The Starlight Club 12: The Golden Spike Casino by Joe Corso

Double dealings and danger in gangland Queens.

For those lovers of gangster stories set in the early 1960’s New York, where tough men played for high stakes and the old values still held high, then there doesn’t get better than the Starlight Club series.

Set in Queens, the stories are told by Bobby, who now lives with his daughter Lynn. He may be aging, but the good old days are still clear memories, and she loves to hear his stories. Big Red Fortunato is the owner of the famous Starlight Club and the boss. With his captains Trenchie, and Tarzan, and their loyal employees, this is their territory and only the foolish go up against them.

However, there are always fools who think they can take over, or dupe the boss, and sometimes they have to learn the hard way…

This is the case in this exciting story where a gang of young thugs think they can disrupt the status quo in Queens, and learn very quickly that vandalizing vending and slot machines on Red’s turf is a BAD idea. However Red knows they’re not the brains behind the petty behaviour and, there’s more to it than meets the eye. It doesn’t take much leaning on them to turn them into quivering wrecks who are only too keen to rat on the person whose put them in the situation. However, when they spill the beans, Red quickly realises that their contact is only small fry too, one in a chain. Deeper investigations reveal that there’s a take-over plan is being hatched by someone further afield with grandiose ideas.

Indeed, Haiti is a long way away from Queens, there Bernard Levey is safe, scheming with the islands voodoo dictator Poppa Doc. However when Levey steps onto Red’s home turf he discovers he has not only Red to answer to, but there is also a little matter to be dealt with concerning millions which went missing in his other life, a time when he was known as Ira Goldblum.

It’s action at every turn, and as this story evolves, the plots cascade into each other. The author, Joe Corso’s fans already know the wonderful tales he can tell through Bobby, however, it’s not just the storylines and fantastic plots which make this author’s stories shine out from the crowd, it’s his characters. Through his writing readers get a real insight into the close knit community which is the gangland mobs, their loyalties, their taboos and the mind-set of these men who will take a bullet if necessary for what they believe in.

+6

Whether you read the Starlight Club stories as they are published, or pick them to read randomly, it doesn’t matter. The characters, the settings, and the action make this series one every fan of crime, adventure and gangland dealings will love.

About the Author:

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I Grew up in Queens, New York. I’m a Korea Veteran and I retired from the FDNY. I started writing late in life hoping to help my grandchildren pay for their college education. I found that I could write a good story, resulting in 33 books and 38 awards and a multiple top 100 author.

AWARDS

The STARLIGHT CLUB (12 awards)
1 SILVER in the 2012 eLit contest in the ‘TRUE CRIME’ category’.
2 HONORABLE MENTION in the 2013 Reader’s Favorite ‘HISTORICAL FICTION’ category’.
3 IPPY award FINALIST in 2014.
4 GOLD SEAL MONTAIGNE MEDAL FINALIST in 2014 ERIC HOFFER BOOK CONTEST.
5 FINALIST in the 2014 (NIEA) National Indie Excellence Awards-CRIME-FICTION Category
6 BRONZE on August 25, 2014, in the CIPA HISTORICAL FICTION category.
7 FINALIST in the 2015 USA Regional Excellence Book awards.
8 Included in Shelf Unbound’s 100 best Indie Books of 2015 as a NOTABLE INDIE
9 FINALIST in the 2015 USA REBA NORTHEAST Regional Contest Fiction Category
10 HONORABLE MENTION in Library Thing 2013 Book Contest.
11 2019 INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE in the Crime Fiction Category.

THE STARLIGHT CLUB 2
12 2015 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR SO FAR

THE LONE JACK KID (3 awards)
13 FINALIST in the 2013 READER’S FAVORITE in the ‘WESTERN’ category. (1)
14 FINALIST in the 2014 LARAMIE AWARDS. (2)

THE LONE JACK KID: THE RETURN (Award winner) (3)
15 TRUEWEST MAGAZINE – Best of the West 2016: Western Books – Self Published Category

THE REVENGE OF JOHN W. (Award winner)
16 2nd place Winner in 2015, 21st Annual C.I.P.A. E.V.V.Y. Book awards in the FICTION/WESTERN Category.

FIRE: BOX 598′ (Short Story) (Award winner)
17 BRONZE in the 2013 Readers Favorite contest – ‘HISTORICAL NON FICTION’ category.

