February 2008 Reads

15. Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime - Robert J Randisi - 274 pages - This is one series I wish there were alot more to read. This book was set in old Las Vegas - Frank and the Rat Pack play a prominant role in the book.


Eddie Gianelli, formerly of Brooklyn and known on the floor of the Sands casino in Vegas as Eddie G, knows everyone there is to know on the Strip. That's why, in early January 1960, during the filming of Ocean's Eleven, Joey Bishop approaches him with a request to help Frank Sinatra. Eddie can't imagine why a superstar with the resources of Sinatra would need help from a lowly pit boss, but with some pressure from the Sands' management, he agrees. Dean Martin is receiving threats--not death threats exactly but ominous nonetheless. Oddly, the crudely written notes are missing the unless-you-do-this-we'll-do-that element contained in most threats. Eddie is a reluctant investigator until two thugs warn him off the case with a minor beating and the promise of more to come. Eddie is mad now and gets madder as the bodies pile up, though he remains unconvinced that the murders and the threats to Dino are unconnected. The prolific and talented Randisi vividly re-creates the rough-and-tumble Vegas of four decades past and weaves appealing portraits of Frank, Sammy, Dean, Joey, and, yes, even Peter Lawford into the tale. The Rat Pack defined cool for a generation, and Randisi does them all justice in this wonderfully entertaining mystery.