Bøker av J L Abramo

San Francisco. Late September, 2004.The Giants are hanging on to the slim hope of a spot in the Major League baseball playoffs.The Forty-Niners are hoping for their first win of the season after three losses.Vinnie "Strings" Stradivarius is in the intensive care ward at St. Francis Memorial Hospital-and Jake Diamond is hoping Vinnie will both survive and avoid a homicide indictment if he pulls through.Vinnie has been double-crossed, shot and left for dead at a crime scene, and he is the chief suspect in the murder of one of the city's most influential businessmen.Anyone who knows Vinnie knew he wouldn't hurt a fly.But the District Attorney and the San Francisco Police Department brass don't know him-and they don't care. Pressure from the Mayor's Office and the public is calling for a quick indictment and conviction-and Vinnie is handy.Jake Diamond has a strong dislike of the double-cross. If asked why the chicken crossed the road, Jake would suggest the road had crossed the chicken.In a race against time-with the help of Darlene Roman, Detective Sergeant Roxton Johnson of the SFPD, Sonny "The Chin" Badalamenti, bookmaker William "Big Bill" Conway, and Mob Underboss Tony Carlucci-Jake frantically scrambles to find answers before the case is closed with Vinnie taking the fall.In Abramo's first Jake Diamond mystery since the Shamus Award-winning Circling the Runway, Jake is determined to prove that you cross the chicken at your own risk.Praise for the Jake Diamond mysteries:"One of my all-time favorite PI series." -Steve Hamilton, Edgar Award-winning author of The Lock Artist"Think it's impossible to find a new take on the wise-cracking San Francisco PI? Meet Jake Diamond and think again…sharp and smart, convincing and complex." -S.J. Rozan, Edgar Award-winning author of Absent Friends

Winner of the 2016 Shamus Award for Best Original Paperback PI Novel! Private Investigator Jacob Diamond and San Francisco Detective Sergeant Roxton Johnson are famous for not getting along. Cats and dogs. Oil and water. Liston and Ali. Jake and Rocky. When an assistant district attorney is murdered in his high-rise apartment building, and Johnson suspects his lieutenant may have something to do with it, he can think of no one else to turn to for help-no one he can trust-except Jake Diamond. If the mismatched duo can avoid stepping on each other's toes long enough-they may be able to stop circling the runway and land on the villain's doorstep. Lieutenant Laura Lopez, Detective Ray Boyle, Joey Clams, Vinnie Strings and Darlene Roman are all back in the first new Jake Diamond escapade since Counting to Infinity. "Jake Diamond is back and it feels like the return of an old friend. One of my all-time favorite PI series-Circling the Runway is the best yet."-Steve Hamilton, Edgar Award-winning author The Lock Artist "Think it is impossible to find a new take on the wise-cracking San Francisco PI? Meet Jake Diamond and think again. Jake and his crew-both the good guys and the bad guys-are sharp and smart, convincing and complex."-SJ Rozan, Edgar Award-winning author (as Sam Cabot) of Skin of the Wolf "J.L. Abramo's Circling the Runway offers the swagger and strut of Raymond Chandler, the skintight plotting of James M. Cain and smart-ass one-line humor smacking of Mickey Spillane."-Jack Getze, author of Big Money and Big Mojo "In Circling the Runway, J.L. Abramo is shooting at us again-and he's doing it from every shadow and hidden doorway, from every window and passing car. And damned if every bullet doesn't hit its mark perfectly."-Trey Barker, author of Death is Not Forever and Exit Blood "J.L. Abramo's Circling the Runway takes up where Black Mask boys like Hammett, Gardner, and Carroll John Daly left off. It's loaded with tough guys and hard-boiled action-emphasis on the hard."-David Housewright, Edgar Award-winning author of Unidentified Woman #15 "Jake Diamond returns after a ten-year hiatus, and his reappearance is well worth the wait. Abramo offers yet another smart, funny and action packed installment to his award-winning series with Circling the Runway."-The Denver Review

San Francisco private investigator Jake Diamond is known for his stained neckties and stash of sour-mash whiskey; but Jake is more likely to be toting a worn paperback Classic novel than a handgun. More over-easy than hard-boiled, Diamond can be beaten up and knocked around without taking it too personally; but when his friends and loved ones are threatened, it's a different story. When a Chicago thug known as Ralph Battle bursts into the office of Diamond Investigation waving a 44 magnum at Diamond and his trusty assistant, Jake has the distinct feeling that missing his lunch of fried calamari may not be the worst of his problems. Jake accompanies Battle to Chicago at the mandatory request of Max Lansdale, a mob-connected attorney, who asks Jake to search for a pair of ghosts and will not take no for an answer. Pushed to the edge, Jake is ready to put his rusty .38 to use to get Lansdale off his back. Running between San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles, Diamond tries to stay one step ahead of the man who will have Jake killed with no remorse as soon as Diamond proves useless. With the help of Joey Russo and a team of Jake's familiar cohorts, including Vinnie "Strings" Stradivarius, Darlene Roman and Sonny "The Chin" Badalamenti, Jake may be saved from becoming a murderer himself. May be. Trying to escape the wildest ride of his life; Jake is counting on luck, counting on a group of unlikely heroes, and counting to infinity. Praise for COUNTING TO INFINITY: "Fans of Mafiosi fiction should be the most satisfied." -Publishers Weekly

