The Kings of Vegas    by Karen Mack & Jennifer Kaufman Order:  USA  Can William Morrow, 2026 (2026) Hardcover, CD, e-Book      Reviewed by Rheta Van Winkle I don't love Las Vegas. Gambling always seemed to me to be a waste of time and money. I grew up in the Los Angeles area and frequently passed through the city in an un-airconditioned car in the middle of the night on the way to somewhere else. I lost a few nickels and dimes in slot machines in the gas stations that we stopped at and was even unimpressed by the stories of the great shows you could see there. But I never thought about it as a hotbed of Mob activity until I met Josie King. Roy King ran his casino, The Jackpot, with the help of his family, and even before his children grew up and his wife died, they were always aware of the importance of the business thriving. Josie's two older brothers were trained to take over the casino, so she used her math skills to become an accountant, marrying and settling into a normal life in Los Angeles. Roy's unexpected death brought her home to union problems and her older brother's financial problems. He became her boss and assigned her the job of negotiating with the union to prevent a strike. Josie doesn't like the changes she encounters in the casino, more cameras everywhere, burly unpleasant men watching everything, and her brother refusing to answer her questions about a locked door to a storage area. Finding out that the whole place is bugged doesn't make her happy, and as she begins to look more deeply into the casino's finances, her search becomes a rollercoaster ride. This thriller is hard to put down as we travel along with Julie on her quest to solve the mysteries behind the scenes and save the casino, both from bankruptcy and a dangerous New York crime syndicate. There's an amusing side story about a romantic entanglement that Josie falls into on her way home, and enough cliffhangers to keep the reader up all night. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews