Product Description

Professional gambler Ty Butler knows he should keep moving to stay ahead of the killers who wiped out his family and are now gunning for him. But when a serious card player finds a challenging game in an honest house, he wants to stay awhile.

Customer Reviews (1)

STUD POKER PROFESSION


This book is the 3rd to be released in a series by Robert Randisi caled "The Gamblers". I have the other two books on order, but started with this as it arrived first.

Having several other western novels on shelf by Mr. Randisi, I knew what to expect: well written, action oriented, all interwoven with an interesting story.

Ty (short for Tyrone) Butler, our hero, is working his way from Denver, Colorado, where he knew both Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, through all the gambling halls in Texas prior to moving on to California. When his journey takes him to Fort Worth he is able to make connections with Luke Short due his prior introduction fromBat Masterson. Little Luke Short not only owns a half partnership in the White Elephan, but Luke is a gunman on the level with Wyatt, Doc, and Bat, only a little slower it is said than Ben Thompson.

Soon after meeting Luke, Ty enters a couple day's long poker game at Luke's emporium. After that, owning to whiskey, cards, and guns, events begin to move along with Luke Short calling on Ty to help watch his back. As difficulties arise any reader of the west knows who will show up: yep, that's correct, sheriff Jim Courtwright. How all this works out, well, you will have to spend some time reading this western as I'm not one for spoiling the book for you. But be assured with Robert J. Randisi writing the book all will offer a pleasing read.

And should you enjoy this one, hey, there are also two prior books to read also. The other two books are entitled: DENVER DRAW and BUTLER'S WAGER. Exciting stories with both being westerns with poker as a backdrop.

Read on, pards.

Semper Fi. ... Read more

Product Description
A brutal serial killer stalks young women in New York City as Joe Keough, a detective with nothing to lose, challenges the system to get to the truth--and risks failure that could leave the city in the grip of fear. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Controversial Detective Breaks Major Case
A serial killer has raped and murdered women in Manhattan. Then come similar cases in Brooklyn. A police task force has been formed to get the killer. In charge of the task force is a blustery, unqualified detective who got the position thru blackmail. He see's this case as his career road up. DetectiveJoe Keough has had a tough time in the department. He seems prone to confrontations and not being a team player.
He has noticed things that are strikingly different about the Manhattan and Brooklyn cases. He feels that the Brooklyn cases are the work of a kopykat. He expresses his concerns and is ignored. Due to fine basic police work and some timely coincidences who gets both killers. This is a very fast paced page turner.The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is that it seems to be Keough gets somewhat unbelievable at times. Particularly during his meeting with the police commissioner.

Not worth the time.
I don't know who recommended this book to me, but it was a mistake.Protaganist Keough has the usual personal demons as well as his "do good" attitude.He has been transfered to "police hell" for beating up a child molester.He then proceeds to see something in a crime that is being ignored by everyone else in the NYPD due to politics.

If you want to read a good series with "personal demons", read something by James Lee Burke.If you want to read about police procedureread something by Dan Mahoney.

There are too many good books out there to be wasting time and money on somethng like this.Hopefully Randisi will improve with experience.

Formulaic, but Good
Alone with the Dead is a police procedural that follows all the rules.We have a working class detective named Joe who is ruled by a moral compass that few people in his department have.When Joe Keough finds the body of a young high school student, brutally raped with a rose inserted inside of her, he has a feeling that the death was committed by a copycat of a notorious serial killer named "The Lover."Others within the department, however, do not share his theory and are quick to lump the killing with the others.

This, however, does not sit well with the actual serial killer, who goes out of his way to absolve himself from the blame.Joe, goes against his superiors, The Lover Task Force, and the copycat killer himself, to reveal to the public that there are in fact two serial killers.

But when a friend of Joe's is brutally stabbed to death in his own home, the finger points to a boss within the NYPD.It is then that Joe realizes that he has made enemies both within the department AND outside in the mean streets of New York.The interesting part of the story is when one of Keough's few supporters in his investigation is The Lover himself!

If you are a fan of police procedurals, this is a good one.It has a solid (but thinly veiled) mystery, very appealing characters, and a pacing that keeps you reading from the prologue to the epilogue.

I did think the characters were quite clche, but it only added to the realism of the voice that Randisi creates.I previously knew Randisi by the anthologies that he put together, finding his tastes in the crime/noir literature to be quite phenomenal, however, I was impressed by his writing style.

I thought the story was very realistic.It is something that I could actually see happening and could make a very good film (or at least a made for TV movie).Being a fan and writer of the mystery/crime genre myself, I love a good story and this one was pretty good.

Randisi Mysteries Rate the Best
I'm not much of a reviewer, but I've read all of Randisi's Joe Keough books. The hero, the villans and the mysteries are all first class reading enjoyment.

