When Somebody Kills You: A Rat Pack Mystery

In Randisi’s middling 10th Rat Pack mystery (after 2013’s The Way You Die Tonight), Frank Sinatra asks Las Vegas casino host Eddie Gianelli to assist Judy Garland, who’s being blackmailed for $50,000 by someone who claims to have a compromising photo of her. But Eddie has his own pressing problem—someone has put out a $10,000 contract on him, inspiring a motley crew of hit men. Enter the immense Big Jerry, a genial mob enforcer assigned to be Eddie’s bodyguard. Perhaps their trip to L.A. to help Judy will throw the hit men off Eddie’s trail? Not a chance. Bullets fly, cars explode, and corpses accumulate. Real-life figures such as Dean Martin, gangster Sam Giancana, and Mark Herron, a lounge lizard in line to become Judy’s fourth husband, supply some modest pleasures. Less welcome are the many scenes illustrating Big Jerry’s bottomless appetite. But for those with a nostalgic bent, Randisi’s sympathetic portrait of the fragile, fading Judy Garland may suffice. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary. (Sept.)