California in the early 1960s. Congressman Charlie Marder is doing a favor for Robert Kennedy, but it's not a typical favor that a congressman might do for an attorney general. Charlie's in Hollywood cozying up to Frank Sinatra, trying to learn what connection the singer might have to the notorious mobster Sam Giancana. Well, if you're going to be friends with Sinatra, that means you're friends with the whole Rat Pack, and this hugely entertaining sequel to 2018's The Hellfire Club is full of larger-than-life famous people: Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, and more. The book has a thoroughly involving story--Charlie finds himself in some serious jeopardy--and Tapper, best known as a news anchor for CNN, is clearly having a great time re-creating Tinseltown in the Swinging Sixties. Recommend this one to Robert J. Randisi's Rat Pack series, including You Make Me Feel So Dead (2013), in which Sinatra and pals "chaperone" Elvis in Vegas.

Set in 1962, Tapper's excellent sequel to 2018's The Hellfire Club opens with a highly effective tease. New York congressman Charlie Marder is in a California cemetery along with his wife, Margaret, and members of the Rat Pack, including Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, who chose the grim locale to mark the passing of mobster Lucky Luciano. After the gathering ends, the Marders return to their rental car, only to find the body of an unnamed woman both of them knew in the trunk, her eyes shot out. On that cliffhanger, Tapper flashes back a month to New York City, where Marder gets a disturbing call from his political fixer father, Winston, who has been arrested for consorting with gangsters. During their brief jailhouse talk, Winston asks Marder to find out what Attorney General Robert Kennedy wants "and give it to him." That turns out to be information on the relationships between Mafia leaders and Hollywood stars, such as Sinatra. The plot eventually circles back to the female corpse. Tapper makes good use of the rich source material. Fans of Max Allan Collins's Nathan Heller books will be pleased. Agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly. (May)

In 1962, Congressman Charlie Marder is sent to Hollywood to spy on Frank Sinatra and find out what special favor mobster Sam Giancana, a buddy of the singer's, wants from him. Charlie, a moderate New York Republican, is forced into taking on the assignment. Under the authority of Attorney General Robert Kennedy (who makes a brief appearance), the feds have imprisoned Charlie's ailing father, power broker Winston Marder, on charges of consorting with criminals. They won't release him until Charlie gets the goods on Giancana. The congressman has fun out West posing as a consultant to The Manchurian Candidate, less fun when he and his sleuthing wife, Margaret, find a dead body in the trunk of their rented car. What's this secret worth killing for? Successful mysteries have been built on weaker premises, but Tapper does little in the way of plot construction. Stuffed with gossipy tidbits that have long withered on the vine and useless trivia (do we really need Janet Leigh explaining the technical achievement of Psycho?), this sequel to The Hellfire Club (2018) never gains steam. Sinatra is a cardboard figure who rants a lot, especially after his pal John F. Kennedy reneges on plans to stay with him during a presidential visit to California. Margaret, a zoologist who entertains herself categorizing the Rat Packers (Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford are "omega wolves"), awakens slowly to their alpha leader's true character: "Sinatra was so mercurial and abusive, she no longer thought his ego was that of the mere superstar." Charlie keeps talking himself into seeing the singer in a more positive vein: "Being a sociopath didn't necessarily mean an absence of charisma," he muses, appreciating Sinatra's "great acts of decency and humanity." The best exchange in the book, uttered at a murder scene, seems unintentionally funny: "Where's the phone?" "It's around her neck." A would-be mystery boasting a smaller-than-life Sinatra. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Award-winning CNN anchor Tapper brings back Charlie and Margaret Marder of The Hellfire Club, soon to be a TV series on HBO MAX. The Sixties politicos are asked by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to investigate a threat to the country's security, which brings them to Hollywood, the Rat Pack, and the brand-new Church of Scientology.