The Burying Field

The Burying Field is one of the best books I have read in a long time . It is a story about a old slave cemetery in the New Orleans that gets destroyed and the man trying to protect it gets hurt and ends up dying . A story of a business man who has bought the property not knowing it is actually a historical cemetery and he tries to keep his name clean but then a body is found of a missing girl in the cemetery and it is not one from the slave days. The way Mr Abel writes it you can almost picture this happening today as so many old cemeteries are being discovered with people doing genalogy . Truly a great read , I will be reading more by this author .

It seems like a simple case. A Louisianna developer hires lawyer Danny Chaisson to make sure he doesn't get into trouble about some land he ownes--land where an African American man was assaulted by a group of white teens. Chaisson needs the money and agrees to take the case but what he finds is anything but simple. Instead, he finds a slave burial-ground, a 20 year-old murder, the Klan, and a sheriff who can't seem to find enough evidence when white suspects are concerned but moves quickly where blacks are suspected. With the help of his ATF agent-wife Mickie, and his African American friend Jabril, Chaisson soon learns far more than the sheriff ever admitted to knowing. But knowing isn't the same as putting criminals in jail. And Chaisson needs to worry about staying alive long enough to do anything about the crimes he discovers. Author Kenneth Abel writes a compelling novel filled with danger and insights into human nature. Chaisson's attempts to find the truth despite an entire society that seems designed only to keep secrets kept me on the edge of my seat. For me, the use of a fairly stereotyped small-town southern setting with racist antagonists and a corrupt sheriff weakened what was otherwise a fine novel. Too, Abel's decision to include a scene with only villains gave away too much of the mystery, eliminating the delightful surprise the reader feels when we finally discover who is ultimately behind the evil doings. THE BURYING FIELD is an exciting and page-turning book that falls just short of being truly powerful.

Kenneth Abel's new book, _The Burying Field_ is quite easily one of the best books I've read this year. I'd never read this author before, but am I glad I discovered his work--I've already ordered copies of a couple of his other books.Danny Chaisson, former bagman for a corrupt Louisiana politician, is trying to make his fledgling law practice a success. He's contacted by his former wife, now a corporate attorney with a high-powered real estate developer, to come in and look after her client's interests when an elderly black man is injured after trying to get a trio of white boys to leave the slave burying field near the man's house alone. It seems the burying field is at the center of a proposed new commercial development and no one knew it was there because it wasn't on any of the local maps. There's some suspicion the boys were somehow influenced to go out to the field and knock over headstones and the whole mess could easily erupt into a federal issue. Then, when a body is discovered in the burying field that is not of the same vintage as the other remains, it appears that the body of a young black girl who disappeared twenty years earlier has finally been discovered.This is a great book, with believable characters and careful attention to settings. Danny is a sympathetic character, trying to make up for what he did, and his new wife, Mickie Vega, a Hispanic ATF agent who is a bit perturbed by the changes her pregnancy has forced upon her, is also quite memorable. Danny has a black friend named Jabril who is a former drug dealer and who comes along to help Danny get a feel for the lay of the land as he comes to realize that this very complex mess may tie in somehow to his client. And there are some pretty scary, racist villains.Excellent characterizations, excellent dialogue--this book receives my strongest recommendation.