Accidental Deaths by Paul Vernon Bruce: When Love, Ambition, and Morality Collide

What happens when someone who has spent a lifetime carefully building the American Dream decides that the one thing he wants most is worth crossing a line he can never uncross?

In Accidental Deaths, author Paul Vernon Bruce explores ambition, relationships, morality, and the dangerous consequences of believing that happiness is something that can be engineered.

A Life Built on Success

Glen Cromwell’s story begins in the forests of northern Minnesota, but his ambitions eventually take him far beyond his hometown. College and law school open the door to a successful professional career, and a series of job changes moves him from city to city and state to state.

With each move, Glen strengthens his résumé, advances his career, and increases his personal fortune. From the outside, his life appears to be a classic example of the American Dream: education, professional success, financial security, and the freedom to create the life he wants.

But professional success does not translate into personal happiness.

Glen is far less fortunate when it comes to love. His marriages end tragically, each under different circumstances, leaving him increasingly convinced that perhaps a lasting relationship simply isn't part of the life he is meant to have.

Eventually, Glen resigns himself to being alone.

Then he meets Wendy Donnelly.

A Relationship With an Impossible Obstacle

Beautiful, charming, and intriguing, Wendy captures Glen's attention. Their relationship develops gradually through the comfortable social world of their country club, where tennis, golf, and dancing give them opportunities to spend time together.

What begins as companionship becomes something much more complicated.

There is one significant problem: Wendy is married.

Her wealthy husband, Barry, has protected himself with an ironclad prenuptial agreement. For Wendy, simply walking away from her marriage would mean sacrificing the financial security surrounding her life.

For Glen and Wendy, there appears to be no easy path toward a future together.

And Glen begins considering a disturbing alternative.

If divorce cannot give them the life they want, Barry's death could.

When Desire Begins to Change the Rules

At the heart of Accidental Deaths is a troubling question: How far can a person justify going in pursuit of the life he believes he deserves?

Glen has spent much of his life solving problems. His career has taught him to evaluate situations, weigh possibilities, and take calculated steps toward a desired outcome. But relationships—and human lives—cannot be managed like professional decisions.

As Glen becomes increasingly focused on a future with Wendy, the line between wishing circumstances were different and actively changing those circumstances begins to blur.

He knows what he wants.

The question becomes how—and when—to make Wendy a widow.

That premise places Accidental Deaths in the territory of psychological suspense, where much of the tension comes not simply from what might happen, but from the decisions that lead people toward actions they once may have considered unthinkable.

Success, Love, and Moral Compromise

Bruce uses Glen's story to examine the contrast between outward achievement and private dissatisfaction.

A person can accumulate credentials, money, professional recognition, and material comfort while still feeling that something essential is missing. For Glen, that missing piece is a lasting relationship. After experiencing repeated loss, his connection with Wendy begins to represent more than romance—it becomes his opportunity to finally achieve the part of life that has continually eluded him.

But wanting something deeply does not make every path toward obtaining it acceptable.

That tension gives the novel its darker edge. Glen must confront not only the obstacles standing between him and Wendy, but also what he is willing to become in order to remove them.

About the Author

Paul Vernon Bruce grew up on a Minnesota family farm, where he learned the value of hard work and developed an appreciation for spending time outdoors in every kind of weather.

After graduating from a small high school, he put himself through junior college before earning his bachelor's degree and beginning his career as a junior high school mathematics teacher.

An opportunity to attend graduate school led him to earn his master's degree and eventually enter the financial services industry, where he initially trained as an actuary. Over several decades, his work included projects with some of the largest and most recognizable insurance and financial services firms in the United States. His career ultimately culminated in owning and managing his own consulting company.

Bruce also frequently spoke at industry conferences and authored or contributed to articles appearing in professional magazines and journals.

Following retirement, he turned his attention to essays and fiction. Accidental Deaths, published by FuzionPress, is his third published novel, following Trapper Tom in 2024 and Desperate Men in 2025.

Accidental Deaths, Trapper Tom, and Desperate Men are available online wherever books are sold in hardcover, paperback, and eBook editions.