Over the years, I have probably been sent at least 100 books, almost all novels, written by local authors seeking an article in the Local about their latest work. I actually have tried to read each book out of respect and admiration for all of the research and work put in by these authors.

My modus operandi is to read about 50 pages. If I have lost interest by then, I abandon the effort, which has been at least 50 percent of the time. On the other hand, every once in a while, my mind is blown by a local author’s page turner that is just as compelling as anything I read in my graduate school classes in English literature at Temple University many years ago.

Of all those I have read, my favorites have been “The Stranglehold” by Curtis Pontz, of West Mt. Airy, about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict; “Wyoming,” a courtroom drama by Richard Tuttle, of Chestnut Hill, who wrote a book I would compare to those by John Grisham; and “The Incident at Parkside,” by Ted Fink, of Chestnut Hill, about a 77-year-old merchant who is expected to retire to a gated community in Florida, but who, instead, moves back to the urban neighborhood of his youth that is now marred by crime and drugs.

Fink, who has written seven other books (I have also enjoyed his “Pebbles in the Fire” and “In Search of Joel Gomez.”), has just published “After the Heist,” which he calls “a novel of ambition, loyalty, betrayal and the devastating cost of one reckless choice by Earl Bowers, a hardworking restaurateur scraping by in North Philadelphia … while his friend and business partner, Jesse Jenkins, seems to have the steady life. When a chance conversation reveals a stunning weakness in a downtown bank’s security, temptation takes hold, and what begins as a desperate dream of easy money spirals into a plan neither man can fully control.”

According to Fink, “I’ve been thinking about this idea for years but didn’t know how to present it. Then last winter, I just let it emerge.”

Fink started writing poetry when he was five, stories when he was 12 and music when he was 18. He spent much of his youth in West Oak Lane where his family moved when he was 12. Fink attended Wagner Junior High School, Germantown High School, Temple University and Miami University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and a master’s degree in educational administration. In 1981, Fink literally built the Chestnut Hill house he and his wife of 56 years, Ruth, have lived in ever since.

A polymath, Fink has been a restaurateur, an entrepreneur and an educator. From 1977 to 1981, he was co-owner of Superior Fish Company, the largest exporter of Anquilla rostrata (the American eel), which shipped millions of pounds to Europe and Japan. This adventurous business was the genesis for Ted’s first published novel, “In Search of Joel Gomez.”

Fink is also a professional storyteller, songwriter and musician who has performed twice as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and Philadelphia Folk Festival, as well as at local venues including The Stagecrafters Theater (a one-man show), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Allens Lane Art Center, Germantown Jewish Centre, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Fink’s most compelling story, however, is not fiction. It really happened to him. In 1983, Fink stuffed three novel manuscripts, 30 short stories, 20 songs and dozens of poems into an overnight bag and checked it onto a plane that he and his family were taking to Puerto Rico. The suitcase weighed 55 pounds and contained everything Fink had written between 1958 and 1973, all handwritten or typed, including 200 pages of stories about him and his brother.

“Back then,” he told us last week, “I used a typewriter, but I was a lousy typist. I could never seem to get a clean copy, and I had no backup copies. My plan was to spend my entire three-week vacation sorting out all the work and to start sending out the ones I thought had merit to publishing houses, editors, agents, and literary magazines.”

After Fink’s plane landed, the author waited for his luggage to come flying down the carousel. As the minutes passed and he continued to wait, panic set in. The bag containing 20 years of work never arrived, and Fink’s complaints to authorities were fruitless.

“I never did get any of it back,” Fink explained. “Gone were 20 years of blood, sweat, and tears and 55 pounds of paper: the novels, stories, songs, poems and screenplays. The only thing I got out of it was a great story called ‘Where’s the Bag?’ which I told for years at theaters, clubs and bars.”

For more information, visit tedfink.com. (An audio version of Fink’s suitcase story is available on his website.) Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.