Where's ... Eli?: Another Brooklyn Tale of the Al and Mick Forte crime fiction series

by Alex S. Avitabile

Overview

ALL OF HIS MONEY’S GONE.

Will his law license and liberty follow?

All of Al Forte’s accounts at Charter Bank, including his attorney escrow accounts, are mysteriously emptied via online banking.

All signs point to Al being behind the disappearance of the nearly $2M, and Al is facing criminal prosecution and disbarment, unless he can prove otherwise.

Both Al and his cousin Mick suspect that something happened to Al’s computer while it was lent to Mick’s other attorney cousin, Eli B. Ativa.

However, Eli has disappeared and cannot be found.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732306332
Publisher:	Alex S. Avitabile
Publication date:	12/05/2019
Series:	An Al and Mick Forte Story , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Alex S. Avitabile wrote the Brooklyn tales of his Al and Mick Forte crime fiction series after retiring from practicing law for some 34 years, where much of his work was for clients involved in the development of affordable housing, in New York City and across the U.S. Alex grew up and lived most of his life in what used to be referred to as South Brooklyn, in the sections thereof now known as Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill. For more information about Alex, go to his website: http://AlandMick Forte.com or https://AlandMickForte.net

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

“My cousin Eli’s into some real pazzo crap.” • 1

CHAPTER 2

“Be a pal and do me a real solid.” • 8

CHAPTER 3

“Looks like every single one of your accounts has been cleaned out.” • 14

CHAPTER 4

“There’s no money there!” • 20

CHAPTER 5

“It will take us awhile to get to the bottom of this.” • 24

CHAPTER 6

“We’re going to need Julius’s assistance.” • 29

CHAPTER 7

“Light every … candle in sight.” • 35

CHAPTER 8

Feeling terrible. • 47

CHAPTER 9

“They call it the head-banger.” • 58

CHAPTER 10

“I’m afraid to think of the ‘something else’ possibility.” • 71

CHAPTER 11

[It] hits the fan on all conceivable fronts. • 77

CHAPTER 12

Finally, a lead. • 87

CHAPTER 13

“Stop with the excuses already.” • 94

CHAPTER 14

“Where’s … Eli?” • 107

CHAPTER 15

“Taught Chubby Checker how to do the Twist.” • 114

CHAPTER 16

“Change of the meeting’s agenda.” • 121

CHAPTER 17

“Ain’t want no publicity.” • 127

CHAPTER 18

“Parking Spot Zorro.” • 134

CHAPTER 19

“An uphill battle.” • 141

CHAPTER 20

“I’m totally overwhelmed.” • 154

CHAPTER 21

“A risk he refuses to accept.” • 164

CHAPTER 22

“We are here for The Matter of Al Forte.” • 168

CHAPTER 23

“It was a thing of beauty.” • 191

CHAPTER 24

The feeling is mutual. • 202

Acknowledgements • 210

 About the Author • 213

Editorial Reviews

“Fans of the George V. Higgins school of crime writing should jump at Alex S. Avitabile’s new Al and Mick Forte book, Where’s . . . Eli? Avitabile knows Brooklyn, and he has a gift for distinctive voices. I couldn’t get enough of this book.”

—WILLIAM BOYLE, ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF HIS OWN TALES OF BROOKLYN: GRAVESEND, THE LONELY WITNESS, A FRIEND IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF, AND THE FORTHCOMING CITY OF MARGINS

From the Publisher

2020-03-09
A Brooklyn attorney is determined to recover his losses after someone clears out all of his bank accounts in Avitabile’s crime novel.

Al Forte rightly suspects something is amiss when a $40 check he’s written bounces. But he’s unprepared for the news that his bank accounts, both personal and his law office’s, are completely empty. His federally chartered bank isn’t very sympathetic, as there have been instances of lawyers hiding their own funds and claiming identity theft to recoup allegedly stolen capital from the banks. But his bank’s suspicion primarily stems from Al’s association with his paternal cousin, Mick, a (mostly) legit businessman from a mob-affiliated family. However, Mick’s maternal cousin, Eli Ativa, who’s also an attorney, is likely the unwitting culprit. He recently borrowed Al’s laptop, which someone seems to have hacked. As Eli is frustratingly absent and hard to track down, Al searches for clues at the cafe where Eli often works. He eventually learns that a dubious individual with a particular device was indeed in the vicinity of Al’s laptop. Unfortunately, the bank has notified the New York Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection, which looks into misconduct by attorneys. Now Al and Mick must prove to its grievance committee that someone stole Al’s information when some people still believe he’s a swindler. The second book in the series that began with Occupational Hazard (2018), this installment is a quietly engaging mystery that consists largely of scenes driven by dialogue, as characters discuss who’s behind the theft and how. But there’s abundant tension, as Al faces threats such as imprisonment or disbarment, or both, while Eli’s apparent disappearance is unsettling. The author refers often to the first Al and Mick novel, and one of its characters is a potential suspect in this story’s crime. Readers new to the series will easily follow along, though there are spoilers aplenty. Although Al and Mick are a fascinating pair of polar opposites, Mick’s incessant castigation of his cousin for not heeding warnings of Eli’s untrustworthiness quickly wears thin. Fortunately, Mick’s lawyer, Richie Abbatello, who both helps and encourages Al, is a nice counterbalance.

A simple but engrossing mystery with a New York accent.

Kirkus Reviews