All Comments on 'Behind the Walls of Ivy'

Second read. Different and not the same old, same old. Like the writers ability to have good characters without a deep dive into their childhood.

What an eccentric performance!

Five stars for what I think was a well-woven story of loves lost and some found.

I'm glad the wife died but God is fucking idiot to try and save her, shes not just damaged goods, she's irreparably damaged goods, she's trash. Not worth saving unless you're a garbage man

Shale practically gifted his wife to the Provost and President(and his wife).

His biggest mistake was getting married before accomplishing his goals.

The reason she cheated was simple - Women like her don't care about men's struggles. They wait at the finish line and eff the winners(or at least who they perceive to be winners).

But hey, good story. 4 stars.

Again an author writing about something they clearly have little knowledge of.

Ironically the search for europium would be just the thing that would have acquired big bucks for the uni and would have been a driving factor towards full tenure.

A bitter-sweet story that share an excellent plot, a variety of well fleshed out characters and both easy to read, but very captivating. The Hoary Cleric

PS It is great to be a total Anon Then you can write silly things like " While this is a fictional story, the author doesn't appear to have much experience with academia at this level. Provost and presidents will not mess with tenured faculty."

That is like saying presidents don't mess with interns. :)

Well-written with good plot and character development. Your tale held my interest throughout. Thanks for an excellent read!

Thank you.

Agree with previous commenter. While this is a fictional story, the author doesn't appear to have much experience with academia at this level. Provost and presidents will not mess with tenured faculty. The grants are too juicy. It is all about economics. They cannot afford the whiff of a bad reputation that affects recruitment and grant approvals. Not remotely.

At big universities, public or private, faculty are hands off from such shenanigans (for thr most part). It comes down to economics. Faculty, especially research faculty, bring in grant money for which the school takes a cut. Harvard makes more money on its cut of n research grants in ayear than it from donations. Also it is very easy for a school to get black balled on the academic society. It is why Faculty that misbehave are often treated with kidngloves and a full investigation before the school takes steps in termination proceedings. That protection is extended to faculties spouses. Now the dynamic with faculty and graduate students or post doctors candidates is very different and akin to slave labor. But provost and presidents take advantage of professors and their wives. Umm no. Not realistic. Sylvia was certainly a headcase.

Sort of went crazy at the end, might have helped if we'd had greater insight into Sylvia's mind, but really the likelihood of a hot young thing getting that emotionally involved with an aging university president is a massive stretch.

Oh boy, you sure have a low opinion of academic administrators! You almost sound like a faculty member :-) speaking from experience, you're not altogether wrong.

3 stars and nothing much more, unless there is a second chapter

Oh, my...

All that build up, then a 2 minute wrap up. What happened to Sylvia? Perry's a cuck, and Annika is an idiot. Hopefully, Shale falls in a ravine and dies just fpr some excitement in Part 2, if there ever is one.

Brilliantly written very talented

Yeah the painful part of the story is the protracted reveal of the wife as a literal slut whore madame enabled and pretty much anything else that's disgusting relative to sex. The fact he had to discover them with a Dick in her before he could believe his precious Sylvia was a whore was just 😒😒

I admit I get so sick of husband's who go into a fugue state who start acting irrationally or simply act like total assholes after they discover a wife's cheated. Most guys I know if you fuck them over it's pay back time baby

Overall your story is very good but some parts are excellent. Well done.

Even when you give characters some form of justice, it feels empty, devoid of any satisfaction, you make it quick and painless on the wrongdoers and exact more pain and humiliation on those wronged upon.

Most of your stories, while brilliant at first, end up leaving an empty feeling in the reader, giving nothing but hopelessness and overwhelming sadness.

If that is your intention then i hope the same is thrust upon you.

Should have divorced her,the day he came home and saw their bed hadn't been slept in.Which raises the question,if she hasn't come home,how did she know he hadnt't?.Also why is he damaged goods as far as other universities are concerned,he did nothing wrong.?

For starters the husband was written like a true LW idiot. The wife, who almost screamed Im fucking someone else in the cliched cold fish manner, with the dumb husband just doing the doofus role.

Could have been so much better, though it did get a bit boring in the middle and I started to just slim.

In the typical fashion you kids cant write a wife that doesnt have the husband thinking "Gee she never has sex with me anymore, never spends time with me anymore, rarely talks to me anymore, blah, blah, blah". Because if you wrote her in a manner where it wasnt clear she was real shit of a wife, you'd have find another way to make the reader hate her, and most of you cant, so you stick to the same cliched cut and paste wife because that way you can use a wicked cunt to anger the knuckle draggers in a way your writing cant.

In the end this was nothing new. At all.

Slow burn, but fun.

Good story

I get a kick out of these stories of a prof's wife messing around with the provost or college president. From the outside, these people are far less impressive and less intimidating than they are from the inside. Plus, if she really wants to marry someone rich and powerful, she should chase after the football coach. He makes much more money.

Just another story, of the privileged using those less fortunate, for their own personal entertainment. The “ me too” movement, has opened up a lot of the harassment in the work place. But colleges, especially private ones, are still allowed to operate with impunity. And not held to any sort of standards, as far as what they deliver, for the cost. Education at a higher institute of learning, has become a way for young 20 somethings, to put off “ adulting”. And degrees, especially in Bachelor of Arts, really get you nowhere in the work world. A lot of these people figure that out, and go back to get a degree in teaching, or maybe nursing, etc. I think that we as a society, push too hard for young men and women to get a degree. It is not going to do much for your average person, except put him/ her $100,000 or more in debt. Getting back to the story, the wifey in this one killed her lover, and herself? I think that was a little far fetched. Narcissist women believe the whole world owes them. They believe they are perfect. If you can’t get along with them, it’s on you. I believe if she did kill herself, it would have been from drug/ alcohol abuse., long term. In the mean time, she would have sued the school, and went somewhere else, for her next conquest. 4 stars.

Well, she turned out to be a right bad bitch, didn’t she?

A five ⭐️ story but kinda convoluted.

Bill S.

Finally, a good headshot in one of these stories!

A sad ending... Guy spent all his money prospecting for CRT screen materials right when plasma and LCD made them obsolete. I guess it's back to being a teacher for him.

terrible. Failed to find any likeable characters. Just a sad story from any angle. Wish I hadn't read it.

Another intriguing story. I confess that I didn't see the ending coming. The exposure - yes. The suicide - no. But Shale? Really? Why would you want to give the nitpickers a nit to pick?

LA

Seriously? You named your MC geology professor “Shale”?

But great story! 4 ****. Not a 5, because you didn’t develop the Shale-Sylvia relationship enough.

A lovely picture of academia.

“Flint” would have been better.

The end was a bit gritty. The story itself seemed to be mired in clay and never achieved the strata it was aiming for. Sylvia's turmoil was the true bedrock of this story yet we never even got a description of her. Nothing about her copper colored hair or even a reference to hot molten sex from an earlier age in their relationship. I was left with the impression that her husband led a sedimetary lifestyle while Sylvia had a stellar body, though I can't say why I thought that. My core problem though was having to read over and over and over again about a Geology professor named Shale. What the frack was that?

Why would it be hard for him to get a job at another university,it was his wife who was the culprit.?

Overall it was a good story. Could have been great but for the ending. Both girls should have gone off with Shale, not just Mosa.

It was a good story, but the end was disappointing. With what Annika went through with Robert dumping her just before the wedding, I was disappointed and surprised she went back to Robert in the end. Being that Shale saved her life I thought that she and Shale would have ended up together. Oh well, still was a good read. 4 stars

I think this is one of Macomber’s best short stories. The plot is full of twists and there are real characters. He knows the Ivy League well!

Once again a great ending. Wifey took the easy way out...

This type of blackmail and qud pro quo happens more then you think. But as they say daylight is the best disinfectant.

In the post 9/11 world Sylvia would have gone through at least one metal detecting checkpoint that would have caught the gun she carried. Amusing story, but devoid of anything resembling modern reality and not erotic enough to make up for it's deficiencies.

There were a few details that annoyed me a bit, but on the whole it was good.

But please! Shale, the geologist? With that name the poor boy didn't have any choice in careers did he?

Thank you again.

Sounds like the game of CLUE. But this had some holes. The biggest one was when the police didn't trace the gun. Then the question of why he would settle for just 7 figures? Certainly not enough for a lifetime. And why would his graduate assistant (regardless of which one it ended up being) go off with a man that is blacklisted by every major University on what may be a wild goose chase? Not exactly the person to hitch your horse to. After all the detail in getting to the end of the story, I found it to be surprisingly lacking in both detail and plausibility. The disappointing ending ruined the entire story for me.

