Stonedust

Ben Abbott Mysteries #2

by Justin Scott

Hardscape, in Susan Isaacs' words, had "enough suspense to make the reader hyperventilate". Now witty, literate Ben Abbott--who served time for a Wall Street indiscretion and is struggling to revive his family's real estate firm--returns in a mystery even more complex, richly plotted, and enthralling.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

Also writes as Justin Scott, Paul Garrison, J.S. Blazer, and Alexander Cole.

Reviews

[Nancy Thormann]

I had trouble getting through this one.

Reg - a recovering alcoholic - crashes a party and is found dead in the owners' kitchen of a heroine overdose. The owners of the house and the three couples with them - 8 people in all - try to cover up Reg's death. Janey - Reg's soon to be ex-wife - doesn't believe that Reg would be taking drugs or alcohol. She wants Reg to be clean so that she can collect the insurance money.

The general story concept is fine, but the book dragged on too much for me.

[Santafetrainer]

Must read

Again I stay up very late because i can't stop reading. Ben Abbot and his fellow citizens come to life. I never guess whodunit and I'm normally fairly good at that. There's nothing better than finding an author thar you know will hook you on page one and keep it up until the last word

[Peter Sidell]

Further development of Ben Abbott and other Newburyport characters

AN investigation of a friends death from a heroin overdose leads Abbott to suspect foul play and to take the time to piece together the events of his friends last few hours.
He learns some surprising details about his friend and gradually comes to understand the crime.

[Ingrid]

Skikkelig driv i en kan-ikke-legge-fra-meg-stemning. Selv om man etterhvert tenker «hm, nå kommer det vel ikke mer?», så går det tre sider og joda, det var fortsatt spennende

[Teresa]

Ben Abbot, a stockbroker turned estate agent, is asked to investigate the death of his friend Reg. This involves asking questions of people who have been friends since childhood, unearthing long held secrets and ruining the lives of others in order to bring justice to Reg.


Rereading my review stirred no memories of the actual book so I looked up a synopsis of this novel. This helped stir some memory but not enough to really bring it to mind so I guess I didn't enjoy it that much. Certainly not enough to read anything else by this author.

[LJ]

STONEDUST - Ex
Scott, Justin - 2nd in series

The second novel in the Ben Abbott series. The Fisks' party, a "sleepover" for select couples, remains the talk of the town long after Reg Hopkin's body turns up. For Reg may have paid the party a visit. Ben, who used to play backyard baseball with Reg and all the party guests, takes up the case.

Liked it eve better than the 1st book.

[Kaylol]

Interesting case solved by Ben

[Jason]

Liked it better than the first. Gonna read another Scudder book then back to the third book of this series. May have to try his other books.

[Sheldon Lehman]

Good mystery story.