My Kind of Town

Sandrolini delivers the noir goods in his second Joe Buonomo mystery (after 2013’s One for Our Baby). It’s 1963, and the WWII hero is returning to his hometown of Chicago for the first time in two decades at the behest of his good friend Frank Sinatra. Frank’s been “requested” to give a few singing performances for some Mafia chiefs that he can’t refuse, and he has asked Joe along for protection. Joe is hoping to keep his visit low key, but he quickly runs afoul of mobster Fiorello Carpaccio, who has a hold over Claudia Cucciabella, a chanteuse with “swirling dark tresses, Alpine curves, lips lush as mascarpone.” Joe falls for her hard, and Carpaccio is able to use that as well as threats to Joe’s family to force him to search for Al Capone’s missing loot. Jack McBride, grand chief of the Fraternal Order of the Potawatomi, wants Joe’s help with the same quest, although he offers a carrot rather than a stick. Sandrolini’s spot-on prose brings to life this tale of a beautiful dame, hulking thugs, and a treasure waiting to be found. (Nov.)