with their resources stretched thin with investigating crimes against people such as human trafficking, robberies, and murders.

A much narrower and profitable market is luxury vehicles. Some thefts are high profile such as the thieves who carjacked twenty-eight luxury vehicles within a two month span from the streets of Toronto.

Victims were physically removed from their vehicle. Thieves used guns, knives and tasers and drove off. Several were discovered through manufacturer’s tracking devices in Italy, Malta, and the United Arab Emirates.

Seven suspects were arrested and charged with robbery. Police determined that the group was not part of organized crime and because the thefts were isolated, anticipating future thefts was made all the more difficult.

Investigators determined that the thieves used the very electronic devices created to prevent theft to gain access and start the vehicles.

Luxury Secrets

CHAPTER ONE

The ink black town car wound through the curved circular driveway lined with thirty-year old conifers and cruised to the front of a two-story, contemporary six bedroom, seven bath, 10,300 sq. foot mansion of financier Holand Jasper.

The six-foot male driver was attired in black tux pants, white jacket with sky blue pocket square, bowtie, and cummerbund. The white accentuated his strikingly Mediterranean good looks, thought his passenger as she activated a wi-fi jammer just before exiting.

Adriana was compelling in a beautiful, floor length coral gown, fitted with spaghetti straps and an unassuming, yet stunning train, the dress was enhanced by a platinum chocker with brilliant round marquise diamonds, valued at $160,000.00…when she stole it. She carried a coral clutch paired with three-inch heels. She strolled up the eight-foot wide cement stairs embedded in river rocks, glanced to her distant right at a six-car attached garage and smiled excitedly, her heart rate slightly elevated.

The millennial socialite was arrogant and brazen enough to wear the stolen jewelry among a partygoers which might include the previous owner.

The chestnut brunette approached the entry highlighted by six-foot by twelve-foot thermo-pane windows embracing tall, white double doors with long, tubular brass handles.

She was greeted by two attractive male receivers in black tuxes and pleated white shirts who welcomed her by name with sweeping arms extended into a twenty by twenty foot foyer with grey tile flooring, a walk-in closet, large powder room of medium grey, white marble topped cherry wood vanity, white tile floor, and oval mirror.

Massive impressionist art dominated the twenty-foot walls offset by a black smoked crystal pendant chandelier.

The evening was early by Vancouver social standards with an estimated crowd of about one hundred formally dressed guests already mingling at nine o’clock.

Numerous Vancouver movers and shakers approached Adriana immediately, each anxious to be the first to be photographed with the socialite.

Hugs, air kisses with women similarly dressed, albeit not as strikingly, and modified handshakes with deviant baby boomer males were shared as a server handed her a vodka cocktail.

Scanning the terrain, the sound of a band playing Jack Harlow’s First Class floated through a floor to ceiling sliding door which embraced a panoramic view of Burrard Inlet.

She excused herself from the entourage, weaved her way through the crowded foyer and into a 30’ x 30’ living room with two floor to ceiling windows overlooking an opulent garden resplendent with rhododendrons and dwarfed evergreens.

“Adriana, oh, my god, you look stunning tonight,” offered Mrs. Holand Jasper as she approached her guest. The hostess, in exquisite socialite fashion, air kissed both cheeks then continued, “I’m delighted you could join us tonight. I hope your brought your checkbook for this worthy charity.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it Luisa but passed on the checkbook as I e-transferred to Holand this afternoon,” she replied, took a sip, and waved her hand gesturing to Vancouver’s A list guests. “I wanted this evening to be completely social, albeit with a supportive tone. Everyone tells me it is time for me to settle down, so tonight I’m scanning the offerings,” she laughed conspiratorially as she took another a sip of her cocktail.

The women walked out of the living room toward the sound of the band’s version of Kendrick Lamar’s Die Hard just as a server handed fresh cocktails and took their empties.

“My dear, you will never find a partner, male or female, who could match you intellectually or,” as she waved her cocktail up and down,” sexuality, I suspect.”

“Thank you Ms. Jasper,” Adriana replied offering a modest curtsy. “I might say the same for you save for the beauty on your left ring finger.”

