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THE PLAZA PRINCE is set in a department store in Wabasha, small town America. The Wabasha store is the flagship store in a family-owned chain of Vogels department stores that anchor many American shopping malls. The Vogels chain and the American mall are threatened with extinction and the Vogel employees are increasingly aware of the insidious impact of big box stores and online shopping on small town life.
Inflation, medical costs, low wages, and few perks cause employees in the Wabasha flagship store to seek union affiliation. The employees share floor space, a break room, and a mutual disdain for the store manager, Curtis Jenson. And they share one common desire, to oust Jenson. Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to see him gone.
The owner of the store, Jonathon Vogel, is the fourth-generation owner of the franchise, which opened in the nineteenth century as his great grandfather’s butcher shop and café. A pillar in the community and the state, Vogel is in line to serve as a United States Senator. His lifelong friend, Bert Thompson, is a political kingmaker, venture capitalist and savvy entrepreneur with connections to the dark underbelly of America. That connection will come into play if necessary.
Curtis Jenson is Vogel’s son-in-law and husband of Suzanne Vogel Jenson, heir to the retail empire. Jenson’s personal life and conflicts with Vogel threaten family stability and the Vogel good name.
Other main characters include competing cosmetic sales reps, Donna and Annette, who are at war with one another. Ken, the head of menswear and Adam Shafer, sporting goods, seek solutions to employee issues. Barbara Wilke provides leadership when Jenson fails. Any one of them could do harm, if necessary.
And then there’s Walter Johnson and his loveable old dog, a golden retriever named Mr. Snagglepuss. Walter’s story is a tale within a tale and the key that unlocks the Who Done It mystery.