by Patricia Bellomo | Aug 6, 2013 | Mob Blog
[dcs_p]Local Restaurant Welcomes Crime Novelist, Patricia Bellomo[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Sajo’s Restaurant in Clinton Township, “the place with great taste,” is hosting a booksigning for crime novelist, Patricia Bellomo. This event will take place on Wednesday, August 14, 2013. Time: 7:00 – 9:00 pm[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Bellomo is promoting her latest thriller, Louie Morelli’s Mistress.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Bellomo refers to her books as mob thrillers, and the novels do have a definite appeal for fans of mob books and movies. But Bellomo’s books are not classic “mobster” stories, although her characters are mobsters. One reviewer calls them “daring and suspenseful thrillers.” There’s also a good dose of intrigue and plenty of romantic suspense.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Contrary to her previous novels, which were set in South Florida, Bellomo’s latest book provides readers with a glimpse of New Orleans’s gritty underword. In Louie Morelli’s Mistress, a naive young realtor falls for the mistress of crime boss, Louie Morelli. A hot love affair ensues. Soon the young man–Robert, finds himself caught between the mob and FBI. “There’s a moral dilema,” explains the crime novelist. “Good versus evil. My characters are flawed.” [/dcs_p][dcs_p]
“It’s a perfect beach read,” says Bellomo, emphasizing that her books are pure fiction. “They’re entertaining reads for those who like suspense and intrigue in exotic settings.” [/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Bellomo’s debut novel and Miami Beach thriller, Stella di Mare, was released in 2010, followed by Louie Morelli’s Daughter in 2011. Both of these books and Louie Morelli’s Mistress will be available for purchase at the booksigning.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Sajo’s is located at 36470 Moravian, in Clinton Township. The restaurant offers traditional American fare as well as authentic Mediterranean cuisine, with specialty items like Athenian lamb chops, saganaki, and a variety of steaks and seafood. [/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Free admittance. Food and drinks offered by Sajo’s at retail prices.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Bellomo’s books are available on Amazon, major book retailers, and on all e-readers. Also on AmazonEU & AmazonUK.
by Patricia Bellomo | Jul 30, 2013 | Mob Blog
[dcs_p]Mob Blog: Mob Music, July 30, 2013[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Mob Music is my favorite type of music. Somewhere in the early eighties, I abandoned pop-culture. Even though I was still relatively young, I somehow missed the top bands of the era. Now, I’m like, Justin … who? Oh, wait—the Biebs. Yes, I have heard of the Biebs.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Seriously, once I was old enough to shake the stars out of my eyes—good-bye Jimmy Page—I realized that what I really liked was mob music. I didn’t know it was mob music. Nobody called it that then. But, oh, the old crooners. Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Al Martino singing The Godfather songs. Paul Anka, Jerry Vale, and Louis Prima. Who can beat them?[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
As a writer, my work is mental. Noise distracts me. Loud music crowds my brain, prevents me from thinking. But give me an evening in Roma or a little summer wind, and I’m dreaming. I suppose it’s the romantic in me. And there’s a bit of nostalgia at play. After all, these were the songs I heard growing up. The songs that played at weddings and family parties—the backdrop of an era. The sounds of my life.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
My penchant for mob music might have something to do with me being Italian. But then again, maybe it’s an American thing, part and parcel of our culture. Just last week my husband and I were at the Rochester Chop House in Rochester, Michigan. At the next table there was a large group of Polish people. They explained to us that they were in town at the invitation of Chrysler, whose headquarters is in nearby Auburn Hills. They’re stay would be short—just a couple of weeks—but they were making the most of it. The Chop House employs a gifted pianist, and they kept requesting songs. Guess what song they requested?[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
No, it wasn’t the polka. My Polish acquaintances wanted to hear That’s Amore. I guess that’s American. Mob music the world over.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Patricia Bellomo is the author of the crime and mob thrillers, Louie Morelli’s Mistress, Stella di Mare, and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. Patricia lives in the Detroit area with her husband, Vince, traveling frequently to South Florida and less frequently to New Orleans, the settings for her novels.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Books available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Also available in digital format for all e-readers. Amazon.UK & Amazon.EU
by Patricia Bellomo | Jul 10, 2013 | Mob Blog
Politicians & Prostitutes, July 10, 2013
In Louie Morelli’s words …
My favorite politician has been in the news lately. He was caught having sex with a prostitute. I’m not the least bit surprised. In fact, I’ve fixed him up on several dates throughout the years. But the senator puts on the good-ole boy upstanding citizen act, and now he’s blubbering away on the news. Making a damned fool of himself.
