JUNIOR by James Robert Ramey (Dorrance...

JUNIOR by James Robert Ramey (Dorrance Publishing: $8; 46 pp., illustrated, paperback original). Ramey’s brief biography traces the wild, violent career of his father, James “Junior” Ramey, “the best con artist West Virginia ever produced.” Junior’s crimes included assault, bigamy, pandering, fraud, election tampering and bribery. Ramey suggests that Mafia connections his father established in prison may have led to his involvement in the murder of Jimmy Hoffa. Hardly a candidate for father of the year, but Ramey makes Junior an intriguing monster.