Im sorry i know life gets expensive etc. NO way no how are you fucking my wife to get outta debt. Buy a smaller house, a cheaper car. Sorry but this male is a cunt even moreso than his wife. Least the lead protaganist left his cheating bitch

nuff said

Not quite sure where the comment below about a revolver came from. No such reference in the story now. Maybe the story was cleaned up following that comment?

Another fine story. As someone who is in academia (retiring this year) I want to express appreciation of FM taking some time to outline the miserable situation of academic adjuncts. Everything he said is accurate. Universities have a facade of liberal benevolence, but underneath they are heartless exploiters of desperate labor just like businesses. At this time, seventy percent of courses at American colleges and universities are taught by graduate students and adjuncts, these abused sources of academic labor. Of course the fact that state legislatures have been decreasing support to state institutions for years doesn't help.

Annika is a nice girl but she's a flake who'll bitterly realize her error and probably start fucking other men to get vengeance on Robert, when she finds out that he's been fucking her friends and everything that walks, crawls or scoots on its ass.

Mosa is a woman who'll appreciate what she has and stay faithful.

I couldn't give four and a half so I gave it five stars.

I think a lot asked that question. I guess we all assume he was white, but his name is Shale. So, who knows? ;)

You can't hold FrancisMacomber accountable for a revolver with a safety when even David Morrell, the guy that wrote the novel that gave us the character Rambo, made that error.

Sylvia is leaving her husband for the university president. But university presidents of small universities don't make a lot of money. We aren't talking about an Ivy League university here. I would have thought that she would go after one of the major contributors.

A geology professor named Shale? Wouldn't Talc be more apposite?

would a been 5***** but I saw a person use a 45 pistol on themselves--------

Wow ... a Who's Who of LIT stars delving deeply. The main quibbles I have have been convincingly exposed by strongguys & giants. FM has already incorporated the lessons.

One quibble, of no great consequence except to question depth of research, is that the highly-rated and famous institutions (not exactly the same) grant tenure to very few of their 'recent-graduate assistant professors!' Those are picked very carefully for research potential. They get several years to do good research, while not being embarassing as teachers. They are expected to support their research budget by grants and maybe contracts. They then move on to very good universities who are glad to get self-funders with elite university experience (thus great contacts). Five to ten years later, if their potential has been realized and they are major contributors to their academic fields, the Majors will bring them in as Full Professors and, once megabucks in grants are generated for the Major, they get established Chairs. Tenure and promotion to Associate Professor for individual Assistant Professrs are topics usually beneath the radar of Provosts and Presidents.

And entertaining to boot. I loved the Professor Shale bit. Next time Mr. White, in the conservatory, with the candlestick. I think he ended up with the wrong woman and in the wrong place, but you had to put him somewhere. The only part you kinda skipped over was the gun. But that was minor. Overall a fun read. Thanks for the effort.

A Ph,D. has a hood trimmed in deep blue for Philosophy. The yellow for science is for the degrees below Ph.D. After all, Doctor of Philosophy is just that. And yes, mine is deep blue, and I am a scientist. However, great story!

Still love it. Still five stars. I would say that the wife character needed a bit more development. Was she ever really in love with her husband? Hard to say since we really don't know much about her. It is difficult to accept that she could change so drastically in such a short period of time.

@ Jack99 Oscilloscops remained working with cathod ray tubs......

The dude pimped his wife for a student loan debt and I have to laugh that she did not get the job but they both got fucked. The marriage will not last.

"It's just sex - what's the big deal?" – Once again, the HUSBAND is expected to accept that “it’s just sex”, but what if HE decided to have a little “just sex”? Think everyone would just look the other way? I think not!

"You two head on home; I'll take it from here." – He should take them along to have witnesses.

He should have shown Perry the video, show him how much Camille actually enjoyed the sex with Eric!

On a revolver ?

I didn't know they had one. Mine didn't, anyway.

Good story, well-told

Thank you

HP

Fun story, but I can't understand the want to find Europium for monitors... It's not like the cathode ray tube is in great demand, or ever will be again. CRT's have been almost completely replaced by LCD's.

If the changes to the text are so minor, why should it be so difficult to adjust the lectures and exams?

Now that he’s had a narrow escape, he should probably invest in a hidden camera to protect himself from false charges.

Why in these stories, when the cheaters (or potential cheaters) are at an event where the expect the husband to show up, do they engage in at least mildly inappropriate conduct, and actually make it worse by hastily breaking it off as the husband approaches! And how much could Sylvia tell him about Shale’s work when she probably hasn’t spoken to him about it in like forever?

"Tonight was just for you, remember? I haven't paid you enough attention lately, and I wanted to make up for it." – Can you say “mercy blow job”? She obviously has caught on to his suspicions and is trying to cool him down. And awfully coincidental that the BJ comes the night before she has to “work late”.

Interesting how she refuses to believe him that HIS absence was innocent, yet expects him to take her at her word. Also, now that she has gone, he should remove the lock from the bedroom door!

How much do you want to bet that Perry has either been promised, or at least hopes to get, tenure for himself as well as full-time for Camille?

For all of Eric’s put downs of the faculty, without the faculty there would BE no administration!

Kind of the Ultimate BTB, even if she did the final burn to herself!

She, and the university president, got off way too easy. Should of survived to live the life of shame they deserved.

Why was he adamant that he have proof of her infidelity before he filed for divorce? Whether or not she was cheating didn't really matter, because she was treating him like shit anyway. It was apparent that she no longer loved him, only loving prestige. He should have divorced her long before he ever suspected that she was cheating!

Just proves once again that there's a huge difference between being educated and being SMART! By the way, the man is a geologist and his name is "Shale"? Ha ha ha ha! Very "punny" of you!

Why feel bad? It sure as hell would not be on my conscience. She initiated the affair all on her own. Offered herself up on the alter of ego and greenbacks. Shale did not put the gun into her hand. Once again the crazy bitch did it all on her own. I rather enjoyed her blowing her own psychotic brains out. My opinion of course.

Too bad that Camille and Perry were exposed as tha pieces of shit that they had become. Well done. As you can see , you got us to respond.

Intelligent, yes-- suave and debonair, of course--but street smart---for get it.. TK U MLJ LV NV

FM is one writer who jumps around in his settings and plot. We do not have the same story from him. Personally I think that he is always a good read.

As quoted by Starmanfive, "However if in real life you have proof positive that she is planning to cheat, please confront her before she does. She may claim that she wouldn't have gone through with it but you save a lot of trouble and expense of a divorce. If you have been together for 20+ years and you love her. If she has provided you with a great family and she has been loving and generous most of that time, just stop it . Don't allow the infidelity to take place. Tell her of your proof and have that big fight. Preserve the respect that she has for you by being a bigger person. Just make up and don't rub it in her face. It may take a while but it will be evident in time."

^^^The song of the CUCKOLD! ^^^

You continue to draw me into your stories through your characters. I actually felt sympathy for Sylvia, even though she had started the affair. Shale had gotten her the job with the Provost, shown her the dvd of the President and his wife, and forgotten about the gun. Added to that he was filing for divorce, which pushed her over the edge if anything was left between them.

She committed murder, and then destroyed herself. Somehow that would bear on my conscience. An unusual sadness compared to your other stories, but still well written. I also thought that Annika would be the one at the end.

The DJ

Weak and crumbling, like the stone he's named for! The whore wife had a bigger set than him, right up to the end!

Another nice story, though I take some exception to your cliches about academia. It's a lot more normal and less ego-driven than most think. I've spent my long career in it, and there is a serious misconception here about the power balance between faculty and the administration. Assistant profs, particularly at the big schools, are treated with kid gloves- at least in the sciences, they are given light teaching loads, minimal committee work, and every opportunity to succeed. They aren't so poor any more either. Regardless, it was a fun story, and the building with the President and the Provost on opposite ends of the floor reminded me of my school. Got to watch those marble halls, though- they echo like hell!

I like your proactive approach, but you're limiting your options if you only confront your wife. My wife loves me and has always been faithful; but she is beautiful, with a friendly, outgoing personality. She attracts men like moths to a flame. I'm not the biggest guy around; but like driving in Atlanta, you learn to be aggressive. I don't give them an inch! If they try to flirt with my wife, they are attacking me. I'm loud and in their face and I'm never embarrassed; but they sure are. I've rarely had to resort to violence. The only drawback to my method has been financial; she's never been able to hold a job with the number co-workers and bosses I've had to slap down over the years. I don't care, she's all mine and we celebrate our 36th anniversary in December.

