Sunburn »

When Vincente Delgatto - an aging Mafia godfather - decides to spend some time in Key West with his half-Jewish bastard son Joey Goldman (who is decidedly not in the family business), he thinks that the worst that can happen is he'll get a little too much sun. After all, the only thing he wants is peace and quiet, and some time to recover from the recent loss of his sainted wife. But then Joey introduces the old man to his pal Arty Magnus, a local reporter who has had his fill of covering what passes for crime in this funky community of tourists and refugees. Together, they cook up the idea of collaborating on the godfather's memoirs: the last word on the decline and fall of the mob. But it's not so easy. Just as Arty gets the old man to open up, others hope to shut him down. Word leaks out that the godfather is talking, and all have their own reasons for wanting him stopped - from the FBI to the New York mob to Vincente's own legitimate son Gino, who can't just stand by and watch his family business being given away. But does anyone dare target the godfather? Or do they target the godfather's ghostwriter?

Publishers Weekly

When a hack reporter agrees to ghostwrite a mafioso's memoirs, he also makes some powerful enemies in Shames's comic Florida thriller. (Mar.)