Proficien t but unexceptional serial killer tale
The book introduces a new character from the prolific Mr Randisi -a NY cop named Joseph Sean Keough ,downgraded for his robust attitude towards the rights of child molesters .The city is in thrall to a serial killer ,dubbed The Lover ,for his habit of leaving a rose on the nude body of his female victims.He has an imitator ,Kopycat ,whose idolises the Lover and seeks to emulate him .Keough suspects the truth -that there are two killers but the chief of the Task Force set up tp investigate the crimes chooses ,cynically to demand the new killings are treated as the work of the Lover ,despite clear differences in the age of victims and the type of roses left behind.Its head Lieutenant Slovecky is determined to gain rapid promption and the more crimes ascribed to the Lover ,the better for him when the killer is convicted.
Len Swann ,a task force member ,collaborates with Keough to expose the truth but is murdered and the case for the two killer theory is kept under wraps to the considerable annoyance of the Lover who is appalled at the new crimes.
The tale is one of overlapping hunts- the hunt for the killer of Swann,andthat for thetwo serial murderers .
The actual resolution of the crimes is not due to any great detection and relies heavily on coincidence -something the writer covertly acknowledges towards the close of the book .What is of striking interest however is the portrait of a corrupt and venal NYPD ,riddled with blackmail and run with more ofan eye

for publicity and politics than in the interest of the general public.
The Department does not come out of the book at all well -at least in its upper echelons and the portrait makes uncomfortable reading in that regard.
Marked down for the perfunctoriness of its resolution of the crime which depends too heavily on being in the right place at the right time.
Worth reading if you like urban thrillers without too much bnlood snd gore ... Read more

Product Description
An anthology of twelve stories awarded the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America features the work of the most talented practitioners of contemporary detective fiction, including Lawrence Block, Mickey Spillane, and Nancy Pickard. Reprint. PW. AB. K. ... Read more

Product Description
A chilling anthology of horror tales, written especially for this audio version, includes the works of Elizabeth Massie, J. F. Gonzalez, Yvonne Navarro, Ed Gorman, Marthayn Pelegrimas, Brian Hodge, and Lucy Taylor." ... Read more

Product Description
Loaded with tension, charged with uncertainty, these four taut tales by New York Times bestselling authors bring their unsuspecting or hunted and fearful targets into the deadly sights of a hired killer’s gun. Contents include: "Keller’s Karma" by Lawrence Block read by Stefan Rudnicki, "The Catch" by James W. Hall read by John Rubinstein, "A Trip Home" by Ed Gorman read by Gabrielle de Cuir and "Snow, Snow, Snow" by John Harvey read by Maxwell Caulfield.

Maxwell Caulfield has co-starred on and off Broadway with Geraldine Page and Jessica Tandy. Gabrielle de Cuir is a multiple recipient of AudioFile’s Earphones Award. Stefan Rudnicki is an Audie award-winning narrator and Grammy award-winning audio producer.Actor/composer/director John Rubinstein won a Tony for his starring role in Broadway’s Children of a Lesser God. ... Read more

Product Description
The new Miles Jacoby mystery finds Miles simultaneously trying to clear a comic of a murder rap and locate a witness who can get a friend of his out of prison. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

ENJOYABLE WESTERN


Take two men who have been friends for 25 years, have ridden many trails together, and are now possibly on one of their last. One is a "money" gun or gunslinger, the other a tracker and bounty hunter. The one a deadly shot, while the other can track anything moving day or night. Both are educated one from back east college, the other a half-Indian, agency educated by his school teacher mother. And there you have a combination of personalities that will entertain you through the 260 pages of this most recent western from the pen of Robert J. Randisi.

Faulkner is the 'money' gun and Henry Tall Fellow is the tracker, both are being paid to be on the the trail of the Jack Sunday gang, a bunch of no goods who have been raiding and murdering at will. Though many law officers have no love for either a gunslinger or abounty hunter, several have wished both Faulkner and Tall Fellow the best of luck, with one even telling the duo to be sure and put an extra bullet in Sunday when they catch up to him.

Robert Randisi is an excellent writer who writes excellent westerns. This one is right up there with his best.

Recommended by this ole western bookaroo. And if you like this one, his newest release, TEXAS IRON, will be released soon from Leisure Book westerns.

Semper Fi. ... Read more

Product Description

Having lost a wife to violence and a son to retribution, onetime Texas sheriff Daniel Shaye has brought what remains of his shattered family -- two grown boys fiercely devoted to their father and justice -- to Vengeance Creek, Arizona. In a lawless town, they become the law, grieving for their slain loved ones while looking to start a new life free of further bloodshed. But destiny has other plans for the Shayes.