The young socialite recognized the $15,000.00 wedding ring with round diamonds alternating with 18k gold and platinum X’s as she had stolen a similar one in Montreal.

Gustafsson was an established and wealthy family whose ancestors immigrated from Norway decades previously and built a financial empire from modest beginnings…the fortune acquired on the backs of Chinese laborers in the eighteen hundreds, a fact which was becoming more and more difficult to ignore as Millennials and Gen Zers became vociferous and unforgiving about their ancestor’s means to wealth.

Although long gone, their legacy for acquiring the finer things in life was inherited by their great granddaughter who simultaneously rejected the means by which they amassed their possessions.

The disdain for her family, its wealth and heritage developed during a grade eleven high school World History class where a discussion revolved around British Columbia’s 1800’s era.

The embarrassment was instant when the name Gustafsson was raised as one of the province’s immigrant families which capitalized on Chinese Canadian laborers to build the western portion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad through the Rocky Mountains.

6,500 were hired at $1.00 a day minus room/board and equipment. White workers were paid $2.50 with zero deductions.

Her friends and fellow students were unaware of the family history and were shocked that Adriana’s ancestors exploited people.

The rumors spread quickly and by lunch she was ostracized; none of her girlfriends wanted lunch with, “a slave owner”.

She was unable to extricate herself from the shame her family created. It was the pariah characterization coupled with the

family’s pretentiousness which created the self-isolation throughout that summer and her entire senior year.

Adriana completed high school with a 4.0 GPA and left immediately for the University of Zurich shedding the shame and humiliation of the past two years.

She spent the next six years acquiring a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science and Scandinavian Studies minoring in French, Latin and Swedish, the latter taken to annoy her Norwegian family.

Christmases were spent in Paris with university friends while summers were enjoyed touring Europe or studying Krav Maga in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Money was never an issue with a debit and credit card funded by her parents at her disposal, the convenience of which afforded her the best accommodations, cuisine and entertainment Europe offered. Post master’s degree her income was provided by a trust fund of ten million Canadian dollars, managed by the same Swiss bank from which the debit and credit cards were issued.

She texted her parents monthly and met them once a year in Norway at the estate of her father’s longtime friend and business partner, Aksel Larsen where she endured the two days lounging in an Olympic pool and cavorting with three Russian Wolf Hounds.

The summers in Israel were spent with people who were interested in her developing maturity and martial arts skills, not her heritage. Socializing in Tel Aviv, developing friendships with people often fighting for their very existence widened the already chasmic cultural gap and her contempt for pretentiousness.

Smiling conspiratorially with her hostess she took comfort in turning the tables on Jasper’s air of superiority, which would evaporate by morning.

Had the women met in university they may have become friends but Luisa’s life direction changed. A happenchance meeting created a characteristic and behavior originating during an unexpected summer encounter.

They met five years ago at the Sharkfin on Beach Avenue in Vancouver’s West End. The iconic nightclub was often chastised by long-time English Bay Beach lovers for the late revelers spilling onto the beach, drinks in hand and partying till the early morning hours.

Luisa was celebrating with a group of university students on the beach when Holand and his friends, still somewhat sober, crossed Beach Ave. and engaged the quartet of forth year female students for the remainder of the evening/morning.

Several dates later and during a celebratory dinner for Luisa’s university graduation at The Torontonian on Granville, Jasper slipped a jewelry box across the secluded corner table.

He sat smugly, double JD in hand watching his prospective bride’s reaction to the $100,000.00 choker of diamonds in 14k white gold setting.

Holand considered the shriek and consecutive OMGs to be worth the elaborate gift.

It took the future Mrs. Jasper a few moments to catch her breath then excitedly moved to her date, turned, and held the diamonds for Holand to place around her neck.

The evening passed in a blur of excitement mixed with silent confusion, speculating on the reason for the gift. Although she was unaware of the cost, she knew the diamonds were real and wondered what strings were attached.

Luisa spent the next six months being treated to magnificent gowns and outfits which she wore to various public and private events in Vancouver and Whistler.

It didn’t take her long to become accustomed to long weekends in Las Vegas, Puerta Vallarta, Havana et al via Jasper’s Israeli built Gulfstream G280 with its twin Honeywell turbofan engines and luxurious tan leather and polished teak accents.

For their first Christmas together, Holand flew them to New York for a performance of Moulin Rouge on Broadway, staying overnight at the luxurious Ritz-Carlton then two weeks in Paris.

A year after their beach encounter the couple was married in an extravagant ceremony at the famed English Bay Club on Beach Drive in Vancouver’s West End.

The Who’s Who of Vancouver’s elite were in attendance, many of the same guest which the Jaspers were entertaining on this occasion.

Luisa flew to Paris with several university girlfriends for a wedding dress created by Parisian designer Cassandra Takahashi which was as unconventional, in 100% silk with its lace back as it was stunning in eggshell with lace sleeves and hem.

The evening was the bride’s introduction to the ultimate in luxury with French cuisine prepared by the Club’s executive chef beginning with Feuilélt de champignons de la ferme le coprin sauce cremeuse-mushrooms from an Abbotsford specialty farm in a puff pastry and cream sauce.

The two hundred guests RSVPed with their choice of Saumon poche, choux-fleurs, Romanesco’s et riz pilaf au citron confit, sauce a l oseille-poached salmon, cauliflowers, Romanesco’s and confit lemon pilaf rice, sorrel sauce.

or

Pave de boeuf en croute de Dijon et ciboulette, brocolettes tombees au beurre et champignons poeles, sauce au fromage bleu l’Ermite-Beef filet in a Dijon and chive crust, brocolettes tombees and pan-seared mushrooms, I’Ermite blue cheese sauce.

Dessert was a variety of French-Canadian cheese from Quebec, various white wines from British Columbia’s Okanagan region and a Croquembouche, a French delicacy prepared from choux puff pastry filled with a decadent cream.

The Croquembouche were stacked a meter high with Carmel drizzled to compliment the pastry and cream and to hold the design together.

The fairytale event was complimented by two weeks in the Caribbean’s elegant Antigua to which they flew in Holand’s Gulfstream, bathed in the luxury of a private suite overlooking Jolly Harbor and the Caribbean Ocean.

Mornings began with sleeping in, the warm ocean breeze enveloping their open concept bedroom, breakfast of croissants, cheeses, and dark roast Dominican coffee.

Several hours of beach walking were followed by shopping at the numerous specialty boutiques inland with lunch of lobster or saltfish at an outdoor café.

Dinners were informal but professionally prepared and served by their host’s chef often offering Fungee and Pepperpot-a national dish of stew and mashed potatoes/polenta or Ducana, a tamale dish with sweet potatoes and seasonings.

Upon their return to Vancouver, her groom immersed himself in his financial empire leaving Luisa to develop interests of her own, the primary choice was entertaining and million dollar charity events.

Charitable Giving in Canada

Canadians are generous in contributing to worthy causes. In 2021 individuals gave $326.87 billion, representing 67% of Canadians’ cumulative giving, corporations providing the remaining altruism.

According to Statistics Canada, the recipients were religions 27%, education 14%, human services 13%, grantmaking foundations 13% and public society benefit 11%, the remaining 22% is unaccounted for.

Charitable Giving in America

Americans are equally generous with their philanthropy giving $450 billion in 2020, up 5% over the previous year. The primary recipients were religions 32%, education 16%, human services 12%, grantmaking foundations 11% and health 11%.

These details were irrelevant to Mrs. Jasper and her socialite friends, trusting organizers to distribute the billions at their discretion while she enjoyed the glitz and glamor of the many social events which created the massive cash flow.

Such was the motive for Adriana’s criminal career. 100% of the revenue from the stolen merchandise was deposited into an anonymous Swiss bank account, the same institution with which she had done business for over a decade.

They never asked questions and executed her requested anonymous bank transfers to charities which the ultra-wealthy ignored; children’s and teenager support groups, women’s resource, and sexual assault centers as well as various small town charities struggling to make a difference locally without finances.

This McLaren F1 is stolen by Adriana.