The Spies in Jimmy’s Place by Michael Mayo; Camel Press imprint of Epicenter Press; © 2025; ISBN 9781684-923083; 292 pages; $18.95.
SAN DIEGO – In this novel, the sixth in a series of Jimmy Quinn mysteries, bar owner Jimmy Quinn, who makes deliveries and runs errands for Jewish mobster Meyer Lansky, settles a score with American Nazis seven years before the U.S. entry into World War II.
The action is triggered by the arrest of Bruno Hauptmann, later convicted of the kidnap and murder of the 20-month son of Charles Lindbergh. Nazis wanted to recruit the baby’s father, aviator Charles Lindbergh, to their cause and figured Hauptmann’s German origins might dissuade Lindbergh from becoming a pro-German, America-First spokesperson who’d argue against American support for Great Britain and its Allies. (Lindbergh later filled that role.)
American Nazis figured the heinous murder might anger ordinary Americans as well. So, in an effort to blame the Jews, they plotted a crime that would divert attention from Hauptmann.
Fat Joe was a bouncer at Jimmy’s Place whom no one really liked, but when Nazis dumped his body at Jimmy’s Place after a brutal beating and torture, Jimmy and his retinue took it personally. Then when some Nazis thugs broke the bar’s furniture and fixtures during a melee, Jimmy’s self-respect hinged on taking revenge.
The slow-paced story then delves into the planning and eventual execution of that revenge with the tacit approval of well-known leaders in the Jewish community as well as some local and federal law enforcement officers. To spice the story up, there are lots of bedroom scenes.
Author Mayo keeps the novel sounding like it could almost be true by having Jimmy checking the newspapers every day for facts he can repeat about the Hauptmann case.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.