Max Rossi

Created by Paul W. Papa

Here we go again…

MASSIMO “MAX” ROSSI is the suitably hard-boiled house detective for the infamous Sands Hotel & Casino in 1950s Las Vegas, which means a lot of Rat Pack references, drinks and babes and gangsters and goons galore, of course.

It all feels sorta like a cup of instant soup; like all the author had to do was add hot water to some pre-mixed, dehydrated ingredients, from the “been there, done that” set-up to the pulpy, artfully distressed covers and the oh-so-au courant labelling of the books as “Crime Noir.” Even the dedication of the first book, 2020’s Maximum Rossi, to “Raymond and Dashiell” lands like a soft thud, too on-the-nose by half.

Naturally, it’s full of snappy patter, narrated in first person by Max, and most of the expected tropes are trotted out. Max carries a .38 in a shoulder rig, drives a spiffy, bright red Roadmaster convertible and spends a lot of time tangling with various mobster types, like the infamous Meyer Lansky and the Highwaymen, an ambitious gang of scam artists and thieves who have moved into town.

And babes. Soft, pliant, willing, seductive. The author may cite Chandler and Hammett, but there’s more than a dash of Shell Scott in the mix, as well.

The son of a Boston fixer for the mob, Max initially flew out west for a pal’s bachelor party, but ended up staying behind because he liked Sin City’s vibe. And the gambling.

Not so crazy about being unemployed and not willing to use his dad’s connections to work for any of the local gangs, but Max eventually he scores a gig as the house dick for the Sands and by the third novel, Rossi’s Risk (2023), he’s landed a private investigators license.

So… nothing really new.

And yet, and yet, and yet…

While it might not have been made from scratch (or even from fresh ingredients), I’ve gotta admit that this is still a pretty tasty broth. It even got a few favorable reviews from some respectable sources.