When Somebody Kills You

July 6, 2015
In Randisi’s middling 10th Rat Pack mystery (after 2013’s The Way You Die Tonight), Frank Sinatra asks Las Vegas casino host Eddie Gianelli to assist Judy Garland, who’s being blackmailed for $50,000 by someone who claims to have a compromising photo of her. But Eddie has his own pressing problem—someone has put out a $10,000 contract on him, inspiring a motley crew of hit men. Enter the immense Big Jerry, a genial mob enforcer assigned to be Eddie’s bodyguard. Perhaps their trip to L.A. to help Judy will throw the hit men off Eddie’s trail? Not a chance. Bullets fly, cars explode, and corpses accumulate. Real-life figures such as Dean Martin, gangster Sam Giancana, and Mark Herron, a lounge lizard in line to become Judy’s fourth husband, supply some modest pleasures. Less welcome are the many scenes illustrating Big Jerry’s bottomless appetite. But for those with a nostalgic bent, Randisi’s sympathetic portrait of the fragile, fading Judy Garland may suffice. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary.

December 23, 2013
Las Vegas casino veteran Eddie Gianelli continues to reminisce about his adventures with crooks and celebrities in Randisi's entertaining ninth Rat Pack mystery (after 2013's You Make Me Feel So Dead). In 1964, Eddie G., a pit boss and problem solver for Sands Casino operator Jack Entratter, is asked by none other than Frank Sinatra to see that Edward G. Robinson, in town to prep for his poker-player role in The Cincinnati Kid, gets everything he needs. Eddie is also contacted by eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes for advice on investing in Las Vegas casinos. Meanwhile, Entratter's secretary, Helen Simms, has been found hanging from a ceiling pipe in the office restroom. Eddie manages to meet these challenges head-on and still find time to carouse with Frank, Dino, and the gentlemanly Robinson, in this breezy period romp. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary.

July 1, 2015
Like all the episodes in Randisi's unfailingly entertaining series of Rat Pack mysteries, the action in this latest installment takes place in an extended flashback, as former pit boss at the Sands Casino, Eddie Gianelli, now retired, recalls his adventures as fixer to the stars (specifically, Frank, Dino, Sammy, and their showbiz pals). This time the star in distress is Judy Garland, who believes she is being stalked. Of course, in 1964, when the story unfolds, Garland was more than a little unstable, prompting concern that the stalker may be a figment of the often-pill-addled singer's mind. Either way, Eddie is happy to get out of Las Vegas to babysit Garland in Hollywood, as he's just learned that his own life is in danger, thanks to a hit placed on him by parties unknown. Unfortunately, those parties follow Eddie and his pal/bodyguard Jerry Epstein to California. There's minimal participation from the Rat Pack this time, but Randisi fills the gap nicely with tidbits from Garland's life, including her brief marriage to actor Mark Herron and the embezzlement scandal engineered by her then-agent David Begelman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)