Wanna Get Lucky?

Deborah Coonts

Have you met Lucky O'Toole yet? If not, settle back for a fun ride of murder, humor, and love.

Lucky O'Toole is the Head of Customer Relations at the Babylon Casino, one of the most upscale casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. She has worked there since she was 15, working up from a cabana girl to the highest position in the casino except for owner. She likes Big Boss and enjoys working for him. Her best friend is Ted Kowalski, also known as the Great Teddie Divine. He's the best female impersonator on the Strip.

Lucky was in one of the bars when she saw a television showing a woman falling out of a helicopter to her death in the pirate show at Treasure Island. The helicopter belongs to the Babylon. Lucky knows the woman - a woman who had been trying to get beyond her past and into hotel management in Vegas. She had been working with the Big Boss. Lucky is not looking to tell him about this situation. First, though, she has to deal with the naked fat guy in the stairwell, the "whale" who thinks she is his lucky charm, the other "whale" who crashed the hotel's Ferrari, and the new, hunky looking Security member, Paxton Dane.

Over the next week the Babylon is hosting the pornographic movie awards, a swinger's convention, and ElectriCon, a nerd convention of electronic geeks. Lucky is tied up keeping all those balls in the air while trying to find the helicopter pilot, a blackmailer, fend off someone trying to buy Babylon, her mother, and a possible new love. Whatever it is, her life certainly isn't boring.

Wanna Get Lucky? is a constant chuckle from beginning to end. Deborah Coonts takes on Las Vegas and makes the city laugh at itself. Lucky herself grew up in Nevada and loves Vegas. She sees all the underbelly as well as the glitz. She knows what the city can do to people - and how people can use the city. As a warning, remember the setting and the groups visiting - the book often is risque.

Lucky's situation seems far fetched, yet Coonts brings the first person narration together to make Lucky very realistic. When it comes to running the hotel/casino, she's a pro. When it comes to handling personal relationships with men, she knows she sucks. Can she handle what is happening to her? Lucky's own personal background is worth its share of chuckles. If Coonts wrote the situation seriously rather than humorously, Lucky's life would be full of pathos. Coonts, instead, chooses to write an upbeat, fun story.

Wanna Get Lucky? is a wonderful cosy mystery escape with a couple twists the reader doesn't see coming.

Notice: Strong indecent language, Suggestive dialogue or situations

Wanna Get Lucky?
Lucky Stiff