The Death of Frank Sinatra Hardcover - 1996

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996. BH2 - A first edition (stated with complete numberline) hardcover book SIGNED by Michael Ventura and inscribed to Otto (Otto Penzler) on the title page in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket and book have some bumped corners, wrinkling on the spine edges, light discoloration and shelf wear. Although not marked in any way, this copy comes from the personal collection of Otto Penzler, legendary editor and founder of the Mysterious Press, an award-winning icon in the genre. 9.5"x6.5", 305 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. "There are no innocent bystanders in Las Vegas. Nobody comes to Vegas to be innocent," writes Michael Ventura. Nobody knows this better than a Sicilian named Mike Rose, a private detective born in Las Vegas, the sone of a chorus girl and a small-time hood from the Bugsy Siegel days. Rose was raised according to the code of the city: Scared money never wins. Maybe he knows his city too well; it's not only his turf but his prison, a place he loves and hates with equal fierceness. When his brother, Alvi, unwittingly says the wrong thing at the wrong time, he sets in motion events that force Rose to confront both his family's past and Las Vegas itself - a city where the American Dream strips down to its nightmare nakedness. This is a novel about people with neon in their blood. There are crimes in this novel, but it's not a crime novel. There's a detective in this novel, but it's not a detective story. The Mob, and ex-showgirl who runs a New Age church, and a client intent on murdering her husband suck Mike Rose into a neon-lit vortex that may have no bottom, and we come face-to-face with Las Vegas the way readers met Los Angeles in The Day of the Locust.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.