News

Charity Bashed,
By Sharon Geltner
PoloPublishing, 210 pp., $15.95

By Steve Pike

The old adage that writers write what they know about has never held more true than with Sharon Geltner. The Boca Raton resident has spent the past several years raising money for Palm Beach charities, meaning that nobody is more qualified than Geltner to chronicle the lifestyles of the island’s rich and famous.
In her first published book, Charity Bashed, Geltner, a former Boca Raton News reporter, spins a terrific tale of murder, blackmail, selfishness and selflessness that it seems can only happen in Palm Beach “who do you know?’’ circles.
Geltner begins Charity Bashed with these words: “My tiara’s too tight.’’ That’s enough to get anyone interested from Palm Beach to Newport.
While Charity Bashed is a work of fiction, many of the characters and situations she describes undoubtedly are based on Geltner’s years of dealings with the good and bad parts of the philanthropic worlds of Washington, D.C., and Palm Beach.
And as good as the story is — it will keep you turning each of the 210 pages — it’s Geltner’s reporter’s eye and ear for details that give the story of murdered millionaire Vincent Paul Louis depth and reality.
“I’ve seen how important philanthropy is to this economy and this entire society,’’ said Geltner, who is president of Froogle PR, which specializes in digital media.  “But I really never knew about the social standing that goes along with it. It’s a whole industry. I think that people in Palm Beach County don’t even realize it to this day unless they are part of it.’’
 Geltner’s life in the nonprofit world began in Washington, D.C., where she spent her days as a freelance magazine writer and her evenings involved as a volunteer for organizations such as the Washington Independent Writers and the National Writers Union, as well as the charity initiatives of the National Press Club.
Back in South Florida, Geltner covered the philanthropic world as a general assignment reporter at the Boca News and later worked inside the nonprofit industry where “it was even sillier, and crazier and more fun than I had imagined. That’s when I started getting interested in it in a big way.’’
That big way included a book manuscript, a Washington-based thriller, Geltner called it, for which she couldn’t find a publisher. Not deterred, Geltner turned her sights (and words) on the manuscript that would become Charity Bashed, based on her experiences and observations in the nonprofit worlds of Washington. D.C., and Palm Beach.
“After that I got another agent, so it took a lot of editing and polishing,’’ Geltner said. “At that time, mystery writing was strongly recommended by agents. I wanted to write about what I know, but I also wanted to put a mystery in there. That was my motivation.’’
For those who get the sense of déjà vu when they see the Charity Bashed title, it’s probably because the story was first published for Kindle in 2010. It wasn’t published in paperback until this past September.
“There’s much more interest in the book now that it’s tangible,’’ Geltner said.
“I didn’t want to be the kind of author who has thousands of books in her garage, but the price (to publish) has gone down so much that you can order a few dozen or a few hundred at a time and you don’t break the bank. So I’m really having a lot of fun with it.’’
And readers will have fun with Charity Bashed.