Great story and always great writing. Is truth stranger than fiction... ? Only The Shadow knows.

Thanks for sharing your great work on Lit.

x

OneShotOne you're right. I didn't think of that. It's a shame he wasn't on the hit list.

Thanks.

Perry was worse than a cuck. He was a pimp who whored his wife for a handful of coins.

What the fuck is up with some of you guys? This was an excellent tale. Shale was no cuck. His friend Perry was, and still is. Shale found out the truth and executed his next move. The cheating cunt killed her lover than herself because he lied to her about getting married. Actually that was the best part of the tale. Then he hooked up with a younger woman. No revenge needed. Consequences of cheating took care of that. Now time to more forward and let the cheaters decompose. Fuck them.

Five Stars

I have always been fascinated by stories of wives that cheat but love their husbands dearly. House of Cards, ohio: Eleanor Rigby, HDK: Running out of love, StangStar06: But Hon It Was Only Sex, Slirpuff: and too many others to name here. It seems to be a perfect storm of low self esteem (Am I still attractive), Boredom or a rut, a feeling that what they were doing wasn't so bad (everybody does it), and what he doesn't know won't hurt him. These circumstances are so believable it is frightening.

In this story the wife is a cheating shrew. A gold digger if you will. He found out but did not confront her right away! You can't guard pussy! You can stop her once or twice from cheating but 24/7 surveillance and thwarting her plans will tire you of your love for your wife. It has to be her that decides not to do it on her own and not your scaring her with evidence of her planned tryst. At least in a good story.

However if in real life you have proof positive that she is planning to cheat, please confront her before she does. She may claim that she wouldn't have gone through with it but you save a lot of trouble and expense of a divorce. If you have been together for 20+ years and you love her. If she has provided you with a great family and she has been loving and generous most of that time, just stop it . Don't allow the infidelity to take place. Tell her of your proof and have that big fight. Preserve the respect that she has for you by being a bigger person. Just make up and don't rub it in her face. It may take a while but it will be evident in time.

5stars

Hmmm - I miss your earlier style and stories. That's all.

What was lost ,is found. Unfortunately, it is not as good as it used to be !!

Glad to read you again. Keep posting and the stories will get better. Thanks

AMerryMan

Shale is a fucking wimp with a lot of luck

I hope you won't wait so long next time. As always, I enjoyed your writing. I don't think I've ever given you fewer than 5*s.

Thanks again.

There's nothing in the story that says the video Shale made was ever revealed to anyone besides Perry, who already knew about what his wife was doing and didn't want to see it, and Sylvia, who didn't live to tell anyone about it. It might have come to light if Shale had gone forward with his suit against the provost, but that went away as well. The women who stood up at graduation and revealed what had been going on were more than enough to blow the lid off everything.

FM, you did it again, another well-written story. And in this case the "Chekhov's Gun' actually did get fired!

Sorry H.H.M. this is the digital age and the immortal supremacy of metadata.

We, you and I, all of us, willingly surrendered our right to privacy to play with the shiny, shiny toys.

Those who disagree are voicing their personal wishful opinion against technological reality.

author was creating a group of completely unbelievable people in his story. There wasn't a single scene where I could believe ANY of the behavior or dialog. FrancisMacomber you have absolutely NO skill in writing. Nothing even came close to being believable which makes the entire things a complete waste of time. If your readers cannot buy into your story... then it is a complete failure.

Shale committed a felony. Maybe his wife will turn him in. Oh wait maybe not. Or maybe another character in the story will turn him in because he confessed to everyone. Wait I guess he didn't. Perhaps the guilt he is so obviously suffering will cause him to turn himself in.

People commit felonies every day, DA's have to pick and choose which to prosecute.

Prosecuting a man who caught others engaged in acts that were at the least unethical if not illegal would be a tough sell to a jury.

Then there is the fact that they were not in their or anyone else's home but rather publicly accessible offices and so the expectation of privacy is much less.

The position of DA is an elected office, and often a step toward higher office, appearing to protect sexual predators from discovery would be career suicide.

If they wanted privacy in a public building the restrooms are the best (only?) option.

How come the police did not trace the gun back to Annika's parents.

Tracing the source of a gun is easy unless it was stolen.

