I stumbled across a book at the library the other day.
No...seriously...I was walking along looking at the shelves, and someone had left this book on the floor, and I tripped over it.
As I was picking myself up off the floor, I also picked up the offending tome, and took a look at what had so brazenly broken my browsing concentration. 'Twas a book by Robert J. Randisi, Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand). The cover looked like something slightly trashy from the late Fifties/early Sixties and noted that the book was "A Rat Pack Mystery", which explained why the cover featured a drawing of Joey Bishop, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin playing poker...with Sammy Davis, Jr. holding a gun and looking all dangerous and sly.
The thing is, when I opened the book, I found that it was published in 2008 and was, in factual fact, the third book in The Rat Pack Mystery Series. The first two books are Luck Be a Lady, Don't Die and Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime. It was then I saw this disclaimer: "This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously."
No...seriously...I was walking along looking at the shelves, and someone had left this book on the floor, and I tripped over it.
As I was picking myself up off the floor, I also picked up the offending tome, and took a look at what had so brazenly broken my browsing concentration. 'Twas a book by Robert J. Randisi, Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand). The cover looked like something slightly trashy from the late Fifties/early Sixties and noted that the book was "A Rat Pack Mystery", which explained why the cover featured a drawing of Joey Bishop, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin playing poker...with Sammy Davis, Jr. holding a gun and looking all dangerous and sly.
The thing is, when I opened the book, I found that it was published in 2008 and was, in factual fact, the third book in The Rat Pack Mystery Series. The first two books are Luck Be a Lady, Don't Die and Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime. It was then I saw this disclaimer: "This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously."
It's the phrase used fictitiously that lets Mr. Randisi get away with having Sammy Davis, Jr. trying to pay off blackmailers and owning the gun that kills a couple goons, along with involving the family of JFK in similar seedy situations.
That phrase also prodded me to wondering what kind of book series could I create using a group of entertainers I'm a bit more familiar with...say...The Beatles?
- I Wanna Scald Your Hand
- She Kills You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
- Eight Murders a Week
- She's Got a Hearse to Ride
- Revolver
- Baby, Don't You Steal My Car
- You Are the Eggman, I Am the Hitman
- Arsenic Fields Forever
- While My Guitar Grimly Reaps
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