What is it with politicians & prostitutes?
What is it with politicians and prostitutes? I’ve never known one who didn’t pay and play. And this guy paid and played so much it’s a wonder he didn’t get caught before.
They’ve been showing pictures of the prostitute—a low-grade escort with a fake rack. Not even a looker. My favorite politician gets on the phone to me. “I’m flying down this weekend,” he tells me. The senator has a place in Palm Beach. We sometimes do lunch or a game of golf, when the cameras aren’t spying, that is. “I’d like to talk to you.”
I tell him I’m busy. He senses my coolness and starts to explain about the scandal. He apologizes to me. I could give a damn what he does, but this politician is in Washington because of me, and he knows he’s messed up. And I really am angry. I’ve got a lot invested in him. And now he’s involved with this bimbo prostitute. He has the nerve to tell me that he cares for her.
“She might not feel the same way,” I tell him. “She’s talking to the media.”
The senator admits this could be a problem. “She wants to be famous,” he says.
“Too bad for you.”
“I might have to pay her off. Or something like that,” he says. “How much … er … uh … would something like that cost?”
For a minute I don’t say anything. I can’t believe he just said this. And on a cell phone! I’m thinking … didn’t he give a news conference last week condemning the NSA for spying on us? Now I know I’ve bet on the wrong horse. I hang up without saying a word.
Patricia Bellomo is the author of the crime and mob thriller books, Louie Morelli’s Mistress, Stella di Mare, and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. Politicians & Prostitutes was written in the voice of her main character, Louie Morelli.
Books available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Amazon.UK & Amazon.EU. Books are also available in digital formats.
by Patricia Bellomo | Jun 29, 2013 | Mob Blog
[dcs_p]Mob Blog: Miami Beach, June 29, 2013[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
In Louie Morelli’s words ….[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
I’m in Miami Beach with Victor. It’s the weekend before the 4th of July. We’re on the Stella di Mare, which is in a slip at the Miami Beach Marina. Storm clouds are bunched up on the edge of the horizon, blowing up from the Caribbean, but this doesn’t deter two bikini-clad young women from sunning themselves on the deck of my eighty-foot Hatteras. The girls just want to have fun.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
The ladies are thirtyish. One of them—Victor’s date, Molly—works at Franco’s, where we went last night. Molly introduced me to her friend, Heather, a recent transplant from Kansas City. Upon introduction, Heather gave me a meaningful little smile and said, “I just love Miami Beach.” [/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Heather has fulfilled her purpose for being on my boat. She’s a nice girl, although she’s a little anxious. Trying too hard, I suspect. Heather has made it clear she wants to see me again. She knows I have deep pockets. She’s heard a well-founded rumor that I signed over a chunk of prime Miami Beach real estate to my last girlfriend. “Baby, don’t believe everything you hear,” I told her. “There were extenuating circumstances.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
It is true that I bequeathed the renowned Walker Hotel on Miami Beach to Tara. She is a very lovely lady with whom I had a very hot affair. (Stella di Mare) The transfer of Miami real estate to Tara was a rare occurrence. In fact, I can emphatically state that it will never happen again. But this doesn’t mean that I can’t show a girl a good time.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Heather and Molly are drinking Bloody Mary’s. Victor’s reading the Miami-Herald, the edges of his newspaper flapping in the breeze. I’ve been on the phone, talking business. Now I hit the End button on the smart phone my daughter insisted I upgrade to, and which I really can’t stand, and look upwards. The clouds are moving in. It’s time to go.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
“Victor,” I say. “Tell them we’re ready.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
The Stella’s engines are already running. Victor goes inside to tell the captain I’ve given the word. Molly pouts. She’s due on shift at Franco’s in a few hours and can’t go with us. But Heather will travel as far as Fort Lauderdale, where we’ll stop for lunch. From there I’ll send her home in a cab.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
I glance at my watch. It’s high noon on a Saturday in Miami Beach. My wife doesn’t expect me home until midnight. I have the whole day to play.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Patricia Bellomo is the author of the crime and mob fiction novels, Louie Morelli’s Mistress, Stella di Mare, and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. Patricia lives in the Detroit area with her husband, Vince, travelling frequently to South Florida and less frequently to New Orleans, the settings for her novels.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
This blog was written in the voice of her main character, mobster Louie Morelli.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Patricia’s books are available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Also in digital format for all e-readers.