The follow-up to the award-winning Catching Water in a Net... Lefty Wright had it all figured. In fact he was doing the math as he crawled into the deserted house through the kitchen window. Get to the bedroom, crack open the wall safe, grab the envelope, fifteen minutes. One thousand dollars a minute. Nice score. What Lefty neglected to factor in were the unknowns. And when the police nab him red-handed and discover the dead body of a prominent Criminal Courts Judge stuffed beneath the bed, Lefty finds himself charged with first degree murder with no shoes, no one believing in his innocence, and one phone call. He calls Jake Diamond. In his second outing, Diamond attempts to prove Lefty's innocence while investigating a recent kidnapping and a fifteen year old homicide which may or may not be related to Lefty's dilemma. From San Francisco to the avocado fields of central California to the sound stages of a film shoot in Denver, Diamond's suspects seem to have one thing in common; they are in no condition to talk by the time Jake gets to them. Praise for CLUTCHING AT STRAWS: "A worthy successor to Catching Water in a Net, Abramo's second in the San Francisco based Jake Diamond series is a clever and well-crafted detective novel, gritty enough to satisfy hard-boiled readers but not so dark that it will put off more traditional mystery fans." -Publisher's Weekly "This workmanlike second entry in the Jake Diamond series finds the San Francisco PI searching for the real killer of an unpopular local judge after one of Diamond's clients, an accomplished burglar having a very bad night, is fingered for the murder. Although the story is light on action and suspense, it's comfort food for PI fans." -Booklist

The dog days of August in Brooklyn and the detectives of the 61st Precinct are battling to keep all hell from breaking loose. Innocents are being sacrificed in the name of greed, retribution, passion and the lust for power-and the only worthy opponent of this senseless evil is the uncompromising resolve to rise above it, rather than descend to its depths. The heart pounding sequel to the acclaimed novel Gravesend-from Shamus Award-winning author J.L. Abramo-Coney Island Avenue continues the dramatic account of the professional and personal struggles that constitute everyday life for the dedicated men and women of the Six-One-and of the saints and sinners who share their streets.

Lenny Archer had more than a fair share of tough times and hard knocks, but he had finally decided to stay in the game rather than cash in his chips. Then, two late-night intruders at the Private Investigation office of Archer and Pigeon violently take the choice of life over death out of Lenny's hands. Jimmy Pigeon is determined to discover who killed his friend and partner. He may have to learn what became of the actor who portrayed Charlie Chan in the thirties, and who assassinated a charismatic mobster in the late-forties, before he can identify Archer's killers. LAPD Lieutenant Ray Boyle is not anxious to get tied up in the Chinese fire drill that is the Archer murder case, but he is far less inclined to get anywhere near the question of where a former Heisman Trophy winning football player was on an infamous night in June 1994. Pigeon and Boyle become reluctant allies, sharing little in common besides a mutual hope that Major League Baseball can thwart a players' strike and the bad guys learn crime doesn't pay.

BROOKLYN JUSTICE is a wild ride through the streets of the Borough of Churches. Private investigator Nick Ventura knows trouble-but not how to keep his nose out of it. A pool of blood spreading across a casino poker table, a Buick plowing through a storefront with a dead detective aboard, a fatal rendezvous in the shadow of a Coney Island landmark, a childhood friend gunned down walking his dog in the wrong place at the wrong time, a film distributor who thinks he can get away with murder through intimidation and violence, a mob boss assassinated leaving a neighborhood restaurant, and the particular brand of retribution necessary to level the playing field in the fourth largest city in America-J.L. Abramo serves it all up with a vengeance. "In BROOKLYN JUSTICE, award winning author J.L. Abramo again demonstrates his firm grasp on the language and morality of his native streets, with as many surprises as there are casualties. An ideal follow-up to his acclaimed novel GRAVESEND." -The Denver Review "If grit, hard guys, and the rhythm of the mean streets is your thing, BROOKLYN JUSTICE has got them in spades and J.L. Abramo is your man." -Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times Bestselling author of WHERE IT HURTS "J.L. Abramo writes noir the way God and Hammett intended-tough, terse, and smart. BROOKLYN JUSTICE is a great read with razor-sharp prose and a compelling cast. Nick Ventura is my kind of PI." -Michael Koryta, New York Times Bestselling author of THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD "J. L. Abramo's 'Walking the Dog' weaves a seemingly loose collection of conversations, reflections, and memories into a suddenly tight narrative-no stray threads, no unnecessary details, nothing wasted." -Art Taylor, author of ON THE ROAD WITH DEL & LOUISE