Based in Tokyo, he is the author of Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor.
[5][6] Intending to write about his family history, he requested files from the FBI on Frederick Rutland, who he suspected was an associate of his grandfather's.
The file on Rutland, a British pilot and war hero who had become a spy for the Japanese Navy, had just been declassified.
Drabkin, who said he may have been the first person outside of the bureau to see Rutland's FBI files, decided to write about him after reading his story.
[4][7] His book about Rutland, Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor, was published by Harper-Collins in February 2024.