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Richard Abshire was a captain in charge of the Dallas Police Department's Tactical
Section from January 1975 to December 1977. He left the department in 1979 and is a reporter in The Dallas Morning News' Garland
bureau. Richard is most notable for the fictional character Jack Kyle, “an
ex-cop, turned Dallas gumshoe, your typical hard-boiled operative: middle-aged, divorced, broke and -- surprise, surprise
-- more than a little cynical. Still, while not breaking any new ground, the series did get compliments for its plotting and
characterization.” Moreover, he co-authored several books in the “gant”
series with former Dallas police officer William Clair. The “Gant”
books feature an ex-homicide detective who investigates cases with a super-natural twist.
Publisher’s Weekly said of The
Shaman Tree, “In the sequel to Gants, Texas police officers Abshire and Clair describe the later trials
of ex-homicide detective Charlie Gants, hero of the critically praised original. While recovering from the breakdown caused
by the terrors of the first case, Charlie accepts an assignment from Leighton Childress, lawyer to the late Amber McKendrick.
Drowned at the McKendrick ranch in Texas, Amber could be the most recent victim of an Indian curse on the McKendricks for
usurping Native American burial grounds. Meeting the large family--McKendrick, his wife, children and grandchilden--Charlie
senses greed and suspects humans rather than ghosts are killing each other off, reducing the number of the patriarch's
inheritors. But the detective's belief is shaken when the sudden deaths continue, every one preceded by a visit from an
aged Indian, visible only to Charlie. As this lusty, haunting, violent mystery arrives at a final shocker, one feels less
inclined to doubt the power of the supernatural.”
Publisher’s Weekly said of The
Dallas Deception: A Jack Kyle Mystery, “He drinks, smokes, lives out of his office and is always seriously
short of cash. Square in the tradition of down-and-out PIs, Abshire's Dallas detective Jack Kyle (introduced in Dallas
Drop ) is also a sensitive, modern guy, not yet 40, as up-to-date as the advanced technology employed by the deranged genius
at the heart of this hard-to-credit but deftly handled plot. As a favor to an old Dallas PD pal, Kyle investigates the keyhole
porn scam by which teenage Liz, filmed while having sex, is being blackmailed. Kyle finds the tapes and roughs up the filmmaker,
but shortly thereafter discovers Liz back at the lout's apartment, naked and stoned, the young man's bloody corpse
still warm in the bathroom. Getting the girl out of there just before the cops arrive, he takes her to her grandfather, called
The Doctor, and begins to unravel the tangled history of warped, mind-controlling experiments that have led to murder and
other evils. Savvy and reasonable even in fairly bizarre setting, Kyle is a pleasant, unpredictable companion for an evening's
read.”
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