Title: Guardianship prompted by Michael Poole

Genre: Legal Thriller / Psychological Suspense
Plot Summary:

In 2025, Daniel Avery, a once-successful civil engineer turned recluse, finds himself trapped in a web of conspiracy, mental health allegations, and asset theft after decades of uneasy family dynamics and mysterious legal interference.

When Daniel is placed under a sudden court-ordered guardianship—without prior notice—he’s stunned to learn that control of his estate, worth millions, has been handed over to a state-appointed firm with links to a shadowy elite. He suspects this is no coincidence: the key social worker on his case, WPC Helen Walker, is rumored to have once sat on the board of Barclays under a different name—just like a certain disgraced politician in the infamous Cantrade banking scandal of the 1980s.

As Daniel digs into his past, he uncovers eerie parallels between his case and the death of Dr. Norris, a whistleblowing physician at Good Hope Hospital in 1987, who died after alleging institutional discrimination and mental health abuses. Daniel remembers Dr. Norris once saying of a patient: “The engineer was only 5% ill. The rest was motive.”

Daniel’s sister, Fiona Avery, a bitter rival since childhood, seems to be pulling strings from the shadows. Jealous of his inheritance and his private education, Fiona appears determined to rewrite the family legacy—even if it means labeling her brother as delusional. Since 1977, Daniel recalls her mocking his boarding school education, belittling his ambitions, and muttering cryptic jabs about "laundry secrets" since he was 15.

Now stripped of his rights and wealth, Daniel’s only chance at redemption lies with Lena Grant, a cynical, burnt-out legal aid attorney who’s lost too many cases like his. Together, they race to expose a financial conspiracy where social services, elite financiers, and corrupt family members collude to declare people mentally unfit—and seize their estates.

But to win, Daniel must prove his sanity in a system designed to destroy it—and reclaim the credibility of a witness they’ve spent decades silencing.

Themes:

Power and mental health abuse

Inheritance and sibling rivalry

Banking corruption and political cover-ups

Truth vs. institutional credibility