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Ben Abbott Mysteries #1
HardScape
Ben Abbott, just returned to his small Connecticut hometown, is hired by a New York City private eye to videotape the activities in newcomer Rita Long's bedroom--where the ravishing Rita cheats on her husband. But murder wasn't part of the deal. And now Ben is embroiled in a mystery that will take a decidedly sinister turn.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 24, 1994
About the author
Justin Scott
109 books90 followersAlso writes as Justin Scott, Paul Garrison, J.S. Blazer, and Alexander Cole.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 11, 2019
BLAST FROM THE PAST
I’m not one of those guys who grabs the latest best seller the minute it comes off the presses. In fact, I like poking around in the past. Lots of good books I missed. Lots of good things to read.
This was one of them. HardScape is a mystery novel by Justin Scott, whose protagonist Ben Abbott is not a big city detective or a wise-cracking private eye, but a disgraced Wall-Streeter who spent time in prison for his white-collar crimes and has returned home to run the same real estate office that his father owned.
Abbott is a flawed character, a decent man trying to live down his criminal past, but still drawn to the excitement of living just outside the law – whether its speeding down country roads or sneaking around in the woods with a movie camera to record an unfaithful wife. And since the book came out in 1994, there are all kinds of references to the days of yore, which appeal to me, since I was around during the days of yore, before 9/11 changed the way we live and the way in which we consider the world. There are phone booths, camcorders, Wall Street raiders, takeover artists, and the end of one political era and the beginning of another.
Abbott doesn’t understand women. Neither do I. He’s cynical about the way the world works. So am I. So, what’s not to like?
When I picked up the book, I thought it was the first book I had ever read by author Justin Scott, but I was wrong. I had read an earlier best seller by him titled “ShipKiller,” which was published more than 40 years ago. I had forgotten all about ShipKiller, so I immediately added it to my list of books on GoodReads.
That was a good book too. (less)
I’m not one of those guys who grabs the latest best seller the minute it comes off the presses. In fact, I like poking around in the past. Lots of good books I missed. Lots of good things to read.
This was one of them. HardScape is a mystery novel by Justin Scott, whose protagonist Ben Abbott is not a big city detective or a wise-cracking private eye, but a disgraced Wall-Streeter who spent time in prison for his white-collar crimes and has returned home to run the same real estate office that his father owned.
Abbott is a flawed character, a decent man trying to live down his criminal past, but still drawn to the excitement of living just outside the law – whether its speeding down country roads or sneaking around in the woods with a movie camera to record an unfaithful wife. And since the book came out in 1994, there are all kinds of references to the days of yore, which appeal to me, since I was around during the days of yore, before 9/11 changed the way we live and the way in which we consider the world. There are phone booths, camcorders, Wall Street raiders, takeover artists, and the end of one political era and the beginning of another.
Abbott doesn’t understand women. Neither do I. He’s cynical about the way the world works. So am I. So, what’s not to like?
When I picked up the book, I thought it was the first book I had ever read by author Justin Scott, but I was wrong. I had read an earlier best seller by him titled “ShipKiller,” which was published more than 40 years ago. I had forgotten all about ShipKiller, so I immediately added it to my list of books on GoodReads.
That was a good book too. (less)
March 16, 2022
Fall guy... doubtful and at the same time guilty of the thought that he might have profited from insider trading in Wall Street... Benjamin Abbott III, ex~naval intelligence, went to jail and did not take anyone down with him. So after serving his time for the white collar crime, he left New York for his hometown in Newbury, Essex County in Massachusetts to take over his family's real estate business. Selling houses was not bringing home the bacon... so he was tempted into accepting the distasteful job of filming evidence for a divorce case involving an aging millionaire (Long) and his young wife. Through the lens of his camcorder he saw the happy face of the topless much younger wife cavorting with her nude lover and fell in love. Nauseated by his assignment, he removed the tape and threw it away... then he sent back his spying equipment to Alex Rose, Long's PI who hired Abbott on his client's behalf. Then the lover and ex~partner was found shot on the Longs' ground. The victim was found by Abbott and the adulterous wife while she was giving him the tour of the property. Abbott also found out that his childhood best friend whose family had some encounters with the law was shot on the head. He was found slumped on the pilot's seat with white powder scattered all over him. This one had its fun moments and I think the author had a good handle on the plot twists... I thought it was Brilliant given the hindsight on the denouement.
August 30, 2025
HardScape, the first book in the Ben Abbott Mystery series by Justin Scott, is a compelling and well-crafted crime novel that introduces a new, unconventional hero. The story is a tight, engrossing mystery with a strong sense of place and well-developed characters.
Plot and Characters
The book centers on Ben Abbott, a former Wall Street trader who has returned to his small Connecticut hometown of Newbury after serving time in prison for insider trading. While trying to get his family's struggling real estate business back on its feet, a New York private investigator offers Ben $5,000 to secretly film a wealthy man's wife, Rita Long, with her lover. Ben reluctantly takes the job, but his "claptrap Puritan" conscience kicks in and he destroys the tape before completing the task.
