Tapping into thriller genre

Jake Tapper hasn’t strayed too far from his day job for a side hustle.

Tapper, the lead Washington anchor for CNN, hosts “The Lead With Jake Tapper” and co-hosts the Sunday public affairs program “State of the Union.” He escapes the pressures of covering current politics by writing novels about historical politics. His new book, “The Devil May Dance,” is his second thriller featuring fictional U.S. Congressman Charlie Marder and his scientist wife, Margaret.

Set in the early 1960s, it sends the Marders on an undercover mission that sounds groovy and glamorous: Hang out with Frank Sinatra and his famous Rat Pack to explore the singer’s ties to the Mafia.

Tapper’s first novel, “The Hellfire Club,” introduced Charlie as a freshman in Congress and Margaret as a reluctant political spouse. For “The Devil May Dance,” Charlie is ensconced congress and acclimated to Washington backscratching. But that doesn’t prepare him for a call from his father, Winston Marder, a Republican operative. Winston needs his son’s help because he’s in jail, charged with consorting with notorious criminals thanks to Robert Kennedy, U.S. attorney general and brother of the recently elected president. “Find out what Bobby wants and give it to him,” Winston tells Charlie. Bobby wants iCharlie and Margaret to undertake that secret mission. Sinatra is an enthusiastic supporter of President Kennedy, but his mob ties aren’t exactly secret, and Robert Kennedyis bringing down organized crime.

So the Marders park their two kids with their grandmother in New York and head for Los Angeles. There and in Palm Springs, the two hang out with the Rat Pack: Sinatra, singers Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. And then there are the group’s shadow members: Giancana and mobster John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli. The book is deeply researched, and Tapper incorporates some actual conversations and performances, which can be shocking in their casual expressions of racism and misogyny.