Luck Be a Lady, Don't Die: A Rat Pack Mystery [Hardcover]

Robert J. Randisi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2007

Vegas, 1960. Gamblin’, drinkin’, and everybody’s misbehavin’.

Six months ago, while they were filming Ocean’s 11, the Rat Pack needed Eddie Gianelli’s help to track down the mug who was sending threatening letters to Dino. Now they’re back for the premiere and it’s Frank who needs Eddie’s help. Seems a babe he was planning to meet in Sin City took a powder---leaving behind her luggage and a stiff in the bathtub. She’s on the lam, and it’s up to Eddie to find her and figure out if she’s a victim or a killer.

Once again Eddie teams up with his P.I. buddy, Danny Bardini, and the Jewish New York torpedo, Jerry Epstein, who never met a pancake he didn’t like. Together they scour the neon streets, smoke-filled lounges, casinos, and seamy back alleys, dodging bodies and thugs with guns. But when Sam Giancana arrives on the scene, Eddie starts to wonder if he’s going to be able to keep himself out of jail---and alive.

Celebrity cameos spice up the action, and Mo Mo Giancana brings a dark presence to the story. Once again, Randisi, the man Booklist says “may be the last of the pulp writers,” gives readers a tour de force of bright lights, hot dice, and drop-dead-gorgeous dames in this second novel in the exciting, acclaimed series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Randisi brings back casino pit boss Eddie Gianelli for his fast-paced second adventure in 1960 Las Vegas. Gianelli helped out Dean Martin in Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (2006), so it's a natural for Dean to call on Gianelli when his buddy Frank (Sinatra) runs into a little problem involving a missing girl. Plenty more names are dropped when the Rat Pack assembles in Vegas, where Dean is performing before the premiere of Ocean's Eleven. There are also plenty of bodies dropping as Gianelli and his New York–based protector, Jerry Epstein, try to locate Frank's girl discreetly. Randisi perfectly captures the glitz, glamour, corruption and crime of the era, using the Rat Pack gang with affectionate respect and considerable acumen. Gianelli and Epstein make an entertaining and effective odd couple, nimbly charting a path beset by stars, capos and cops as they hunt down a gal that somebody wants dead. (Dec.)
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Review

"A terrific yarn. Sinatra would have loved it."--Larry King

 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (December 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312360436
• ISBN-13: 978-0312360436
• Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #400,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great novel, but beware of large print edition, December 1, 2010

By 

Charlene Vickers (Winnipeg, Manitoba) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Luck Be a Lady, Don't Die (Thorndike Mystery) (Hardcover)

I loved this book. It's edgy without being ridiculous, the characters are three-dimensional and believable, and the plot works.

I'm posting this review, though, to warn readers about the Large Print edition, which is sloppily printed with entire paragraphs (and in one instance, an entire page) missing. The audio version might be preferable in this case.

5.0 out of 5 stars "Women are meaner than men, Mr. G.", August 12, 2008

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: Luck Be a Lady, Don't Die: A Rat Pack Mystery (Hardcover)

Las Vegas, 1960. The Sands Hotel. The Rat Pack's in town to attend the premier of "Oceans Eleven." Frank's latest squeeze, Mary Clarke, disappears. Hoping to find her, he turns to his friend, Eddie Gianelli, who has all of Vegas wired.

As soon as Eddie G. starts looking for Mary, he finds a trail of fresh blood with dead clydes strewn all along it like mile markers. He also finds Mary's sister, Lily, and finds himself in the middle of a---how shall we say it?---a small but pungent disagreement between mob boss Sam Giancana and a low-level soldier on his payroll.

The wisecracks fly as fast as the bullets in this novel, which, like Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries) is paced about as fast as a blackjack dealer's hands. Once again, Robert Randisi has written a noir light tale of murder, mystery and mayhem, this time centered around the darker side of life in that fondly-remembered Las Vegas of times gone by (CSI, eat yer heart out!) and The Chairman of The Board's legendary weakness for beautiful women. That was the world that was.

Great beach reading, LUCK BE A LADY, DON'T DIE never slows, and it never loses your interest either. With chapters as short as one page, Randisi tells his story in full-color live-action snapshots, and the only failing of this book is that it ends before you want it to. And that's the sign of A REALLY GOOD BOOK, pallie.

4.0 out of 5 stars LUCK BE A LADY, DON'T DIE by Robert J. Randisi, July 12, 2008

By 

Benjamin Boulden (The High Desert) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Luck Be a Lady, Don't Die: A Rat Pack Mystery (Hardcover)

Robert J. Randisi is one of the hardest working writers currently producing and his work is reliably entertaining, action-packed, and good fun. He has written a broad variety of popular fiction over his twenty-five year career--Westerns, mystery, action, and even horror. He reintroduced me to the Western early in the twenty-first century with his fine novel MIRACLE OF THE JACAL and downright wowed me with his police procedural ALONE WITH THE DEAD, the first of his impressive Joe Keough series, and now he's at his best with the latest Rat Pack novel, LUCK BE A LADY, DON'T DIE.

LUCK BE A LADY, DON'T DIE opens six months after the filming of the original Ocean's Eleven. Eddie Gianelli--Eddie G to his friends--is back at his post as a Sands pit boss when he learns his new friends, the Rat Pack, are expected back in town for the premier of the film. Eddie isn't expecting much so when Dean Martin summons him, Eddie is pleasantly surprised; and even more surprised when Martin asks him to help Frank with a problem. His new paramour, who was supposed to meet him in Vegas, has disappeared. Frank assigns New York heavy Jerry Epstein to watch Eddie's back again, and with good reason, because it doesn't take long for the body-count to rise and for Eddie to realize things are going to get a little personal.

LUCK BE A LADY, DON'T DIE is a terrific private-eye novel--Eddie G is a likable, hip, sarcastic, and tough protagonist. The supporting cast is strong. The New York import, Jerry Epstein--don't call him torpedo--is perfect. He brings a straight-faced humor to the story that elevates it well beyond the usual. And his appetite for pancakes and playing the horses is seemingly endless; in a good way.

The background characters--the Rat Pack, Sam Giancana, Jack Entratter--help create the glitzy, cool atmosphere of 1960s Vegas; you know, before it was dummed-down to Disneyland in the desert. The mystery is top-notch and there is more than one kink in the final pages. The reader, as well as Eddie G and his small gang, are in the dark until Randisi expertly reveals the intrigue.

LUCK BE A LADY, DON'T DIE is Randisi's best work since the Joe Keough novels, and if you like American-style mysteries, hip private eye stories, or just an entertaining and enjoyable read you can't do much better. And I hope Randisi has plans for one or two more of these.

Ben Boulden, Gravetapping