The situation quickly becomes more complicated when Rita's lover is found murdered on her property, and a second murder hits closer to home—Ben's cousin is killed in a seemingly unrelated crime. Drawn into the investigation by Rita, who hires him to find her lover's killer, Ben finds himself in a "double-barreled mystery" that puts him in mortal danger.
Ben Abbott is a flawed but likable protagonist. He's a man of sound mind and character who is trying to move past his criminal record. The book also features a cast of "neat characterizations" of the people in Newbury, from the town's elite to those on "the wrong side of the tracks".
Style and Setting
Scott's writing style is described as clean, succinct, and effective, with lean dialogue and a tightly knit plot. He masterfully blends elements from Ben's past—his experience in Naval Intelligence, Wall Street, and prison—to create a shrewd, resourceful character. The novel's greatest strengths are its sympathetic hero and its vivid depiction of small-town Connecticut life, with its old feuds, customs, and stratified society.
HardScape s a great start to the Ben Abbott series, and its engaging plot and strong sense of place make it a compelling read for fans of crime and mystery fiction.
Plot and Characters
The book centers on Ben Abbott, a former Wall Street trader who has returned to his small Connecticut hometown of Newbury after serving time in prison for insider trading. While trying to get his family's struggling real estate business back on its feet, a New York private investigator offers Ben $5,000 to secretly film a wealthy man's wife, Rita Long, with her lover. Ben reluctantly takes the job, but his "claptrap Puritan" conscience kicks in and he destroys the tape before completing the task.
The situation quickly becomes more complicated when Rita's lover is found murdered on her property, and a second murder hits closer to home—Ben's cousin is killed in a seemingly unrelated crime. Drawn into the investigation by Rita, who hires him to find her lover's killer, Ben finds himself in a "double-barreled mystery" that puts him in mortal danger.
Ben Abbott is a flawed but likable protagonist. He's a man of sound mind and character who is trying to move past his criminal record. The book also features a cast of "neat characterizations" of the people in Newbury, from the town's elite to those on "the wrong side of the tracks".
Style and Setting
Scott's writing style is described as clean, succinct, and effective, with lean dialogue and a tightly knit plot. He masterfully blends elements from Ben's past—his experience in Naval Intelligence, Wall Street, and prison—to create a shrewd, resourceful character. The novel's greatest strengths are its sympathetic hero and its vivid depiction of small-town Connecticut life, with its old feuds, customs, and stratified society.
HardScape s a great start to the Ben Abbott series, and its engaging plot and strong sense of place make it a compelling read for fans of crime and mystery fiction.
January 12, 2019
Perfect
Justin Scott can write. For me a really good book is one i can visualize while reading because the characters are alive in the page. I'm pretty good at figuring out whodunit but this has me guessing until the end.
A personal story. I met Justin at a small bookstore many years ago when he came for a signing with Jeffrey Deaver. He was funny and just a nice man. Years later I hadn't really seen him do as well as i thought his enormous gift deserved. Then I googled him and quit feeling sorry for him. I emailed him because i thought it was funny and received a lovely response. It's nice to find an author who has never disappoints not only as a writer but also as a human.
Justin Scott can write. For me a really good book is one i can visualize while reading because the characters are alive in the page. I'm pretty good at figuring out whodunit but this has me guessing until the end.
A personal story. I met Justin at a small bookstore many years ago when he came for a signing with Jeffrey Deaver. He was funny and just a nice man. Years later I hadn't really seen him do as well as i thought his enormous gift deserved. Then I googled him and quit feeling sorry for him. I emailed him because i thought it was funny and received a lovely response. It's nice to find an author who has never disappoints not only as a writer but also as a human.
August 10, 2013
Boy, am I late to the party? I've read, already, other J. Scott books - but had overlooked this.
I think what I like the most about "Hardscape" is the glimpse into Connecticut itself - the people, the history, the natural and man-made environments. It's not a puzzler, not in the sense of Agatha Christie. It's a slice of real time - I think well-thought out by Scott - which maybe is the best expression of the book.
I see/hear all the characters. Their personal stories, floated by the mystery, stick.
I think what I like the most about "Hardscape" is the glimpse into Connecticut itself - the people, the history, the natural and man-made environments. It's not a puzzler, not in the sense of Agatha Christie. It's a slice of real time - I think well-thought out by Scott - which maybe is the best expression of the book.
I see/hear all the characters. Their personal stories, floated by the mystery, stick.
March 9, 2022
In pursuit of more by Justin Scott I came from :Frostline (Ben Abbott #3) to Ben Abbott #1. It is a fast paced and convoluted mystery. Several of the characters that had shown up in #3 were introduced in this volume. It's Abbott's accidental introduction into the need to try and solve a crime - really two murders. In the end of course he figures out the solution.
His characters aren't quite ready to live happily ever after, preparing the way for sequels.
Ben Abbott is engaging enough to keep me reading.
His characters aren't quite ready to live happily ever after, preparing the way for sequels.
