The Mercurios are probably not what you think of when you hear the phrase “crime family.” The words evoke traditional images of gruff, dangerous men in suits — Tony Soprano or Michael Corleone, spewing threats and radiating violence.

But in Lou Berney’s latest novel “Crooks,” the Mercurios are an actual family. A mom and dad, five siblings, all but one inclined to felonious behavior, united in their inability to shed their lawless lives.

Author of such novels as “Double Barrel Bluff,” “November Road” and “ The Long and Faraway Gone” and winner of the Edgar, Hammett, Barry, Macavity, Lefty and Anthony awards, Berney leaves no doubt as to the influence of legacy on the Mercurios. The first sentence — “It’s in his blood,” directed at patriarch Buddy — immediately sets the scene for an entertaining story about generational criminality, its fallout and how we never quite escape the lessons learned in our youth.

The son and grandson to men working for the Chicago mob and great-grandson to an Italian capo, young Buddy takes his criminal talents to Las Vegas. A low-level grunt working his way up, he spots wife-to-be Lillian working at a run-down casino shop, lifting cash from a customer’s wallet while the customer is in the dressing room. Buddy’s days of running around are suddenly over. They get married and have three kids — adopting the fourth, a Choctaw infant with a mysterious background, when a boss asks them to do so.

Vegas life is glamorous, but when Buddy runs afoul of his boss, the Mercurios are forced to go into hiding. They settle in Oklahoma, a place no wise guy would think to look for them. There, Buddy launches his next endeavor, a disco, and Lillian gives birth to child number five, called Piggy. The other children — Ray, Jeremy, Alice, Tallulah — grow up, absorbing their parents’ predilections with varying degrees of commitment.

From there, “Crooks” follows each child’s rocky path to breaking the law in adulthood. Handsome, slick Jeremy deploys an easy grift on rich but emotionally vulnerable older women. Adopted daughter Tallulah works as an acrobat with a troupe in post-Soviet collapse Moscow while also indulging in a lucrative side hustle of larceny.

Ray, the oldest, largest and least vocal, follows closely in his father’s footsteps as a mob enforcer in Vegas, all the while longing to go legit and retire from being ordered to shoot people (he will shoot people if necessary while he awaits legitimacy, however). And Alice, the smartest and steadiest of the bunch, works in a white-collar law firm until her job security is threatened by a blackmailer. Then, finally, that childhood training comes in handy.

And what of Piggy, the youngest, a writer who steers clear of breaking the law? All he wants, ever, is the most impossible wish of all: to get his family back together for a reunion.

The novel, Berney’s seventh, is not as violent as you might imagine. Most of the darkest moments occur offstage. The book is well-paced and often amusing, and while you’ll inevitably settle on a favorite storyline, I bet you’ll enjoy them all (“Crooks” is nothing if not divine inspiration for a streaming series).

Berney is a gifted storyteller, and in his hands, “Crooks” and its wayward criminals demand your attention and appreciation — although maybe not your forgiveness.

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Crooks

By: Lou Berney.

Publisher: William Morrow, 367 pages.

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