Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet

January 24, 2024

Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet

Recent high school graduate Ismael Reyes (aka Izzy) is searching for a life plan. His original intention to be a Pitbull impersonator falls through when he receives a cease-and-desist order from the artist's attorney, so he decides that his next best option is to become a gangster by imitating the fictional Cuban gangster Tony Montana from the movie Scarface. He enlists his high school friend Rudy to be his sidekick (and briefly becomes involved with Rudy's beautiful sister Julisa), and the two begin planning their new life of crime. Meanwhile, there is a female orca (calling her a killer whale or Shamu is not PC) named Lolita at the Miami Seaquarium who has somehow begun influencing Izzy's thoughts and dreams. While Izzy pursues his goal of gangsterdom, he inadvertently begins asking dangerous questions about his mother, who drowned after they left Cuba on a raft.

Life imitates art in this edgy contemporary novel/fantasy that has been described as the offspring of a marriage between the movie Scarface and the novel Moby Dick. Possibly due to his youth, possibly due to his circumstances, Izzy fails to recognize the dangerous people he is already associating with, even though all the signs are there. There is plenty of dark humor in this quirky read as Izzy stumbles his way through life.  Honestly? Things probably would have worked out better for Izzy if he had tried to emulate Joe Montana rather Tony Montana.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Al Pacino as the gangster Tony Montana in the movie Scarface

A Murder in Hollywood by Casey Sherman

December 27, 2023

A Murder in Hollywood by Casey Sherman

Lana Turner and her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato had a tumultuous relationship. Actually, Lana had tumultuous relationships with almost all of her eight (!) husbands and many boyfriends. She had notoriously bad taste in men. The story of Johnny's murder has been overshadowed by many other sensational Hollywood crimes, such as the Black Dahlia murder. Lana was a victim of the masculine privilege and misogyny that so many actresses were victims of, and continues to the present day. At least women are speaking up today about how male studio heads, agents, actors, producers and others abuse their positions of powers.

Things you probably don't know about Lana Turner:

- Evita Peron, wife of Argentinian dictator Juan Peron, was obsessed with Lana and modeled her look after Lana, to an extent that bordered on creepy;

- Lana was indirectly responsible for the death of actress Carole Lombard: Lana was doing a film with Clark Gable, Lombard's husband, and Lombard was afraid that Gable was having an affair with Lana (he had a well-known weakness for blondes); Lombard was in the Midwest doing a war bonds tour, and instead of traveling home with the rest of the tour which would have taken 2-3 days, she decided to fly home which would get her back to Los Angeles by that evening; Lombard's plane crashed into a mountain killing everyone on board; 

- Lana was rumored to be bi-sexual and to have had a steamy affair with Ava Gardner, one of her best friends;

- Sean Connery's first major film role was in a movie produced by Lana's production company, Lanturn Productions; the movie was a flop, but Sean's career took off;

- Lana was Rh-positive; although she was pregnant at least three times, only her daughter Cheryl Crane survived.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Lana Turner, Johnny Stompanato, and Lana's daughter Cheryl Crane

Gator a Go Go by Tim Dorsey

July 17, 2019

Gator a Go Go by Tim Dorsey

Serge and Coleman go on a marathon spring break road trip – what more do I need to say? 

Book #12 in the zany Serge Storms series has Serge up to his usual bizarre antics.  When he decides that spring break is the perfect subject for his next documentary, naturally Serge can’t go to just one location, but has to go on a road trip to all of the historic Florida spring break hot spots.  At Panama City Beach, their first stop, Serge encounters Andy McKenna, a college student in the witness protection program.  The problem is, the Florida gangsters who years before were after his father are now after HIM.  Characters from previous novels in the series reappear, including the former owner of the Hammerhead Ranch Motel, a pair of hot women called City and Country, and 40 year old perpetual virgin Johnny Vegas (who despite being handsome, sexy and rich, just can’t seem to score).

I’m not sure why I enjoy this series so much.  Serge is a twisted knight errant who has his own code of ethics which he adheres to faithfully:  punishing jerks in creative and appropriate ways, ignoring laws, protecting the innocent and the victimized, and faithful to his friends, while disregarding social conventions.  In his own way, Serge is a classic noir detective, and I do love noir fiction.  Oliver Wyman reads the audio version and does a great job with Serge, Coleman and Mahoney.

Killing with Confetti by Peter Lovesey

July 2, 2019

Killing with Confetti by Peter Lovesey

Meh.  Part of a long-running series featuring Detective Peter Diamond, and not the strongest entry.

The premise is intriguing:  the son of a police chief and the daughter of a crime boss decide to marry, causing a security nightmare for the Bath police force.  Diamond finds himself assigned to act as unwilling bodyguard to the crime boss.  But too much time was spent in the first half of the book on characters who have nothing to do with the plot and essentially disappear in the second half.  The final plot twist was clever, but not that well supported, so no recommendation on this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in return for a review.