The Price of Greed

About the Book

At midnight on June 28, 1944, four well-armed civilians attempted a daring armed robbery of the $4,329,000 Camp Lejeune payroll being transported under heavy guard from the First National Bank in the small Coastal Plain town of Kinston, North Carolina. The would-be hijackers were cut down in a hail of submachine gun fire. Taking this foiled attempt as a warning, a bold Marine Corps colonel and the avaricious bank manager set in motion an elaborate ruse to steal the $6,327,412 January 1945 payroll from the bank vault prior to its transfer. The audacious scheme was brilliantly planned and executed with precision. Lawmen were stymied. The only things standing in the way of complete success were the greed of the co-conspirators and an unforeseen encounter with someone not even associated with the heist.

About the Author

The author, an attorney and optometrist, resides outside Atlanta with his wife Evelyn, an attorney, their four talented children having gone on to careers in Optometry, real estate and teaching. In May 1961 the author received an undergraduate degree in Physics-Mathematics from Berry College, and in July of that year enlisted in the U. S. Army. He served two tours of duty in South Korea, the last with U. S. Army Intelligence as a Korean linguist and prisoner interrogator. In 1972 Dr. Provost was awarded the degree of Doctor of Optometry from the University of Houston, and in 1980 earned a Juris Doctor degree from Nova Southeastern University College of Law. Dr. Provost is the author of the best-selling memoir, Reflections in an Orphan’s Eye, The Puppeteer, a mystery novel of the wartime South, and thirteen other mystery novels.