Customer Reviews

Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries (Thorndike Press))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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

Loved this book and the whole "idea" of it. Even though I was just a kid, a pretty young one at that, when this story takes place I can still remember when EVERYONE had a "smoke", women were "dames" and Frank, Dean & the boys were about the coolest cats on the planet! Randisi nails the times and he brings these legends back to life. He also has created a great character in Eddie G! The following books in this series are every bit as entertaining as this one, maybe more so! The names that turn up in the stories are almost a history lesson! Pick one of these up....pally!

I really enjoyed this book. I'm normally hesitant about noir or celebrity mysteries, but somehow the combination - and the unabashed free-wheeling prose - sucked me in. It's real and honest and a treat to read.

I suspect a lot of The charm comes from the fact that the attitudes of the characters are realistic for the time period. If this had been set in the present day it just wouldn't be as fun.

I don't understand how this got by me when it was first published.... but I'm glad I found it here. Its a terrific tale of the Rat Pack at the apex of their fame in Vegas -- and the mystery ain't bad either.

Eddie G. is a pit boss at the Sands Casino back in the 60's, when the Rat Pack was filming the original Ocean's 11. He isn't connected, although he works for people who are. Eddie is dumfounded when Frank Sinatra wants to see him; he goes, as anybody would. Frank wants Eddie to find out who has been sending threatening letters to Dean Martin. Frank thinks Eddie has his pulse on the wrist of Las Vegas. That's truer than not.

In the course of trying to do Frank a favor, Eddie stumbles across two dead showgirls, a dead man, and his car gets blown up. Somewhere along the line Eddie decides that this is not all coincidence, no matter what he thought at first.

EVERYBODY KILLS SOMEBODY SOMETIME is a fairly light-hearted romp through the semi-innocent Las Vegas of almost fifty years ago. Yes, the Mob was there. It seems, at least in retrospect, far less interested in hard drugs and sex than in gambling and recreational drugs. Eddie G. is a likeable guy, doing a favor for an idol, who gets in a little over his head. He's a stubborn guy from Brooklyn, and he's made a commitment. He sees it through, and has some interesting times in the process.

Randisi does a commendable job of keeping the "real" people believable without having them overwhelm the story. This would have been a perfectly good novel had he used fictional characters instead, but the flavor would have been probably grimmer. The plot works, which is no surprise given Randisi's previous books. All in all, EVERYBODY KILLS SOMEBODY SOMETIME is an enjoyable trip into the past, with characters familiar to us and a detective we can admire.

Unlike the Rat Pack, this book does not deliver. It starts promisingly, but meanders along without focusing on the case at hand. That could have been an opportunity to paint a vivid picture of old Las Vegas, but no such luck.

The scenes with Pack members are best, but too few and seldom insightful.

Long conversations are depicted in glorious tedium. The characters' meal selections are listed, and character development gets left behind.

Worst, the "mystery" isn't. There is a too common practice among mystery writers: introduce the culprit early and cast no suspicion on him or her, then have them vanish while parading red herrings around in the hopes of getting the readers to forget them. Finally - haha! - look who it was.

'Sall I'm sayin'.

In fact, the whole resolution is a big gyp. Made me feel cheated.

I have to say, being a lover of the Rat Pack and a hater of the remakes, I was happy to see the real boys get some attention paid to them. I got this one with high hopes, but, eh, it was not so much. It is more like the remakes--using the Rat Pack but applying modern rules.

Overall, I think I can sum it up by saying the writer seems frustrated he was not/could not be in the Rat Pack, and overcompensates by focusing on the idea of their "dark" side, a la sexual exploits, by making the entire book pretty much about graphic sex (not between the Pack and broads, even)--as in, threesomes and other discriptions on practically every page. Of course, these things went on in the hey days, but the beauty is, they weren't discussed except in the steam room ;) .

BUT, if you can get past that, it really is a fun read. He has fun with the boys, even though they are more of a pleasant backdrop. He has Frank's connections and foreshadowing his politcal turn-around via Dean predicting it, he has Dean watching westerns--just some good little nuggets to smile at.

I througoughly enjoyed the Rat Pack bits, and, unlike some, I don't feel they were way too few--always leave 'em wanitng more, as they say, though a couple more scene would have been nice.

However, it would have been much better had it dealt more with innuendo rather than blatant description of sexual encounters with a slightly cynical eye towards the entire scene of the time, no less. I won't write a book of a review here, but the shortest way I can think of to say it is this: I think some of the Rat Pack's appeal was, back then, their shocking innuendo and exploits, and now, the same, but now mixed with the charm of the fact it was innuendo of their exploits, as in, they didn't say "bl*w j*b" on stage (they may *allude* to it in other words, though ;)--but that's takes brains and charm!), yet you read about that here. In other words, the stuff Randisi describes happened in those days, but it wasn't so publicly talked about. Maybe if you desperately want to feel like you were at the "after-parties" with the Pack, you'd enjoy that (which I feel is the writer's angle). Real fans, though, can get that feeling and know what was what and who was who without reading about imagined characters having threesomes.

I'd rather have a charming little book with hints of things abounding and instead get dirt about the late-nights from interviews with the Pack themselves and their close cohorts.

Therefore, if you think this is going to be like watching an old movie, think again. It's not; it doesn't have the charm because it's too focused on NOT the Rat Pack but rather on the author's desire to be in the naughty side of the Rat Pack (check out his picture on the jacket--Sinatra wannabe; I believe he's Eddie G.). In the fact it is not old fashioned, to people like me, it loses its charm--because, if you think about it, Rat Pack fans obviously like the old days, and if you were writing a book about the old days, you'd want to capture that spirit. This doesn't do it. Because of that, I'm hesitant to buy "Lucky Be A Lady, Don't Die".

So why three stars if it's too cynical, not that charming, and more of a "fanfic" sort of thing for the author to imagine himself alongside Sinatra and Dino? Well, because it's about the Rat Pack. The scenes with the Rat Pack are good ones, the little character ticks for the Clan are good, and the nods to things to come (see when a tipsy Dean predicts the fight between Kennedy/Peter and Sinatra) are good. In general, if you're a Rat Pack fan (since I'm writing this as a Rat Pack fan and a fan of the old days in general :) ), even if the writer's fantasties about what he wishes he could have been and disregard for the charm and spirit of the olden days code of public conduct bore you, you'll still get a smile reading a book that captures the boys well :) .