I thought this was a pretty fast-paced story! It really starts off with a bang, and I couldn’t stop reading after that!

I really enjoyed the characters, and the situations. I enjoyed the location of the story in NY. It’s a bit gritty, which made it feel pretty darn real! I thought that the story was well-written, and quite captivating.

Where to Find This Book:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Goodreads

Tess Kincaid, celebrity golf professional, decides to visit and meet, for the first time, her presumptive fiancé Eddie Spinozza’s family in Albany, New York for Thanksgiving, in anticipation of the next step in their relationship. The Spinozza and Cuchinelli families have been entrenched in Albany for two generations, but Eddie has assured Tess that he is not involved in his family’s “business”. However, on the first night of her visit, sitting in The Dirty Martini Club watching Eddie perform with his band, she witnesses the brazen shooting of one of the band members. Almost simultaneously, and without much warning, an epic, once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm suffocates Albany, preventing Tess from leaving town. 

She subsequently becomes a material witness to a series of events, which the police are only reluctantly investigating. What happens next is a daring, and life-altering event that brings Eddie and Tess to a do or die scenario amid mob warfare. The results are quite unpredictable.

Just the Facts:

The Dirty Martini Club by Jude Randazzo
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Haberdashery Press
Pub Date: June 2022

What made you write a book about this topic?
A mob war. The public never seems to lose interest in the underworld of the Mafia and in The Dirty Martini Club it seemed like the perfect backdrop to contrast Eddie’s family and their values and relationships with each other with Tess’ family. The family dynamics are as different as the weather in Albany and where Tess lives, Florida.

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
I would say my life experiences coupled with observations about people around me.

There are many books out there about this topic. What makes yours different?
I try and don’t always succeed in injecting humor in my stories. It’s a difficult task but I pride myself on not taking myself seriously. I have a serious conversation with myself every ten years whether I need to or not.

What advice would you give budding writers?
Don’t go into it wanting to convince the world of something or wanting to sell a million books. You’ll fail at both. I am asked frequently by writers who have yet to complete their first book, or perhaps not gotten beyond a first chapter, what should their plan be? I only know one sure formula to succeed in writing a novel and that is to write. Write every day. Set a goal of writing five hundred or a thousand words a day. If you don’t write you won’t improve your writing skills. If you don’t read in the genre you write in, you won’t perfect your skill. We all have stories to tell. Telling them in a way that readers find intriguing, entertaining, and compelling is the difference between wanna-be writers and writers who have published books.

Why did you choose your book’s location?
The Dirty Martini Club is set in Albany, New York. I was born there and grew up there.

If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you be?
That’s an easy question. If you know me personally then you know Eddie Spinozza except, I’m much better looking than Eddie.

JUDE RANDAZZO was born in New York and lives with his family in Colorado. His paternal grandfather was born in Sicily and emigrated to New York. He is the author of the Tess Kincaid series; The Golden Cocoon, The Omen of the Crow, What You Don’t Know Can Kill You, and The Gray Fedora.

Author Links: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads

Thank you to IRead Book Tours for having me on this tour! You can see all the bloggers on tour here!

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

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