Abduction - Tapa blanda

Smith Gale, former Navy Chaplain, now owner and teacher at a martial arts academy, had successfully assisted a friend in trouble in a rather heavily reported exploit. Having read of this, a neighbor decides to commission him to locate her "abducted" daughter, Victoria. His payment would be a valuable antique Ford with the same name as his quarry. He accepts the challenge and proceeds to interview everyone who knew her or of her. As an adult, she could have simply gone off on her own so the police are limited in their search. His pursuit takes him from her high school days, through college, her painting loft apartment, a Manhattan art gallery tied to a former boy friend, and finally to the Florida Keys where she appears to be held. With help from a Massachusetts State Trooper friend, Kim his assistant martial arts instructor, some motorcycle groupies, a strange assortment of Korean ninjas, and a gay weightlifter female chef who was formerly a Miami cop, he devises a plan to reunite Vic with her family. Along the way, he gets mugged three times but gives as good as he gets, finds a new girlfriend, meets an imperious cat and resolves to be driving his new/old convertible around the lake before summer.

The author, J. H. Petter, grew up in New Jersey. He holds degrees in Philosophy from, Dartmouth College; Religion and Psychology, University of Chicago; Social Change, Colgate/Rochester. He and his wife Ann have four married sons and nine grandchildren. As a Navy Chaplain, he saw duty on destroyers and through the reserves, submarines, helicopters and Marine units. He served as minister to several U.C.C. churches in three states. He now resides in Hudson, Massachusetts.