The story takes place during the Cold War with Russia vs. the US along with the rest of international speculators. So. Russia is trying to corner the gold market and in so doing will dominat the dollar and ruble. You know the drill. There is a secret American plan for a monetary change that leaks out to Swiss bankers, and oh, yes, there is a tall, beuutiful French girl, the Mafia is in here, and the whole gang. It's Paul Erdman in an early novel. Hasn't quite reached the peak he did in the "Crash of '79."
The author Erdman presided over the dramatic rise and fall of the United California Bank in Basel, Switzerland, of which he was founder and first president. He began writing The Billion Dollar Sure Thing while "detained" in a Swiss jail as a result of his bank's collapse. His book, however, is a work of fiction.