by Patricia Bellomo | Jun 18, 2013 | Mob Blog
[dcs_p]Mob Blog: My Summer With Jimmy Hoffa, June 18, 2013[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
I was fourteen the summer Jimmy Hoffa disappeared. Before his disappearance I knew of him … vaguely. I grew up in a suburb of Detroit, and only the tone-deaf or very young had never heard of Jimmy Hoffa. I’d heard the name on television and seen it in the newspapers, but it held no significance for me. It was background noise. After all, I was fourteen, and it was summer.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Like Coleman Young and Walter Reuther, Hoffa was mentioned in adult conversations and on the evening news. This was the seventies, and we didn’t have the twenty-four hour news cycle that we do today, but I’d heard enough to know that Jimmy Hoffa was a bigshot.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Then one morning I came downstairs for breakfast, and my mother said, “Jimmy Hoffa’s missing.”[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
It was big news. I didn’t quite understand it. No one had ever really explained to me what the Teamsters were, although the Teamsters and UAW were code words for those boring news cycles I regularly tuned out. But now my mother explained the details to the best of her ability. As I understood it, there was no great mystery. Everyone assumed that Jimmy Hoffa had been taken by the men who’d given him his power—the mob.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Now someone had to explain to me what the mafia was and how it operated. But I was confused, particularly since I was hearing the surnames of family friends and acquaintances on the evening news. Familiar names, more familiar than Hoffa’s had ever been.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Eventually, the Hoffa story dragged on, and the rest, as they say, is history. But I’m bringing this story to you today because the FBI is digging again in Oakland County. It’s the third or fourth dig in recent years, and it’s the lead story on the local news. Naturally, I understand everything a whole lot better now.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Hearing the details of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance again, with flashes of photo’s of the Machus Red Fox, which is now an Andiamo’s—a local restaurant chain that my husband and I occasionally frequent, brings to mind that late summer of my youth when world events crept in and left a defining moment, in much the same way Nixon and Watergate had marked an earlier summer.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
For me, it’s a bit nostalgic. Those seventies summers were gorgeous, the days when I knew leisure untouched by work or responsibility. For the Hoffa family it was the beginning of a long, lingering nightmare.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
For all the media hype accompanying this latest dig, I’m skeptical. A farmer who raised livestock on the property claims he buried dead pigs on the land so the FBI may turn up a few bones. I’m sure they’ll know if they’re human or not.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
So the dig continues today, with the media and a crowd of spectators watching from a distance.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
If they find Jimmy Hoffa’s body, you’ll know. It will be all over the news for days and weeks to come. And then I’ll have another summer of Hoffa.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Patricia Bellomo is the author of the crime and mob fiction novels, Louie Morelli’s Mistress, Stella di Mare, and Louie Morelli’s Daughter. Patricia lives in the Detroit area with her husband, Vince, travelling frequently to South Florida and less frequently to New Orleans, the settings for her novels.[/dcs_p][dcs_p]
Books available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. Also available in digital format for all e-readers. Available on AmazonUK & AmazonEU.
