December Synopsis Contest Winner

Congratulations to Connie Spyropoulos and Kristine Dulong on their winning submissions to our December 2021 synopsis contest! Kristine has volunteered to share their synopsis with the blog — we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

If you’re interested in submitting your work to Scribbler’s contests, take a look at our contest page for the next opportunity to submit.

Bad Blood

Lexi was a typical college student living in Atlantic City in 1985 until she witnessed the brutal murder of a prominent local mob captain. After that moment, her life would never be the same.

Upon learning of the murder, the head of the Philadelphia mafia realizes that he needs to snarl the FBI investigation. He orders Polo, a handsome mob soldier, to watch Lexi and prevent her from speaking to law enforcement. Polo establishes Lexi’s trust by protecting her when an intruder breaks into her home. Lexi falsely believes that she will be in no danger with Polo, provided that she doesn’t tell anyone about the murder that she witnessed. He continues to build her trust, and the two begin a relationship. 

Margo is the widow of the murdered mob captain. She had been the most powerful woman in Atlantic City while her husband was alive, but that changed after his death. Although Margo is intelligent, strong, and a threat to those who cross her, she cannot be a part of her husband’s mafia organization since she is a woman. She finds it challenging to continue running her illegal operations without her husband’s soldiers’ assistance and decides to create her own crime syndicate. She faces many obstacles but hopes an alliance with her nephew, Polo, will help.

The relationship between Polo and Lexi intensifies, and he tells Lexi of the blood oath that he made to the mafia.  He confides details about his life as a mob soldier and her father’s involvement. Lexi had not known her father since her mother had relocated the two of them to Atlantic City in 1968 to get away from Lexi’s father. Polo explains that Lexi’s father had been an advisor to the Philadelphia mob, called a consigliere, and had lived in that city until his murder. Lexi also learns that her mother’s death may not have been an accident. He does not tell her that she has a brother who is an associate of the mob in Philadelphia.

Margo realizes that she can use Lexi’s hatred for the people that killed her parents to eliminate some of the obstacles standing in her way.  She tries to get Lexi to implicate key members of the mafia family who oppose her plan. In return, Lexi would receive financial compensation.

The Philadelphia mafia boss learns that Polo and Lexi are helping Margo establish her new empire in Atlantic City. He orders their assassination, but Lexi’s roommate is accidentally murdered in a failed attempt.

As Margo’s plan starts to unfold, we realize that Lexi has not been a reliable narrator. She wasn’t in a relationship with Polo and had been stalking him.  The “romance” between Polo and Lexi had occurred only in Lexi’s mind. Although they had shared a one-night stand, all of the other events that Lexi described did not happen in the manner that she recounted.

Lexi had already known about Polo’s involvement with the mafia from her brother. She and her brother had been working together to get revenge on those who killed their parents. They blamed the mob captain and Polo for their deaths. Although the mob captain had ordered the murder of Lexi’s father, Polo had executed the plan. In retaliation, Lexi frames Polo for the mob captain’s murder which her brother had committed.

After Polo’s arrest, Margo confronts Lexi, and they fight. Lexi’s brother intervenes to stop them.  Someone fires a gun. One person is shot, one will go to prison, and one will flee Atlantic City.  

The Scribbler Team

Victoria Scott started Scribbler in 2017 after traditionally publishing an impressive number of books with companies like HarperCollins Harlequin Scholastic and Macmillan. Victoria is an Uber-hailing city girl who is passionate about writing and helping other writers find their voice.