Charlie Opera by Charlie Stella

I read this mystery anthology called Dublin Noir looking for new authors choosing Charlie Stella (www.charliestella.com) and glad I did. The flight back from Costa Rica was showing one of those overly pretentious movies designed to make Academy voters cry - The Soloist - so I read on the flights home, finishing this compact story on my travel day.

This one needs a list of characters:

The innocent bystanders:

Charlie Pellechia: retired high level window washer from NYC

Lisa Pellechia: Charlie's 2nd wife

John Denton: Lisa's on again off again affair

Samantha Cole: Vegas bartender who takes a shine to Charlie

Carol Curitan: Samantha's roommate on the run from her abusive redneck husband

Beau Curitan: said abusive husband

The wise guys:

Anthony Cuccia: under boss of the NYC Vignieri crime family

Nicholas Cuccia: Anthony's nephew. A made man in the mob

Vincent Lano: veteran mafia heavy, diagnosed with throat cancer and not long to live

Joey Francone: up and coming heavy looking to make a good impression and become a made man

Rizzi: recently jilted rich boy trying to prove his manhood by buying his way into the mob

Jerry Lercasi: Las Vegas mobster. The top of the LV mob pyramid

Allan Fein: one of Lercasi's lawyers who carries out the wishes of the boss, does a little freelance work, and has a taste for young girls.

Minh Quan: head of the Vietnamese Black Dragon gang in LV

Minh's wife: (didn't want to take the time to find her name) a hitwoman

The cops:

Agent Thomas: DEA with a hold on Nick Cuccia to get him to turn in his uncle

Special Agent Walsh: LV FBI special agent in charge

Det. Gold: LV police detective on the organize crime task force

Det. Iandolli: Gold's partner

Now let's see if I can explain this. Take a deep breath:

In NYC, Nick Cuccia grabs Lisa Pellechia's ass in a bar and Charlie breaks his jaw (making Charlie legendary in the NY organized crime task force who call him Charlie Opera cuz of his love of opera) and now Nick wants Charlie whacked but Charlie and Lisa have gone to Vegas to repair their marriage which doesn't work meaning Charlie goes off on a bender, meets the bartender Samantha, gets mugged, then his wife runs out on him and she too gets mugged by Lano and Fancone pissing Charlie off, but not as much as Jerry Lercasi who is p.o.ed because the NY mob didn't follow protocol and talk to him, instead they went through Fein to handle the hits but Charlie turns out to be pretty resourceful managing to outsmart and outslug Francone, Rizzi, and the Vietnamese that gets Fein whacked but Lano feels guilty about his role in putting Lisa in the hospital and helps Charlie and Lisa's boyfriend do some pretty nefarious things (before he blows himself up with a hand grenade) with Francone and Nick Cuccio involving leather, dildos, strapons, a rebroken jaw, and a couple instamatic cameras whose pictures land on the desk of the FBI and Vegas police who can't seem to hang onto Nick who is now after Charlie and Samantha but not before a few more bodies pile up worrying the Vegas Better Business Bureau's deteriorating image of Vegas as Beau tracks down Carol to Samantha's apartment and tries but fails to rape Samantha and runs off, thinking he got away after shooting her in the leg but Det Iandolli gets Jerry Lercasi to use his connections in NV to track Beau down who ends up as a meal for coyotes, Nick dies in a shootout, Lisa and John head for LA, Charlie buys Samantha a dog and a topless Russian mob chick on a jet ski kills Uncle Tony Cuccio on the Hudson.

Got it? And I left out a bunch of minor subplots. If all his stories are as clever and entertaining as this one, it won't be long before I've gone through them all.

East Coast Don