Private Chauffuer involves a large number of characters and a point of view constantly shifting between them, although the book is consistently told in the third person. It is part aviation mystery thriller and part soap opera.

Gary Heaslip was an Air Force pilot and a civilian pilot until an air disaster grounded him permanently. Gary believed he correctly heard the air traffic controller's instructions, but the tape of their conversation didn't back him up at the hearing. Gary nevertheless decides to take any job just to hang around Montaugun (Montauk).

That job came in the form if Dolores Carter, who looked him over from head to toe when she hired him to be her chauffeur. Actually, Dolores, who supported her doctor-husband through her bountiful inheritance wanted Gary to seduce her husband's secretary and mistress Erica. Dolores wanted to get Ivan back and rekindle the passion in their marriage. Gary considered the proposition, but focused on Dolores Carter and , with her, "There was a lot to concentrate on. The draft from the open window of the convertible caught her dark red hair from time to time, pushing it down in front of her face, where she had to touch it back with an upraised hand. Every time she touched, it did things to her dress."
There were complications in the mix too. Dolores' seventeen year old daughter Irene was taken with Gary. Dolores visits Gary's room at night. The air traffic controller who had been guiding Gary when the Abe crashed appeared to be wracked with guilt. He was literally falling apart. And the final hearing is coming up even though the result is a foregone conclusion.

It is a compelling read, perhaps because the author really shows how all of these people were caught in an emotional hurricane and consumed with guilt for things they did. ( )