Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries (Thorndike Press)) [Hardcover]

Robert J. Randisi (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rat Pack Mysteries (Thorndike Press) | Publication Date: October 31, 2006

Las Vegas, 1960.

 

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford are the Kings of Cool---the Rat Pack. Ocean's 11 is their first movie together and they have taken Sin City by storm---filming during the day and cavorting onstage at the Sands Casino at night. It's clear not everyone is charmed, however, when Dean begins receiving anonymous threatening letters.

Eddie Gianelli, also called Eddie G., is a pit boss at the Sands.  After twelve years, he's got the whole town wired. But he's still surprised when Joey Bishop drops by his table and invites him to meet with Frank in the Rat Pack's private steam room. Frank asks Eddie to find out who's been sending the threats, as a favor to him and Dean.

 

Eddie wants to politely decline, but caught between his boss, Jack Entratter's, not-so-subtle nudging and being utterly starstruck by Dino, he agrees to look into it. He gets help from his P.I. best friend and a Jewish torpedo from Brooklyn.  A few dead bodies and bruised ribs later, he remembers why he was reluctant. In a city of gamblers, Eddie has become the highest roller of all. The game is murder, and the stakes just may be his own life.

Robert J. Randisi, the man Booklist claims "may be the last of the true pulp writers," takes his readers on a vivid, neon-lit tour of back rooms, bars, and famed gambling dens of the desert mirage that was---and still is---Las Vegas.  Broads, blackjack, and bourbon flow. Celebrities, from John F. Kennedy to Angie Dickinson, strut in and out of this amazing first in a series that Rat Pack fans and crime fiction lovers will not want to miss.
 
 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Randisi (Arch Angels) provides a snazzy snapshot of a mythic 1960 Las Vegas in this enjoyable first of a new series. When Eddie Gianelli, former Brooklyn CPA turned Vegas pit boss, is asked to do a favor for Frank Sinatra, what's he gonna do, say no? Of course not. He wants to please his boss at the Sands casino, Jack Entratter, as well as the fabled blue-eyed Chairman of the Board, by catching the bozo who's sending Dean Martin threatening notes that have put the filming of Ocean's 11 in jeopardy. After two thugs break into Eddie's house and smack him around, though, things get complicated with further investigation turning up two dead dancers. Randisi's hilarious, pitch-perfect time capsule captures the swaggering era when the Rat Packers reigned in a city glittering with celebrities, gamblers, showgirls, gangsters and crimes that had to be solved without annoyingly clever CSI techs. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

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. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312338627
• ISBN-13: 978-0312338626
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #718,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can almost hear ole Dean singing, April 30, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries (Thorndike Press)) (Hardcover)

Hey pallies! It's time to take a trip down memory lane to the glory days of the 1960's Sin City and go on a caper with the coolest cats who ever dunked their toes in the Sands Hotel and Casino swimming pool.

Yep, mystery writer Robert J. Randisi has started a new series featuring Las Vegas' beloved Rat Pack with Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime. The boys (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop) are in town to film their first movie together, Ocean's 11. But before filming starts, the guys are having a blast taking the Sands by storm with their on and offstage hijinks.

As the title indicates, Dean Martin is the cat with the problem. Frank Sinatra asks Sands boss Jack Entratter for some helping trying to figure out who is sending death threats to Dino. Jack calls in pit boss Eddie Gianelli, better known everyone in Vegas as Eddie G. Although the guys know Eddie G., Eddie is just another clyde ("clyde was Rat Pack-ese for anyone who wasn't part of their group.") but he's wired into everything that happens in Vegas. Eddie gets a leave of absence to play gumshoe--and that's when the fists begin to fly. Before all is said and done Eddie takes a savage beating and the bodies start to pile up.

Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime is a homage to the Rat Pack, an illustration of how star-struck our society is, including a social commentary on the racial period of the time, with a mystery thrown in for good measure. It's a wonderful take-me-to-the-pool read that sure to bring smiles to those old enough to remember the Pack's antics and a history of those hard partying days and nights.