Ben Abbott is engaging enough to keep me reading.
March 12, 2012
A small-town real estate agent might not be the obvious choice of hero for a mystery thriller, but Justin Scott makes it work. He endows Ben Abbott with a backstory as a financial wheeler-dealer who runs afoul of securities laws and spends prison time as a convicted felon. Then he returns home to northwest Connecticut to make a new life taking over his father's real estate business.
Abbott's past complicates his life. He feels like a liability to his sometime girlfriend, the politically ambitious "first selectman" of the fictional Newbury. He is looked upon with disdain by law enforcement officials, private detectives and eventually social connections. So the idyll of living in an inherited house on Main Street, running an inherited business in a town surrounded by friends and family is hardly perfect. Scott further complicates Abbott's story by making his mother come from the wrong side of the tacks, giving Abbott a whole raft of scurrilous cousins.
All this comes into play when Abbott is solicited to play private detective and videotape (the book first appeared in 1993, so there are videotapes, carphones, and junk bonds galore) a rich weekender's unfaithful wife. Abbott of course falls for the wife, destroys the tape and rushes to her aid when she is accused of murdering her lover. It is patently obvious who the murderer is, though Scott belabors the point in an entertaining fashion for another couple hundred pages. A subplot involving some of Abbott's disreputable cousins intersects at some points with the murder plot.
The strength of the book is the sympathetic hero and the Connecticut setting. Small-town New England life, with its cookouts, its simmering feuds, its stratified society, its quaint buildings and customs is all yours for a while. Abbott knows his flaws, but has inherited a "claptrap Puritan" nature that gives him some gritty integrity. He manages to string along three women -- that selectman, the adulteress, and even the female state trooper investigating the murder -- so we are to assume that our first-person protagonist has a magnetic charm.
This is another Poisoned Pen book, so a pattern is emerging. Competent prose with strong sense of place, quirky characters and plot, and an overall package hovering around four stars. Nothing startlingly original, but reliable.
Abbott's past complicates his life. He feels like a liability to his sometime girlfriend, the politically ambitious "first selectman" of the fictional Newbury. He is looked upon with disdain by law enforcement officials, private detectives and eventually social connections. So the idyll of living in an inherited house on Main Street, running an inherited business in a town surrounded by friends and family is hardly perfect. Scott further complicates Abbott's story by making his mother come from the wrong side of the tacks, giving Abbott a whole raft of scurrilous cousins.
All this comes into play when Abbott is solicited to play private detective and videotape (the book first appeared in 1993, so there are videotapes, carphones, and junk bonds galore) a rich weekender's unfaithful wife. Abbott of course falls for the wife, destroys the tape and rushes to her aid when she is accused of murdering her lover. It is patently obvious who the murderer is, though Scott belabors the point in an entertaining fashion for another couple hundred pages. A subplot involving some of Abbott's disreputable cousins intersects at some points with the murder plot.
The strength of the book is the sympathetic hero and the Connecticut setting. Small-town New England life, with its cookouts, its simmering feuds, its stratified society, its quaint buildings and customs is all yours for a while. Abbott knows his flaws, but has inherited a "claptrap Puritan" nature that gives him some gritty integrity. He manages to string along three women -- that selectman, the adulteress, and even the female state trooper investigating the murder -- so we are to assume that our first-person protagonist has a magnetic charm.
This is another Poisoned Pen book, so a pattern is emerging. Competent prose with strong sense of place, quirky characters and plot, and an overall package hovering around four stars. Nothing startlingly original, but reliable.
July 11, 2008
HARDSCAPE - VG+
Scott, Justin - 1st in series
Benjamin Abbott was a Wall Street trader whose activities got him sent to prison. Going back to his small Connecticut hometown, Ben turns to his family's real estate business. Then a New York City private detective hires him to train a camcorder on a bedroom in the "castle" next door.
The beginning of a very good, enjoyable series
Scott, Justin - 1st in series
Benjamin Abbott was a Wall Street trader whose activities got him sent to prison. Going back to his small Connecticut hometown, Ben turns to his family's real estate business. Then a New York City private detective hires him to train a camcorder on a bedroom in the "castle" next door.
The beginning of a very good, enjoyable series
July 8, 2012
I read the 2nd one earlier and liked it, so now I'm at the beginning of the series...former Nav al Intellgence Cervice operative, former jailbird, former Wall-streeter and now home town realter investigates the murder of a young stud on a perspective's listing...a vast array of interesting NE characters as well as enough interesting plot twist to keep turning pages...decent read
January 7, 2008
The Liquor Locker, The Yankee Drover, the motorcyle guy running the video store by the old train depot - all of these are familiar images to people who grew up in Newtown, CT. I'm out of that town almost two decades now, but I love reconnecting with old friends through the Ben Abbott series.
November 2, 2009
Enjoyable. Reader's digest condensed. Read in Winter Park
July 27, 2014
This wasn't bad - a fairly good amount of action and a likeable main character.
August 17, 2013
Destul de lipsit de intriga!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews