A LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK
NICK
VENTURA
Nick Ventura is a Brooklyn born and raised private
investigator of Italian-American heritage who wanted to be an NYPD detective
when he grew up. Unfortunately, by the
time he realized the aspiration, poor decisions he had made in his past
disqualified him from that particular calling and he eventually chose to try
his hand at gumshoeing.
BROOKLYN
After the first three Jake Diamond mysteries, set
primarily in San Francisco and Los Angeles, I felt compelled to write a
Brooklyn story—to return to my roots.
The result was Gravesend,
titled for the Brooklyn neighborhood where I grew up. It was a more personal journey and the
setting was a very important character in the story. I am comfortable there—in much the same way Dennis
Lehane is at home writing Boston and George Pelecanos is at home writing
DC. Brooklyn is unique because it is
Brooklyn—it is not like any other place—and is it a perfect setting for crime
fiction because it has such a rich history of criminal activity.
As T.S. Eliot said—We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. That was my experience in revisiting Brooklyn
for Gravesend and Brooklyn Justice.
The book began as a short story that went too long
but didn’t want to be a full length novel—so I had a novella called Pocket Queens. When it was done, Nick Ventura wouldn’t let
me go. He drove me to write five short
stories involving him. They appear
sequentially—covering a period of ten months—and feature many recurring
supporting characters. Call it what you
will. A collection of shorter fiction. A novel in stories. Or simply Brooklyn
Justice.
In Brooklyn
Justice, through six autonomous yet interconnected stories, there is no
shortage of villains—including mob wise guys, professional hit men, corrupt businessmen,
gold diggers, drug dealers, corrupt cops, gamblers, extortionists, vigilantes, street
punks—but often circumstances, particularly the search for illusive justice, can lead good people to break
the law and blur the line between the heroes and the villains.
THE PARTS
POCKET
QUEENS (August)
When
Nick Ventura sat down at the poker game in Atlantic City he figured all he had
to lose was the two grand in his pocket and the Coney Island blues—but when he
is dragged into a murder investigation he has no appetite for and becomes a
target himself, what Ventura loses is his temper.
BUICK
IN A BEAUTY SHOP (November)
When
a car crash on the street below his office sends his desk lamp to the floor,
Nick Ventura runs down simply to assess the damage—but when he finds an
envelope addressed to him in the Buick with its dead passenger, Ventura
realizes the trouble is just beginning.
THE
LAST RESORT (March)
When
Nick Ventura reluctantly agreed to help a friend in a jam he was hoping he
would just need to get his feet wet—but when his friend is framed for murder,
Ventura soon finds himself in over his head.
WALKING
THE DOG (April)
When
Nick’s old friend John Sullivan wakes up in a hospital bed after twenty days in
a coma he is confronted with nagging questions. Will he ever walk again—and who shot him in
the back and why.
ROSES
FOR UNCLE SAL (May)
When John Sullivan reaches out to Nick for help it is extraordinary—it is usually Ventura who pesters John for assistance. To thwart the danger to Sullivan’s family, Nick finds himself once again on the road to Atlantic City.
When John Sullivan reaches out to Nick for help it is extraordinary—it is usually Ventura who pesters John for assistance. To thwart the danger to Sullivan’s family, Nick finds himself once again on the road to Atlantic City.
THE
FIST (June)
When
a Mob Boss is gunned down in front of a Brooklyn restaurant, Nick Ventura is
not particularly interested—but when the victim’s father wants to hire Ventura
to find the assassin, he makes Ventura an offer Nick can’t refuse.
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”
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
