Short Stories/Novellas

Murder by any other name is still murder, unless it has an Irish flavor. There are two sides to the Irish soul, the light and the dark. The light side includes the sentimental poems and ballads of Irish Literature; the legendary singalongs in taverns; and, of course, the wicked Irish wit. The dark side includes a black melancholy, mayhem, and bloody murder. This short story by Robert J. Randisi is an excellent example of this dark side.

In this short story, Randisi tells a tale of the way a sudden gambling windfall can affect the lives of more than just the big winner. His venue shifts from Midwest Mississippi riverboats cross country to Reno, Nevada, and gambling points in between.

In this short story, Nick Delvecchio, the Brooklyn p.i. finds himself being stalked by a man who insists that they're old friends, that they went to high school together, that the shared good times he wants to reminisce about. When Nick confronts the stalker with incontrovertible evidence that none of this is true, the would-be friend becomes a deadly enemy.

In this short story, Nick Delvecchio has an office on Sacket Street, within walking distance of the Brooklyn Bridge. Delvecchio is a one-man shop and can't be too choosy about his cases, which is why, in “A Matter of Ethics,” he agrees to tail a man to make sure he's adhering to his diet. It only gets complicated when Nick learns the man is unfaithful to his wife.

In this short story, a con Delvecchio put away years ago hires him to spy on his wife. A week after Nick sees her at their high school reunion, beautiful Mary Ann Grosso apparently takes her own life.