Customer Reviews (3)

Blood of Angels is a reprint of Arch Angels
No comment on the content; it was very good when I read it as Arch Angels and couldn't figure out why everything was so familiar when I read Blood of Angels.Then I read the fine print!
Norm

Serial Killers Of Children In Midwest
Veteran detective Joe Keough and his partner Harriet Connors are recruited into the FSK to help solve the serial murders of young boys and girls in St. Louis and Chicago. The task force is an FBI offshot to find serial killers and consequently they meet resistance from the local police who want to protect their own turf and freeze them out of the information loop.The investigation is aided by an interesting FBI profiler Nicole Busby. It turns out that there were two killers involved and that they were twins that had been separated at birth who fell into the same pattern.Good solid read with a few unique twists.

SO GOOD
Joe Keough is back with his partner Harriet.This time, they are dealing with a/or moreserial killer(s).Killing of little children are happening in St-Louis and Chicago with strange coincidences.

I LOVE the character of Joe Keough.This book is not chock full of action, but the author manages to describe the murder scenes with a vivid accuracy (without too much gore) and lets you feel as though you are seeing it yourself.

The character of Keough is far from perfect and is, in fact, loaded with confusion. HIs heart is in the right place though and all he knows is that he needs to find the killer(s).

As I said, there isn't a ton of action on every page, but Keough will walk you through these murders with a sharp eye and very interesting twists.

This is a smart thriller and is absolutely worth the price of the book.

Buy it. ... Read more

Product Description
An outstanding collection of thirteen stories-including one never-before-published-of famous sleuths taking their first steps in gumshoes and cracking their very first cases.

Featuring:Mickey Spillane
Michael Collins
Edward D. Hoch (writing as Stephen Dentinger)
Warren Murphy
Lia Matera
Judith van Gieson
John Harvey
J.A. Jance
Sharon Zukowski
Stuart Kaminsky
Maan Meyers
Jan Burke
Terence Faherty
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting for Historical Purposes
"First Cases" is a collection of the first short stories by classic private eye writers featuring their heros (or heroines).That should be the book's caveat, as many of the protagonists had already appeared in full length novel form before these stories were published.The lineup includes such luminaries as Loren Estlemen's Amos Walker, Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder, Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" and Editor Robert J. Randisi's own Miles Jacoby.All of the series characters featured are currently ongoing (or at least were as of 1996, when the book was published).Editor Randisi knows his stuff, having been the founder of the Private Eye Writers of America.

All that said, the quality of the stories varies.Some of the writers had yet to really find their voice and some (especially the older) stories are somewhat by-the-numbers.Nevertheless, the book is an inetersting historical artifactfor those who want insight on how their heros developed.My personal favorites are Block's and Estlemen's.They show again why they are, for my money, the two best and most consistent private eye writers currently working in the genre. ... Read more

Product Description
Collects twenty-two original tales of murder, sex, blackmail, con artistry, revenge, and other crimes, passions, and misdemeanors, from some of today's leading crime and mystery writers. Reprint. AB. K. ... Read more

Product Description
The third volume in this "indispensable" (Publishers Weekly) series offers more of our favorite fictional detectives' inaugural cases--and includes two never-before-published stories!From classic to contemporary, from hard-boiled to cozy, this wide-ranging collection includes a tale for every taste.

Praise for the First Cases series:

"[A] smashing concept." -- Mystery News

"A mystery fan's fantasy."-- St. Louis Dispatch ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent Overview of Contemporary Mysteries
Robert Randisi has succeeded masterfully in pulling together a single volume of works that provides his reader with a brief, thorough, and excellent overview of contemporary mysteries.The stories in this collection feature the "first" cases of many of today's leading sleuths.Unlike many short story anthologies, there is a great range in tone and subject matter in this FIRST CASES volume.Some stories are cozies while others are hardboiled.All fit somewhere across our genre's spectrum.

I was pointed to this short story collection by my favorite mystery bookseller.I told her I needed a fresh text for this upcoming semester's course on writing mystery short stories that I regularly teach in the California State University system.Students in that class usually have a wide range of writing interests, and FIRST CASES--VOLUME 3 provides models that can apply to their varying literary efforts.It features stories by Tony Hillerman, Gar Anthony Haywood, Laura Lippman, Lawrence Block, Maxine O'Callaghan, and Anne Perry, among others.There is even a Talmage Powell story dating from the mystery genre's pulp fiction years.I am quite pleased with this collection, and it is now among my course's required texts when this semester's course begins soon.