‘ENGINE 24: FIRE STORIES 1, 2, 3’ (5 awards)
18 BRONZE-FIRE STORIES: BOX 598
19 SILVER-in the 2015 eLit contest in the ‘ESSAY/CREATIVE NON-FICTION category.
20 FINALIST-Chanticleer 2016 Book Contest in the Short Story Category.
21 FINALIST 2017 Book of the Year Award in the GENERAL NON-FICTION Category.
22 HONORABLE MENTION-ENGINE 24 FIRE STORIES 1, 2, 3 2016 CHANTICLEER OVERALL BEST SHORT STORY/NOVELETTE

LAFITTE’S TREASURE (7 awards)
23 GOLD in the 2015 eLit contest in the HISTORICAL FICTION category.
24 2015 BOOK COVER was a DaVinci FINALIST in the ERIC HOFFER BOOK CONTEST.
25 2015 BOOK was awarded Da VINCI EYE FINALIST in the ERIC HOFFER BOOK CONTEST
5 STAR REVIEW by READER’S FAVORITE in May 2015
26 2015 BEST COVER AWARD by BooksGoSocial.com. Was awarded a cash prize by Lawrence O’Brian of Dublin, Ireland. Voting performed by the public and judges.
27 3RD PLACE WINNER in 2015, 21st annual C.I.P.A. E.V.V.Y. BOOK AWARDS in the FICTION/HISTORICAL category.
28 2015 Chanticlear BOOK AWARDS CLUE FINALIST for Thriller/Suspense
29 2016 GOETHE FINALIST – Post-1750 HISTORICAL FICTION

TOMMY TOPPER AND THE PIXIE PRINCESS (2 awards)
30 FINALIST at the 2015 READER’S FAVORITE AWARD CEREMONY held in Miami.
(5 STAR REVIEW by READER’S FAVORITE.)
31 FINALIST in the 2017 IAN Book of the Year Award in the CHILDREN’S FICTION Category

THE OLD MAN AND THE KING: (2 awards)
32 GOLDEN EARPHONES AWARD WINNER – by Joe Corso | Read by Al Benelli
33 Finalist in the 2017 Readers Favorite contest

Mystery & Suspense * 5.75 hrs. * Unabridged * © 2013
This entertaining thriller features an improbable hero, Lom, a 72-year-old Korean war veteran who’s still a crack shot. He quickly sets out to save Toby, the king of a fictitious country who’s hiding out in Lom’s favorite diner after dodging an attempted assassination on a New York City street. Narrator Al Benelli portrays the male characters in this slightly wacky story with verve and a spirit of adventure. He sets the stage for Lom’s adventures with a fluid delivery and excellent pacing. Further, his interpretations intensify the political machinations and international chicanery in the king’s fictitious country. He intensifies the brutality of the mobster and his hired killers and sounds fittingly concerned as Lom’s girlfriend, Martha. Overall, Benelli presents completely entertaining audio. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Golden Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2015]

THE TIME TRAVELER (3 awards)
34 FINALIST in the 2016 Readers Favorite Book Contest
35 FINALIST in the 2016 BOOK EXCELLENCE AWARD CONTEST Science Fiction Category
36 The Time Traveler was selected as Many Book’s April Book of the Month under the Sci-Fi genre.

A portion of Rabia Tanveer’s December 2015 Reader’s Favorite 5 Star Review of the “Time Traveler” follows.

“I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about this novel. However, I could not help myself, I had to read it. I’ve heard great things about Joe Corso and the way he writes, so I thought this would be the perfect time to start a novel and see what he’s got. And you know what? I was so into this story that I did not even realize that I was almost halfway done. It was interesting and very refreshing. It was so good that I started to re-read it immediately after I finished it. Huge thumbs up for Mr. Corso for writing such a great story.”

SHOOTOUT IN CHEYENNE (2 awards)
37 2016 BOOK EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER in the WESTERN CATEGORY
38 2017 TRUE WEST BEST OF THE WEST – SELF PUBLISHED & SMALL PRESS WESTERN BOOKS CATEGORY

About the Book:

Meyer Lansky, famous crime boss, has to leave his beautiful luxury hotel, Habana Riviera in a hurry when government unrest causes upheaval in Cuba. In the confusion of exiting the country, one of Meyer’s trusted associates, Ira Goldbaum, steals millions of dollars of Meyer’s money and hastily leaves the country. Meyer vows to get even and to recover his money, but when his closest friend Charlie “Lucky” Luciano dies, he has no one to trust to help him find Ira and get back what is rightfully his. Then he remembers Big Red Fortunato, a powerful mob boss who is not connected to the corruption of the conglomerate Meyer has been instrumental in creating.
Red is glad to help Meyer, putting their past differences aside, but he has a laundry list of other pressing issues that are part of being a crime boss. Besides entertaining Meyer Lansky, there are a group of young punks busting up slot machines and jukeboxes that Red owns, he has company from Las Vegas, and his wife called, hinting at trouble at his movie studios in Los Angeles. Red feels pushed and pulled from coast to coast as the thought occurs to him: Can all of these problems be connected in some way?
This is the twelfth explosive installment in the award-winning Starlight Club series by Joe Corso, following the adventures of Big Red Fortunato and his cohort of colorful characters.

Available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HDCP8H7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl...