J. Glenn Evans

Broker Jim J. Glenn Evans

Broker Jim, a top regional stockbroker, sits in his office, his gaze transfixed on the file sitting on the corner of his desk. His gut instinct tells him he better put the file somewhere safe. He reaches for the file just as the door opens. Three men enter, flash IDs. One of them picks up the file, leafs through it, then stuffs it into his briefcase.

Jim's firm is on top of the heap. Why are these guys grabbing files? Who called them? When they showed up, Jim's secretary asks if they had an appointment. They said they didn't need one. The story then falls back to Jim's beginnings on a small Oklahoma farm during the Depression. Jim always knew he had a different destiny. His rich uncle advises him to be a stockbroker because that's where the money is. Jim works his way through college by working in the Oregon lumber mills, then moves to Los Angeles and into a partnership with a tyrannical boss, an over-sexed and religious fanatic. Jim leaves California for Seattle. In his struggle to get ahead, he works at a variety of jobs doing insurance inspections, working for big outfits like Montcalm Manufacturing, even delivers newspapers. He finally joins a brokerage house, just when his first marriage ends in divorce. A shy and romantic guy, he has trouble connecting with women, but then comes up with a formula to help him know when he finds the right one. Eventually he forms his own brokerage firm, but after ten successful years he is stopped in his tracks. Are the SEC allegations of improprieties true or is it a conspiracy to steal his company? In the end he finds himself in a position he could never in his wildest dreams have anticipated.

Broker Jim's story is not the usual one of greed and raw ambition. Weird characters are eager to get rich by investing in the stock market, and Jim learns what makes them tick. Broker Jim mixes conflict and adventure with humor, love, and sadness. Always in the back of your mind is the question of what was in that file.