Robert J. Randisi is the author of the Nick Delvecchio and Miles Jacoby series. He is the founder and executive director of the Private Eye Writers of America, the creator of the Shamus Award, and the cofounder of Mystery Scene magazine.

Armchair Interviews says: In case you didn't get the play on words for the title, one of Dean Martin's biggest hits was "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime"--and you'll love this book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank, Mo Mo, and JFK., October 12, 2007

By 

J. H. Minde "Everything I need is right here" (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries (Thorndike Press)) (Hardcover)

The long and the short of it is that some Clyde is sending threatening notes to Dean Martin.

Dean is in town (the town being Las Vegas, 1960) with Frank, Sammy, Joey, and Peter to film the original OCEAN'S 11. Concerned for his friend's safety, Ol' Blue Eyes approaches Jack Entratter, the operator of the Sands, for help. Jack puts Frank onto Eddie Gianelli, a former Brooklyn street kid-turned CPA-now-turned pit boss, who knows everybody on The Strip.

As soon as Eddie G. starts asking questions, the bodies start piling up. After he's roughed up by a couple of torpedoes, Eddie starts taking it all very personally, and delves into his investigation with the passion (if not the professionalism) of Hercule Poirot.

Prolific thriller writer Robert J. Randisi has written a humorous and affectionate homage to the Era of the Rat Pack and to the vanished Sin City of the Fifties, where goombahs, celebrities, and everyday people lost fortunes, made fortunes and rubbed shoulders.

Bright and breezy though he is, Randisi is still writing Genre Noir and doesn't shy away from the drugs, hookers and shady deals that made (or make) up the seedy side of Las Vegas, but he doesn't obsess on them either. He is unsparing of the racism of the time: the outrage of some toward Sammy Davis Jr.'s impending marriage to Swedish actress May Britt, the mockery of Davis' Judaism, the disdain shown by white cops to a black detective, and the institutionalized segregation of Vegas are all mentioned in brief and summarily dismissed as ignorant by the diamond-in-the-rough Eddie, who blends with Casino owners, hitmen, showgirls, and The Boys quite comfortably, no matter what.

The Rat Pack and Friends (with cameo appearances by George Raft and then-Senator Jack Kennedy) move sparklingly across these pages. EVERYBODY KILLS SOMEBODY SOMETIME is a great poolside read. Brief, snappy chapters move the story right along. Just about as light and fluffy as a murder mystery can be, EVERYBODY KILLS SOMEBODY SOMETIME drips with ambience and that ring-a-ding-ding good feeling of the time.

The first in a new series, this little novel is a time capsule. Climb in and be transported.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars lighthearted homage to a bygone era, November 5, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries (Thorndike Press)) (Hardcover)

In 1960 Vegas at the Sands Hotel and Casino, Joey "Mascot" Bishop tells pit boss Eddie Gianelli that the Chairman of the Board Frank needs a favor from him. Eddie G, being from Brooklyn, fears Frank's reported connections back in Jersey so he declines. However, Eddie G's boss Jack Entratter suggests quite strongly he takes care of whatever Frank Sinatra wants.

Eddie G meets Frank in the special Rat Pack steam room at the Sands. Frank says that who ever he talked to on the street, in any casino, or during the filming of Ocean's 11, everyone agrees if you need something in Vegas see Eddie G. Franks is concerned that his pal Dino is receiving death threats. With waitress Beverly as his date, Eddie G goes back stage after a Rat Pack performance where he meets Dean Martin and learns about the death threat messages. Eddie G asks his friend from New York private investigator Danny Bardini to help him uncover who is threatening Dino. A beating, several adulations, and a homicide has Eddie G reeling as someone wants to harm him for interfering with the Dean Martin affair.

Targeting the baby boomers who will recognize the original Rat Pack, Robert J. Randisi pays homage to Frank, Dino, Sammy, and Joey; other card carrying members like Peter Lawford are treated as minor hanger-ons. The mystery takes a back seat to the celebrities as Mr. Randisi and Eddie G don't hide their fan reverence especially towards Frank and Dino. Fans will enjoy seeing a different perspective on Frank and Dino in this lighthearted homage to a bygone era (Sands was torn down in 1996).

Harriet Klausner