Created by Paul Bishop
Pseudonyms include Jack Tunney
Add Paul Bishop’s IAN CHAPEL to the long line of non-private eyes that are, nonetheless, a far cry from rank amateurs. Ian’s a former world class soccer goalie from Britain who lost an eye during an international match thanks to an opponent’s cleats. Unable to play any longer, he chucks it and moves to Los Angeles, where he becomes an investigative reporter and editor for the LA-based Sporting Press magazine. And then the Los Angeles Ravens, a new team in International Indoor Soccer League, asks him to play for them, replacing their former goalie, a former teammate of Ian’s, who has recently been murdered in Chapel of the Ravens (1991).
But the Ravens are just as interested in Ian’s investigative skills as his goaltending abilities. Which might be a good thing — there’s plenty for Ian to keep an eye on (sorry), including the team owner’s scheming daughters, some thugs, a possible IRA connection, the new team’s financial difficulties and the fact one of Ian’s new teammates is the German player responsible for the loss of Ian’s eye. Oh, and winning the championship.
There was a lot of talking when Chapel of the Ravens first came out in 1991 that Bishop could be the Dick Francis of soccer. Or football, if you prefer. Certainly, he captures all the grit, blood, heat and sweat of soccer, both on and off the field, in much the same way Francis dug into horse racing. One critic even went so far as to predict that “a few more books like his and soccer might find the huge American audiences it deserves.”
But the proposed sequel, Criminal Tendencies, was never published, although Chapel of the Ravens was revised and reprinted almost three decades after its debut as Penalty Shot (2019).
He goes undercover to investigate the murder of a soccer goalie in 1991’s Chapel of the Ravens.
Fortunately, the author didn’t sit around waiting for the series to catch on. A thirty-five year vet of the LAPD, he served as the head of the Sex Crimes and Major Assault Crimes units of the West Los Angeles Detective Division and was twice honored as Detective Of The Year. He continues to work privately as a deception expert and as a specialist in the investigation of sex crimes, while pursuing a separate career as a novelist and screenwriter.
He’s best known for his popular series about Fey Croaker, a female homicide cop in LA. He also writes about Calico Jack Walker and Tina Tamiko, former cop partners who somehow usually manage to find something to keep themselves busy, and is the co-creator and editor of the Fight Card series of hard-boiled boxing novels, which so far includes over forty titles by various authors. Bishop’s own entries in the series feature the two-fisted cop turned fighter, Patrick ‘Felony’ Flynn. But of all his novels, Chapel of the Ravens is reputedly still his personal favorite. Perhps that’s because Bishop, like Ian, was born in England, and was a former second division soccer player back in England himself, before migrating to Los Angeles.
UNDER OATH
- “Paul Bishop is the real deal – real cop, real writer. You never go wrong with a Bishop novel.”
— Max Allan Collins
NOVELS
- Chapel of the Ravens (1991) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
Revised and re-released in 2019 as “Penalty Shot”
RELATED LINKS
- Bish’s Beat
Bishop’s got pulp! If you dig hard-boiled crime, old paperbacks, B flicks and all their shady relatives, this is the site for you. - Book Radio Presents: Paul Bishop
An author’s page, with bibliography, bio, interviews, etc. Bishop is also an interviewer and contributor for Book Radio, covering the crime and mystery beat.
