Family Blood

Young New York City lawyer David Crossman is lured into the pop music biz by mysterious old Nathan Silver. We learn in flashbacks what takes David a while to understand: Nathan is his grandfather Bernie (ne Ruben ``the Gent'' Ginzburg), ex-hitman for Detroit mobster Pino Feldman in the '30s and '40s. Before ratting on Pino to the Feds, the Gent helped legendary jazz star Eve Silk get started. Their biracial affair is paralleled in David's liaison with rising songstress Rita Moses. David's lawyer-father Ralph, born Miltie Ginzburg, hides his roots as does his lover Margo Cunningham, nee Muriel Smith. In almost no time we're spun into a hectic tale of show-biz corruption and multigenerational vendettas. The book's frenetic pace--lit by the flashbacks, in which Gent Ginzburg, a great, sweet and savage character, steals the show--leads to a bloody, symmetrical ending. Novelist ( Barbells and Saxophones ), biographer (Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson), songwriter (``Sexual Healing'') Ritz knows this milieu and depicts it with vastly entertaining skill. 50,000 first printing; $40,000 ad/promo; BOMC featured alternate. (Mar.)