I'm a Fool to Kill You

From Publishers WeeklyCelebrity 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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. From BooklistEddie Gianelli, pit boss at the Sands casino during the glory years of the Rat Pack, has a great gig. He’s the go-to guy for Frank, Dean, and Sammy whenever the boys find themselves in a tight spot. Those spots naturally tend to involve beautiful ladies. After extricating Marilyn Monroe from a jam in You’re Nobody ’til Somebody Kills You(2009), Eddie now finds himself helping out the beauty of all beauties, the former Mrs. Sinatra, Ava Gardner. Fretting over having turned 40, Ava goes on a bender, hoping to forget her worries with an ocean of booze and a steady stream of men. Unfortunately, one of those men, a Chicago gangster, winds up dead in Ava’s hotel room—and Ava can’t remember how he got there. Eddie and his sidekick, starstruck Brooklyn gangster Jerry Epstein, come to the rescue, attempting to reconstruct Ava’s lost weekend while dealing with various hitmen on her tail. For anyone with a crush on Ava (and that’s pretty much every male of a certain age), this breezy caper is unalloyed fun, though it’s hard not to feel a little jealous of Eddie, especially when Ava turns up in his bed. --Bill Ott