The query letter
Dear ________:
I am seeking publication of
Sheila's Folly, a mainstream novel of 85,791 words.
Mike Brady's battling with the town of Oakdale and Pat Quinn to close the infamous strip club called The Castlegate Club and drive Quinn and his gang of hoodlums out of town or, better still, into prison cells.
It's not bad enough Mike hates Quinn for stealing his girlfriend in high school, the girl he planned to share his life with, but now several years later, Quinn buys a club in the town Mike lives in and converts it into an illegal strip club where his goons that work for him there as security men beat a young college student to death. Mike's son is one of the three students involved in the altercation, or assault would be a better description of what happened.
Mike's willing to become a selectman against his wife's wishes in this struggle he's waging, and she's threatening him with a divorce if he doesn't stop his crusade and move to Albany, where she's from and where her parents still live. But Mike can't back down, never could.
I would be happy to forward the manuscript, and thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[Name withheld]