Otherwise the story was very enjoyable.

Keep up the great work.

Morant, you seem to be unaware that there is more than one court.

The court of public opinion would crucify the university. They have a women's study department. How will their actions go over with that faculty? Maybe you don't pay attention to politics, but in the book of dirty tricks, taping your political enemies (see Newt Gingrich. He was vilified in the press who didn't care if his taping was legal or not)

It would go out, go viral and every single man who donates to the university will have to answer a few questions from his wife about maybe Bryn Mawr could use the donation instead. All those women who donate and run the alumni associations...well!

Female interns would be scarce as would female applicants. Daddy isn't going to pay for his daughter to be perved on by an administrator. And women make up 60% of college students, so to say this wouldn't be huge is just silly.

The 'hero' (who did nothing but observe things really, A very passive 'hero'. No Beowulf him!) would get a slap on the wrist at worst or could use his 'pay off' to finance his fine/bail/legal defense.

Felony? Are you sure? I'm not a lawyer, or pretend to be one on TV, but offices of Universities are fairly public - is there an assumption of privacy there? Further, if there were privacy protection in University offices sufficient to prohibit prosecution of sexual harassment, then it would be changed quickly.

Okay, after a short bit of search and read... (danger! only a little bit of knowledge!) it appears that reasonable expectation of privacy is the controlling concept, generally. The University is the owner of the buildings and offices of the campus - while the University as an institution may have such expectation, employees of the institution almost certainly do not. Your computers (particularly if supplied by the university or connected to the network) are subject to search at a University, for example - don't do porn! Really don't do kiddie porn! If you are in the commission of a felony, then you can be kept from that commission... in this story, the protagonist might be on more solid ground if he then went into the office to stop the harassment. But! Don't count on a prosecution based on privacy rights. The University would be the entity pursuing such prosecution, and they wouldn't want to be on the side protecting a potential harassment issue.

Camila vs.... is the interesting case here. Is she complicit? Is it coerced? Her apparent compliance and possible engagement is not important with the facts in hand. Who initiated the quid pro quo? Orgasm does not remove the finding of rape.

There are lawyers here - perhaps they would like to weigh in.

Green-something

If that your only complaint... Then this is a good story. He only shared the existence of the tape with small handful of people and not in court of law. Yes it was a felony. But hell this is FICTION... NOT EVERYTHING WILL MESH WITH REALITY AND THE LAW,

GOOD STORY

THANKS FOR THE GOOD READ

Mostly well written, nicely fleshed out characters except for Slyvia & a good plot with some neat twists, however there was just the X factor missing that would have made this a 5. So it's only a 4 ****

Once again, there's this American thing with guns & how seemingly easy it seems to be for every idiot & his dog ( who's usually smarter ) to have access to a firearm. As any intelligent person knows guns don't usually kill people, it's the dumdass with their finger on the trigger. Still I suppose if you took the gun out of this story it would have necessitated a different ending, oh well.........

It was very suspenseful and well though out. It is on a proffesional level. Some are judging it on that level. If I were the author I would take that as a complement. This story was gripping. It held my attention from beginning to end. It is difficult to write a story that is both erotic and interesting on a higher level. This story could hold up well without the sex. Thanks for penning such a wonderful gripping tale. Five giant stars!

It bugs me - and no one else, apparently - that the protagonist gains an overwhelming advantage over his wife, her lover and her lover's wife by committing a felony or two. Surreptitious audio and/or video taping - that is, without the actors' permission - is a felony in every state in which there is an Ivy League school - and, I believe, in every state where there is not such a school. It shows a lack of interest on the part of the author to use such a device to make possible the outcome he desires. Beats working it out the hard way.

So it's a felony, you say. So what? Well - what if the plot hinged on the sun rising in the west (assuming the author was not holding the story out as science fiction)?

5 stars for this...?

The plot has a couple of interesting twists, and the protagonist lives in a world we all (should) know about; on the other hand the language is wooden (e.g, compare Lucy1970Harker's style and use of the English language) and there is very little erotic (i.e., erotic: of, relating to, or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement) about what the characters are doing. Does any reader wish he were in the protagonist's shoes?

The "and they all lived happily ever after" conclusion was a cop out. The cheating wife offs herself; the villains either die or are ruined, and the protagonist becomes independently wealthy, all in the last page.

Just a great story. Thanks for sharing.