Rat Pack Mysteries Books

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.

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.

It's 1961 and Las Vegas is still the place to be. Eddie Gianelli, pit boss at the Sands Casino, now considers the Rat Pack his friends. And this time, his friend Frank Sinatra wants him to help Sammy. Someone has an embarrassing photo of Sammy and wants $25 grand for it. All Eddie has to do is make the pay-off and collect the photo. Easy, right? But at the rendezvous, in place of a blackmailer, Eddie finds a dead body greeting him instead. Pretty soon Eddie and New York torpedo Jerry Epstein are up to their elbows in bodies. There's a double-cross going on. Could the presence of the Secret Service mean that JFK is somehow involved? In this next installment, the Rat Pack is back in full swing. Celebrity cameos with Buddy Hackett and Marilyn Monroe add to the glamor. It's certain the stars are out, and it's up to Eddie to see that they don't fall from the sky.

Eddie G.'s services have been enlisted again, this time to help Marilyn Monroe, who thinks she's being followed.

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. A Rat Pack Mystery. (mystery & detective).

The new Rat Pack mystery - Bing Crosby wants to buy a horse to indulge his other passion – when he’s not playing golf with Bob Hope, that is. But when his trainer fails to show up in Vegas, and when he finds the horse’s owner dead, problems begin to mount up. Time for Eddie G and Jerry to come to the rescue, urged on by Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, in town to watch the start of Frank Junior’s career. But soon the body count – and temperature – starts to rise . . .

1963 was a very bad year for Frank Sinatra,. but the Rat Pack are always ready to give a helping hand. - Eddie Gianelli is helping a friend’s wife get out from under a blackmailer when news comes through that JFK has been assassinated. Frank Sinatra was a close friend of JFK and the Rat Pack – including Eddie – rally round to give Frank moral support. Then comes the news that Sinatra’s son, Frank Jr, has been kidnapped. Eddie continues to search for the blackmailer while trying to help Frank get through his second – and intensely more personal – traumatic experience, all of which eventually leads to murder.

Eddie Gianelli faces his toughest challenge yet when he's asked to bodyguard the King of Rock & Roll It’s 1964, and Elvis Presley is heading to Vegas for the opening of his latest film, Viva Las Vegas. Although he despises rock & roll, Frank Sinatra has always had time for Elvis. So when Elvis’s manager contacts Frank to explain that Elvis is out of control and to request Frank’s help in safeguarding him while he’s in Vegas, Frank calls on Eddie as being just the man for the job. At the same time, Eddie must find out who put his friend, Vegas PI Danny Bardini, in hospital – and why. In order to get to the bottom of the mystery, while doing his best to keep Elvis out of trouble, Eddie will need to call on his old friends, the Rat Pack, for help.

Edward G Robinson is in Las Vegas researching his new movie, The Cincinnatti Kid with Steve McQueen. Frank Sinatra puts him in touch with Eddie G., floor manager of the Sands Casino and friend to the Rat Pack who frequent it. But rumour has it that Howard Hughes is also in town looking to buy a casino; and what Hughes wants he usually gets. Jack Entratter, the owner of the Sands tries to fight the takeover and sends Eddie G., to go and convince Howard Hughes not to pursue it. Then, Entratter's secretary goes missing and Eddie G. is entrusted with looking for her, delving into the murky underworld of Las Vegas; a world he knows well . . .

Eddie G. must discover why someone wants to kill him. His friends Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland are concerned for him, too. After Dean Martin saves Eddie G. from being hit by a car, Eddie’s torpedo buddy Jerry arrives from Brooklyn with the news: somebody’s put an open contract out on him. As anybody can cash it in, pros and amateurs alike are coming out of the woodwork to have a shot. So when Eddie is asked by Frank Sinatra to go to LA to help his friend, Judy Garland, with a problem she’s having, Eddie and Jerry seize the opportunity to leave Vegas. Unfortunately the contract follows Eddie there. While doing his best to stay alive long enough to find out who hates him so much they want him dead, Eddie must also solve Judy Garland’s problem of a possible stalker and blackmailer.

By 1965, Eddie Giannelli has a rep as a “go-to” guy in Vegas...but Frank Sinatra takes Eddie away from home on a trip to Miami. When that happens, Eddie G not only pals around with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., but gets the chance to meet “The Great One”, Jackie Gleason. Word of Eddie’s skill for helping people out of tough jams makes the trip to Florida too as he’s asked to help out a woman Gleason’s involved with. Before you can say “And Away We Go!”, Eddie finds himself caught up in a tale of murder, bourbon, and Brooklyn… Take a trip to sunny, deadly Miami in this latest tale of the Rat Pack by Robert J. Randisi, called “the last of the true pulp writers” by Booklist. Reviews for the Rat Pack Mystery Series- “Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin never knew how much trouble they were in until Robert Randisi stepped onto the scene. A gem of a read!” -Sue Grafton “Randisi does a bang-up job capturing Sinatra, Martin, Davis Jr., and their fellow Kings of Cool in all their Vegas glory . . . With a likeable but savvy protagonist, a deep understanding of Vegas culture and 60’s style, and an obvious love of the Rat Pack, Randisi delivers a stylish, memorable winner.” -BALTIMORE SUN

It’s 1965 and the Rat Pack isn’t drawing at the Sands like they used to. Now Dino’s playing golf, and Frank is playing the Sahara. And the marquee at the Sands advertises SAMMY DAVIS JR. & JERRY LEWIS. Eddie G. never got Jerry Lewis. Didn’t think he was funny, didn’t think Dean needed him. So he had no intention of seeing the show, or of meeting Dean’s ex-partner. But Sammy comes to Eddie and asks him to help Jerry with a problem—one that might lead to murder. Because he likes Sammy, he agrees. At the same time Eddie’s P.I. friend, Danny Bardini, comes to Eddie looking for a pretty girl to use as bait in a case he’s working on. He ends up getting Eddie’s blessing to recruit Gina, a waitress at the Sands who is waiting for a spot to open up on the line at the Riviera. Only when the spot finally becomes available, Gina’s gone missing. Eddie, Danny and Jerry Epstein, Eddie’s Brooklyn mob connection, end up working together to hopefully find Gina alive, and keep Jerry Lewis from committing murder.

THE RAT PACK IS BACK! Things are changing in Las Vegas at the end of 1966 as the mob is moving out and Howard Hughes is moving in. Having purchased the Sands and blackballing Frank Sinatra, Hughes is looking to buy more properties, and virtually take over Vegas. Jack Entratter enlists Eddie G.'s aide to try and keep Hughes from succeeding. Working with Frank and Dino, Eddie tries to appeal to the casino owners not to sell out to Hughes. At the same time, Danny Thomas has come to town, asking Eddie to help him recover money that was stolen from St. Jude Hospital. When murder rears its ugly head and Eddie is attacked, Eddie brings in his Brooklyn buddy, Jerry, who can hopefully keep either one of them from getting killed. The question is, was Eddie attacked because he was opposing Howard Hughes, or because he's trying to find St. Jude's money?