Synopsis
A Rat Pack Mystery - When a rumour spreads that Frank Sinatra's ex-wife, Hollywood Goddess Ava Gardner, was seen in the Sands Hotel & Casino in a state of distress, sleuth Eddie G. is asked to check it out. Eddie tracks her down to LA, where he finds out that Ava’s afraid she did something horrible . . . and it falls to Eddie to find out exactly what went down. But someone’s after Ava who means her harm, and soon he’s dodging bullets in Vegas in an attempt to keep Ava – and himself – alive.
Publishers Weekly
Celebrity gossip from the early '60s gives a nostalgic gloss to Randisi's slick, lightweight fifth Rat Pack mystery (after 2009's You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You). When Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra's ex-wife, shows up in Las Vegas distraught because she woke up from a drunken binge covered with someone's blood, Eddie Gianelli, a pit boss at the Sands hotel-casino and discreet fixer of entertainers' personal problems, steps in to straighten things out. That involves trips to L.A., where more murder and mayhem occur; back to Vegas, ditto; and to Chicago, where Sammy Davis Jr. accompanies him to a scary meeting with mob boss Sam Giancana. While most of the fun derives from viewing famous people in new roles (gorgeous Ava on the lam! hot-tempered Frankie with a gat!), Randisi gives a lively sense of Vegas's glitz and the glittering, feckless people who flourished in the spotlight. (Jan.)