it was allright
i thought it was not very good

Late-night Snacks That Add No Pounds
These morsels are ideal for bedtime delectation.To quote "Death of the Mallory Queen" narrator Chip Harrison,the `Archie' of Lawrence Block's laugh-out-loud take-off on Nero Wolfe and assorted generic conventions: "Ifthis were novel length I'd say whateach of them was wearing and whoscowled and who looked interested, but Haig says there's not enough plothere for a novel and that you have to be more concise in short stories ...." Lack of complexity and lightning-quick resolutions aside,pleasures are many. First published in 1949, Talmage Powell's "Her DaggerBefore Me" reads like a picture postcard of the era come to life on thepage. "Chee's Witch" spread lore. In "Snow," a new story,StuartKaminsky'sPorfiry Petrovich Rostnikov is a uniformed police whose futuredepends on his ability to woo his damaged left leg. Storiesare arranged by age, from masters to the "new breed,"the former beingprimarily male [with the exception of Maxine O'Callaghan, creator ofDelilah West,according the editor, the first modern female P.I.] and thelatter being women.The modern female sleuths -- Shugak, Matelli,Plum,Monaghan -- are fearless about defining for themselves the meaning of guiltand justice.

Excellent
This book is just as the name suggests, new, classic tales of detection. It fulfills your need and desire for such stories. It is a must for mystery lovers. ... Read more

Product Description
serial killer is preying on pregnant women in East St. Louis, Illinois.At the Mayors request, Detective Joe Keough helps Detective Jeter with the investigation. The two men work frantically to discover the perpetrator of these increasingly sick and twisted crimes, before another young woman and her unborn baby are killed in this riveting murder mystery.Amazon.com Review
There's something very old-fashioned about Robert J. Randisi's East of the Arch. While its serial-killer plot certainly offers some gripping moments, the characters--from the edge-treading lead cop to its self-absorbed politicians--are straight out of the How to Write Police Procedurals manual. And its principal perpetrator bears not even a hint of a redeeming quality. That Randisi nonetheless manages to keep one reading attests to the time-oiled ease of his prose.

Joe Keough (introduced in 1995's Alone with the Dead) is a former New York City homicide detective, now living in St. Louis and doing mind-numbing security work for that city's mayor. But East of the Arch finds his expertise in solving serial slayings needed across the Mississippi, in the bad-rep Illinois burg of East St. Louis, where two women have been murdered during the forcible removal of their unborn children. Struggling to avoid myriad distractions, including a job offer in Washington, D.C., and rumors of abuse within the prospective foster family of a boy he helped more than a year before (see In the Shadow of the Arch), the instinct-driven Keough and an eager young local detective search for a sociopathic misogynist who is already nurturing his next victim--"his crowning achievement."

Though Randisi's history as an administrative assistant with the NYPD informs his storytelling, East of the Arch is too predictable, with a rapid summing-up that wastes the tension it had been progressively building. The 40-year-old Keough, an unsettled diabetic-in-denial, has all the makings of a thoroughbred series figure, but this novel doesn't give him the challenge he needs to show his strengths. --J. Kingston Pierce ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a very good read
This book by Randisi was a very good read.I enjoyed this book a lot and hope to read more by this author in the future. It was my first book by him and I enjoyed it.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

A FAST PACED , FIRST RATE MUST READ STORY!!!
EAST OF THE ARCH is the third installment in the Joe Keough detective series from master story teller Robert J Randisi. Considering moving on in his career, Joe's mind is changed when he is loaned out by his boss, the mayor of St. Louis, to investigate a serial killing spree that is occuring there. Keough has assigned to him a "task force" consisting of a young Mark Twain quoting dective, Marc Jeter( who I would like to see teamed up with Keough again) and their "girl Friday" Jenny Sykes. The three begin the investigation of a serial killer who is killing pregnant women. Also showing up from Joe's past is Valerie Speck and the boy Brady who were involve in Keough's first case in St. Louis and the IA detectives Mason & Gail who are still out to get Keough any way they can. Add a seperate murder to the mix and once again Randisi weaves a first rate mystery. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND EAST OF THE ARCH and hope there are many more Randisi Joe Keough books coming out.

excellent police procedural
Detective Joe Keough is a St. Louis Detective who is the mayor's "top cop" which means he is little more than a bodyguard.He misses working in the field. Joe is actually thinking of leaving and moving on to someplace where he can do some actual police work when the mayor of East St. Louis in Illinois asks the mayor of St. Louis to loan him a police officer who has had experience in apprehending serial killers.

Joe is the logical choice and he jumps at the chance to find out who is killing pregnant women and ripping out their fetuses.When Joe sets up his new office there are two such killings and he knows it is only a matter of time before there is a third.He is paired off with police officer Marc Jeeter, an idealistic man who badly wants catch this maniac and put him and put him in a cage but that won't be an easy take because there are political forces at work with a different agenda.

Robert J. Randisi is an author who knows how to write an excellent police procedural.He shows a step-by-step investigation in progress and the reader gets so caught up in it that he can't put the book down until he learns how it all turns out.Part of the book is told by the viewpoint of the villain. This is exciting and horrifying at the same time.EAST OF THE ARCH is a fantastic installment in this long running series.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more