Robert J. RandisiRecensioni

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It was... okay. It just didn't have the same spark as the others in the series. Still not bad, but probably the weakest in the series thus far.

All quite good with some, Block, Millhone, Lutz, Paretsky, and Muller excellent.

The crime fiction/ mystery/ detective genre traditionally was a male pursuit among both writers and readers. Such may be hard to recall, given the large number of highly successful female writers in the field over the past few decades. The growing popularity of the genre, supported by legions of readers, led in the 1980s to an increase in writer’s organizations beyond the traditional MWA (Mystery Writers of America). Among them was the PWA (Private Eye Writers of America) and the Sisters in Crime (SinC). The latter organization, which was founded by Sara Paretsky, sought to gain more respect for women’s writing.

“Deadly Allies” brings together writers from the PWA and SinC in a collaborative volume of 20 short stories. The stories are presented in pairs – one from a PWA member and one from a SinC member – with each pair organized around a common theme. Each pair of stories is preceded by a brief introduction that explains the common thread that binds them. Likewise, each story is accompanied with an introduction that summarizes aspects of the writer’s life and career. In each pair of stories, reader’s are not told which author represents which organization, and gender turns out not to be a useful criterion (features that work against the collection’s stated rationale). Likewise, the prior publication history (if any) of the stories is not indicated (leaving one to wonder whether they were written specifically for this collection).

The result is an interesting juxtaposition of stories, that if anything, shows similarities rather than any differences that might be attributed to gender. The stories include contributions by major figures along with others known chiefly to those who follow the genre closely. Below is a list of the stories included, along with my personal ratings (on a scale of 1 to 5*). Stories that especially stood out, in my judgement, are Lia Matera’s “Easy Go,” Robert Randisi’s “Turnabout”, and Marilyn Wallace’s Reunion”.

Easy Go by Lia Matera – 4.5*
Summary Judgment by Jeremiah Healy –3*
A Little Missionary Work by Sue Grafton –2*
A Good Judge of Character by Susan Dunlap –2*
Sex and Violence by Nancy Pickard –2*
Mary, Mary, Shut the Door by Benjamin M. Schutz –3.5*
Role Model by Michael Collins –2*
Invitation by Sarah Andrews –1.5*
Nothing Ventured by Carolyn G. Hart –1*
Whatever Has to Be Done by Jan Grape –2.5*
Louise by Max Allan Collins – 3*
Strung Out by Sara Paretsky –2.5 *
Like Father, Like Daughter by Sandra Scoppettone – 3.5*
Turnabout by Robert J. Randisi – 4*
Before You Leap by John Lutz –2*
Hangnail by Margaret B. Maron –1*
Silk Strands by Julie Smith – 3*
Safe House by Loren D. Estleman – 3.5 *
Unfinished Business by Rob Kantner – 3*
Reunion by Marilyn Wallace – 4*½

The mystery itself is okay. I have all of Randisi's Rat Pack mysteries and was looking forward to this. However, for some reason Randisi had this published by Riverdale Avenue Books. It has the look, and feel of a book put out by a self-publishing press. I looked them up and they claim to have an edit staff. Granted this book was done six years ago and so the person who edited Dry Stone Walls may no longer be with the company, but the sorry fact is - they should never have been with the company in the first place. In 278 pages there are 16 glaring errors - enough to make you stop reading for the story and begin reading to find errors.

The mystery isn't deep, or complex, and I found the motive weak, considering how the characters were portrayed. 3 stars is really the bottom of 'I liked it'.

The series maintains its great zingy flavor, and Jerry and Mr. G are still one of the best bromances in lit today, but this one wasn't as fun somehow. The apeal of these books is the growing friendship between the Rat Pack and the common pit boss who fixes their problems for them, and we saw very little of the Pack in this book. Still, in this one finally dealt with one of the realities of Vegas, gambiling addiction.

The fourth in this series feature the Rat Pack,this time they are asking their friend Eddie G to help out Marilyn Manroe who thinks she's being followed. They mostly just do it to help her nerves, until it turns out that just becuase she's paranoid doesn't mean that she isn't indeed being followed.

Set in Las Vegas during the Rat Pack heyday and featuring a pit boss named Eddie G who is asked by the Chairman himself to help him out. Great period detail in an action packed mystery.

Once again Eddie G is asked to help out a member of the Rat Pack, this time it's Sammy who's in trouble. He's being blackmailed and askes Eddie to make the drop, but, of course, things go wrong, and bodies pile up. This one is my favorite so far, but just because I have the softest spot in my heart for Sammy Davis, Jr.!

As a fan of the Rat Pack, I enjoy these books. Eddie G., has his finger on the pulse of Vegas in the early 1960s, gets asked by friend Frank Sanatra to help Judy Garland. It involves a trip to LA, and since Eddie has a contract on his head, it feels like a good idea to get out of town. Calling in Jerry, the muscle of the operation, they find that his problems and Judy’s are meshing together.

A Las Vegas pit boss, Eddie G., helps Sammy Davis Jr. handle a blackmail pay-off for a sensitive photo but finds the blackmailer dead. At his house he and his massive mobbed-up friend find three armed men to deal with. Now Eddie G. is under heavy pressure to find out what is going on. Great lead characters, alluring mystery, the real-life Rat Pack in the background, great story.

Frank Sinatra asks his favorite fixer, Eddie Gianelli, to look into a matter involving Judy Garland. That's fine with Eddie....there's an attempt on him and word of an open contract on him and it'll help if he gets out of Las Vegas while he finds out who wants him dead. But then bodies start stacking up, from Judy's case as well as the contract. Who wants him dead? And what threatens Judy? Great celebrity sleigh mystery built around the Rat Pack and casino executive His belly who is frequently tapped for unofficial investigations. Far-reaching tale with an interesting ending.

