I can recall reading one book from him years ago and really enjoying it and then trying to find some more of his work. I can't even remember if it was one of these two or something different, nor the year.
I don't think you could necessarily class Abel as prolific. He has written a further three books in a series that I can find information on.
Danny Chaisson
1. Cold Steel Rain (2000)
2. The Burying Field (2002)
3. Down in the Flood (2009
James Lee Burke said of Bait - " One of the finest crime novels I've ever read....A stunning achievement."
Bait (1994)
When narcotics cop Jack Walsh accidenttally kills the son of a Mafia boss JohnnyD'Angelo in a drunken road accident his life is effectively over. Byt when he comes out of jail to begin a solitary existence in a small, remote town he finds there is no eacape from the past. For D'Angelo honour dictates that Walsh is killed to avenge his son - and for the FBI, who up to now have been unable to nail the Mafia boss, Walsh in the perfect bait to pin a murder rap on him.
The Blue Wall (1996)
Investigating the murder of a young woman who was found clutching an NYPD detective badge, Dave Moser and his partner find clues that link the victim's unsavory father to a corrupt cop.
These do sound interesting, Col. I'm particularly drawn to The Blue Wall, and I'll be interested in what you have to say about that when you get to it.
ReplyDeleteCan't beat a tale with a bit of police corruption!
DeleteLike you, I read an Abel years ago, enjoyed it to pieces, and can't imagine why I haven't read any more. I wonder if he had bad luck with his publisher, or something, so I just never saw the books around? Anyway, many thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteGood to know I'm not the only one. It's a weird one, how he hasn't figured really too much of late, but I guess a lot of mid-list authors got crunched (and still do).
DeleteGood setups. I'll wait to see what you say when you read them...
ReplyDeleteIt might be a while....
DeleteThanks for spotlighting the books. Abel is new to me. His story, BAIT, sounds like an actual incident from years ago where a guy accidentally hit and killed a mob chief’s kid.
ReplyDeleteElgin, how long ago was that? Maybe it did inspire it.
DeleteI looked it up to check my memory. It has been quite a while since I read about the incident. In 1980 in New York, one of John Gotti’s son’s, who was 12, was hit by a car. The driver, a neighbor, later disappeared. Gotti’s daughter, Victoria, who became a columnist for the NY Post, wrote about it in a book. Here is an excerpt:
Deletehttps://nypost.com/2009/09/28/gotti-the-day-our-boy-was-stolen-away/
Cheers for that. I don't know anyone who hasn't heard of Gotti. I did wonder Abel heralded from NY, but I don't know though I suppose this incident might have made national news. Not sure of the setting for Bait, but the other one seems to be NY. His latter ones were down in New Orleans.
DeleteKenneth Abel is a pseudonym for Sergei Lobanov-Rostovsky. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/594578.Kenneth_Abel
These both sound good. Don't know that I will add them to my TBR piles right now, but if one turns up at the book sale, I will grab it.
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of both of them. Hopefully you cross paths with both at the book sale, you know you want to!
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