That Old Dead Magic

Book excerpt: It’s 1965 and the Rat Pack isn’t drawing at the Sands like they used to. Now Dino’s playing golf, and Frank is playing the Sahara. And the marquee at the Sands advertises SAMMY DAVIS JR. & JERRY LEWIS. Eddie G. never got Jerry Lewis. Didn’t think he was funny, didn’t think Dean needed him. So he had no intention of seeing the show, or of meeting Dean’s ex-partner. But Sammy comes to Eddie and asks him to help Jerry with a problem—one that might lead to murder. Because he likes Sammy, he agrees. At the same time Eddie’s P.I. friend, Danny Bardini, comes to Eddie looking for a pretty girl to use as bait in a case he’s working on. He ends up getting Eddie’s blessing to recruit Gina, a waitress at the Sands who is waiting for a spot to open up on the line at the Riviera. Only when the spot finally becomes available, Gina’s gone missing. Eddie, Danny and Jerry Epstein, Eddie’s Brooklyn mob connection, end up working together to hopefully find Gina alive, and keep Jerry Lewis from committing murder.