It was... okay. It just didn't have the same spark as the others in the series. Still not bad, but probably the weakest in the series thus far.

Private detective yarns, it turns out, make for a pretty good genre in the world of short stories. As editor Randisi has chosen well. A lot of these are a short, enjoyable romp. It's worth a look to see if you might like to try an author or if you are a fan interested in an early look at a famous private eye.

Here are my takes on the stories in the collection:

No One Likes to be Played for a Sucker / Collins ***

It’s A Lousy World / Pronzini ***

The Mayfield Case/Gores ***

Where Is Harry Beale/Lutz*****

Merrill-Go-Round/Muller***

The Steinway Collection/Randisi*

Till Tuesday/Healy****
Robber's Roost/Estleman**** (disclaimer: I was born and raised in Detroit)

The Takamoku Joseki/Paretsky**** (disclaimer:I lived in the Chicago neighborhood of the story's setting in the same time frame. Lots of fun.)

Long Gone/Grafton***

C is for Cookie/Kanter*** (Detroit again!)

The Strawberry Teardrop/Collins*

Till Tuesday/Healy****

Mary, Mary, Shut The Door/Schutz*

Lucky Penny/Barnes****

This book is the reminder that not all books that leap off shelves at libraries are unqualified successes. I found most of these stories mediocre - either they were mostly character sketches, or they were more excuses to put a pet character next to jazz greats. In large part, it was Jazz Age fan fiction. I wouldn't have minded so much if that's what I was expecting, but I was expecting mystery stores, of which there were precious few. I liked the last couple stories best. I'd have to check it out from the library again to track down which authors they were, though.

I think jazz fans will enjoy this collection much more than this mystery fan did.

Number 9 in the series.
As always, I look forward to the publication of a new “Rat Pack” mystery. They are fun and easy-going.
In this episode, Edward G. Robinson needs to learn more about playing poker and try out his character for an upcoming movie, The Cincinnati Kid, with Steve McQueen. The Sands Casino owner, Jack Entratter, turns EGR over to Eddie Gianelli, pit boss, friend to the Rat Pack, and fixer of whatever needs to be fixed. And here, Eddie needs to get EGR into some high stakes poker games, a feat not as easy as it might seem. And of course, this is also a personal favor to Rat Pack Chairman Frank Sinatra.
In the meantime, billionaire Howard Hughes is in Vegas and wants to see Eddie. This makes Eddie a little nervous. What could Hughes want from him?
As Eddie starts to juggle those two balls, Entratter’s secretary has disappeared, only to be found strung up in the Ladies Room down the hall. Eddie calls in his pals, private dick Danny and bruise Jerry from Brooklyn. And with the gang all there, bullets and fists start to fly, plus the guys’ investigations takes them to the seedier side of Vegas.
Another easy read mystery from Randisi. I read The Way You Die Tonight on a 7-hour road trip and loved every minute of it. I give it five out of five stars.

Red Moran likes being a sheriff but he eventually he becomes bored and quits. However his method of quitting is to rob the local bank and then high tail it to Mexico to spend it. When the money runs out, he heads back across the border and becomes a sheriff in another town too desperate for someone to take the job to bother doing a reference check. Unfortunately for him and the bank manager in the last bank, he kills the manager and makes the reward for his capture large enough to attract the attention of Decker, a bounty hunter.

Shortly after taking up the chase into Mexico, Decker runs into the scouts of a gang of Mexican bandits led by a sick brother & sister team. He kills the scouts and this leads to his being followed by the entire gang of 30 bandits. This leads to an amazing shootout in the town controlled by the bandits and we are only half way through the novel.

Continuous action with some unusual characters keeps one turning the pages. The jacket blurb suggests Randisi is the replacement for Louis L'Amour. In terms of the action he is much like L'Amour but with an added liberal quantity of fairly explicit sex. Seems every character, male or female is looking for a roll in the hay.

“Fight Card: The Knockout” is a 2012 novellete by Robert J. Randisi, writing under the Fight Card house name of Jack Tunney. It is a terrific addition to the Fight Card series and firmly placed in the hardboiled world of the late fifties Brooklyn, just after the Brooklyn Dodgers fled to the west coast. This book is not as chunk full of fights as some of the other ones in this series, but it is still a damn good book from the opening line of “The right came at me much too fast for me to duck. The head gear absorbed a good portion of the blow’s power, but it still rattled my brains.”

Frankie “The Piston” Corleone was a fighter once, trained at Father Tim’s orphanage in Chicago, and made the big time briefly before his fist shattered and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put his fist back together again. Corleone stumbed into the PI business and, typical of the fifties hardboiled PIs, sleeps on a couch in his office and wonders if a paying client will ever call. This book is a hardboiled mystery about how a trainer got murdered and how Corleone sorts through the clues to figure out who did it.

The story takes you back in time and, besides the name-dropping, there is just a good old-fashioned feel to the tale that feels so hardboiled and old-timey. There are no sanctioned fights in this one, but a sparring match and a couple of street fights by trained fighters.

3.5 stars

It is1888 in London, England. Three prostitutes have been murdered and they say it’s likely the same guy who has done it. Bram Stoker is running the Lyceum Theatre, and Henry Irving is playing the lead in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They are approached by the police to shut down the show, as it may be encouraging the killer. Bram gets interested in what’s going on and starts doing some research for a book he might like to write. He also becomes obsessed with the killer and may be getting a little too close…

I liked this. Far fetched, but I still found it entertaining. I thought it interesting the way the author weaved in the various author characters into the story (Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde are friends of Stoker’s). To be honest, though, I’m not sure Jack the Ripper needs to be fictionalized; this is one true story that certainly holds its own as true crime.½

This series always makes me happy!