Lucky Stiff

Deborah Coonts

Running a casino/hotel in Las Vegas isn't easy. Ask Lucky O'Toole. Can she tell you some stories!

A world class prize fight is scheduled for the upcoming weekend at the Babylon. As head of Customer Relations Lucky and her staff are preparing the hotel/casino/resort for a busy weekend. They are also opening their new nightclub that weekend. The Hollywood celebrities are coming for both the fight and the nightclub opening. There is also an entomologists' convention in the hotel for the weekend. On their arrival in town, the truck carrying the bees for the convention crashes in front of the Babylon. As Lucky Stiff opens, there are millions of honeybees loose on the strip in Las Vegas.

As that is cleaned up, Lucky sees a notorious odds maker in the Babylon arguing with Jeremy Whitlock, a private detective and friend of hers. When the odds maker is found dead later that night, Jeremy is blamed. Now Jeremy's lover, Lucky's assistant Miss Patterson, asks Lucky to clear him. She's already busy with the huge weekend coming up, but agrees.

Then her own lover, Teddie, gets a call from Los Angeles. A music producer wants to hear his work. Lucky encourages him - in fact she's the one who sent his music to an agent in LA. He goes, leaving Lucky feeling alone. Jordan Marsh, a mega Hollywood heart throb, comes to visit Lucky. He had been visiting her for years. Lucky didn't realize that rumors had been circulating about her and him for years. With Teddie now in Lucky's heart and bed, what would people say now?

On top of the murder, her mother and father, and her personal turmoil, the Babylon is hosting a fight weekend. Lucky will be lucky if she can stop to eat or sleep for the next few days.

Lucky Stiff is a joy to read. It's funny, quirky, and showy like Las Vegas at its best. And in a self deprecating way, it shows the other side of Las Vegas - not so much the dirty underbelly but all the work it takes to pull off the glitz that us normal folks see.

Deborah Coonts has created a good character with Lucky O'Toole, with a surrounding cast of characters that complement and compliment Lucky. This is the second book featuring Lucky, and I'm looking forward to more. Coonts has woven an interesting mystery around and through a story of chaos barely reined in.

No one wins all the time in Vegas - except the house. And now, Lucky O'Toole.

Notice:  Suggestive dialogue or situations

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Lucky Stiff