GOSSIP MONGERING

I can’t tell you how dismayed I am at the review of Nancy Sinatra’s book on her father, “Frank Sinatra: An American Legend” (Book Review, Dec. 17). That the Book Review would assign such an important book to a gossip writer is, to me, unfathomable. Mitchell Fink managed to turn the review into a self-serving gossip column, and he spread false and malicious rumors about the relationship between Frank and Nancy, and gave out wrong information about Frank’s involvement with the book. He has been set straight by the Sinatras on how inaccurate he was and on the hurt he caused Nancy with his gratuitous personal swipes. I can confirm that his reporting was grossly inaccurate. Even the book’s editor spent time up at Frank Sinatra’s house working on the book with Frank, and we had the full support--along with stories and anecdotes--from every living Sinatra family member, cousin, friend and most definitely Frank himself.

Fortunately the millions of Frank’s fans out there who know about Sinatra and who know about other material available on Sinatra agree that this book is one of the most comprehensive about him ever published, and nothing that Mitchell Fink has said in his negative, uneducated virtual-review will be able to dissuade them.

W. QUAY HAYS, SANTA MONICA

Editor’s note: Hays is president and publisher of General Publishing Group Inc., which published “Frank Sinatra: An American Legend.”