A modern retelling of Hamlet, except with a few twists. It's seventies Vegas. Amid the glitz, neon lights, poker players, and flood of cash, Jack Romano, a well-respected self-made casino owner and patriarch, has died. His only son, Nick, arrives home for the funeral and discovers that the death may not have been so accidental. Now he must decide what to do about Claudio, an ambitious, seasoned mobster who is also his dad's so-called business partner. Complications arise as Nick finds himself falling in love with Rosalie, the daughter of one of Claudio's crew. Nick must not only save his family's casino business, but also his dad's hoard of silver, amassed over decades, and stashed in the casino's basement vaults. "The only thing missing are the cement shoes. Malanaphy's tumultuous and thrilling ride through the wise-guy back rooms of not-so-old Las Vegas is a sometimes funny, sometimes not, but always captivating whodunnit that'll keep you turning the pages. The Prince of Las Vegas has it all: Romance, mystery and a fresh take on a Cosa Nostra-esque underworld where behind every poker table there's a mobster looking to grab the great, late Jack Romano's loot. If you can't read this well-honed mobster thriller without cheering on the good guys and boo-hissing the bad ones, well ... fuhgeddaboudit!" - Andy Scontras, author of When You Are Strange "A well written, nostalgic and fun, Vegas crime thriller. Malanaphy's novel does not disappoint!" - Gary Braver, author of Tunnel Vision "Would make a great Scorsese or Tarantino movie." - Douglas Corleone, author of Good As Gone.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the most powerful partisan figure in the contemporary U.S. Congress. How this came to be, and how the majority party in the House has made control of the speakership a routine matter, is far from straightforward. Fighting for the Speakership provides a comprehensive history of how Speakers have been elected in the U.S. House since 1789, arguing that the organizational politics of these elections were critical to the construction of mass political parties in America and laid the groundwork for the role they play in setting the agenda of Congress today. Jeffery Jenkins and Charles Stewart show how the speakership began as a relatively weak office, and how votes for Speaker prior to the Civil War often favored regional interests over party loyalty. While struggle, contention, and deadlock over House organization were common in the antebellum era, such instability vanished with the outbreak of war, as the majority party became an "organizational cartel" capable of controlling with certainty the selection of the Speaker and other key House officers. This organizational cartel has survived Gilded Age partisan strife, Progressive Era challenge, and conservative coalition politics to guide speakership elections through the present day. Fighting for the Speakership reveals how struggles over House organization prior to the Civil War were among the most consequential turning points in American political history.