Ben Dixon's Heart

This is the third book in the Ben Dixon series. Ben Dixon's wife, Milly, has decided to leave her husband and children and her apparently happy life on Wellington Springs Station in Queensland to work on a TV morning show in Melbourne. She expects her family to visit her but, shocked, they reject her plans. She goes anyway and Ben believes their marriage is over. Ben is experienced in TV and warns her of failure and she does indeed strike big problems. Ben, a former investigative journalist, suspects that Milly may have been forced to take up the TV contract and begins to check. He finds that a snide executive of the TV channel might be involved. Milly is becoming distressed in her situation and begs Ben for help, even though he regards them as separated and nearing divorce. In the midst of all this Ben becomes bankrupt, his accountant having embezzled all his money. He loses his two properties and all but a house and a car, and has to work to pay off more than a million dollars, so sets out to do so, working at various properties around the region. But he is conscious of Milly's great unhappiness and, when given an opportunity to work with her again on a revival of their old Ben and Milly TV show, realizes that he still loves her. In Melbourne he can look further into Milly's strange decision to leave her family and his suspicion that she's been blackmailed. It becomes obvious that the executive, Byron Dietrich, is the blackmailer, using a vulnerable friend's problems as a weapon. Ben's inquiries lead him to believe that Dietrich has been criminally active in other areas. He arrives in Melbourne determined to protect Milly and punish Dietrich....

This is the third book in the Ben Dixon series. Ben Dixon's wife,Milly, announces that she's leaving her husband and family and her apparently happy life on Wellington Springs, their Queensland cattle property, to take up a TV contract in Melbourne for three years. She's had some trials in Melbourne a few months previously when Ben was in hospital recovering from the after-effects of his shooting in the Wreck Lagoon affair.Ben, knowledgeable of TV had watched her trials and warns Milly that she will not succeed. Milly has plans for the her family to visit her but,shocked at her decision to leave, especially abandoning her nine-year-old daughter,Mim, they all refuse.Milly goes anyway and, almost immediately is the failure that Ben predicted, although putting on a brave face Distressed, she rings Ben regularly, even though he regards them as near divorce. In the midst of all this Ben is informed that his accountant has embezzled all his money and that he is bankrupt, loses his two properties and all but a house and a car. He owes more than a million dollars. He sets out to work off his debt and to care for his children. He works at various properties in the region and takes what other work he can find. Milly is unaware of this. Gradually Ben realizes that he still loves Milly and resolves to help her. He inquires further into her strange decision to leave and discovers that an oily TV executive known to him might have blackmailed Milly into going to Melbourne, using a vulnerable friend's problems as a weapon. The channel wants to revive the old Ben and Milly series that the couple had worked on years before and Ben accepts the offer to work with his wife again to try to renew their marriage and to find the executive, Byron Dietrich, and to investigate his other blackmail activities.....

R L Humphries lives in Queensland,Australia not far from where he was born and received his training as a newspaper reporter, He worked on morning dailies in Queensland before moving to Papua/New Guinea as a reporter for Radio Australia, returning to Australia after five years to work for the Queensland Government as an administrator. He retired to live by the sea not far from Fraser Island. He fishes and writes books.