Lucky Stiff by Deborah Coonts

Title:  Lucky Stiff

A Lucky O’Toole Vegas Adventure

Author:  Deborah Coonts

Published:  February 2011, Forge Books

Genre:  Mystery

About:  (from the book flap) Lucky O’Toole – head of Customer Relations at premier megaresort the Babylon – thinks it’s just another night in Las Vegas. A tractor-trailer has spilled its load of a million honeybees, blocking not only the Strip but the entrance to her hotel. . . . The district attorney for Clark County – apparently the odd man out of a threesome on the twelfth floor – is hiding in the buff in one of the hotel’s laundry rooms. . . . And Numbers Neidermeyer  – one of Vegas’s less-than-savory oddsmakers – is throwing some major attitude at Las Vegas’s ace private investigator, the beautiful Jeremy Whitlock.

The next day, Lucky discovers Ms. Neidermeyer has been tossed into the shark tank at the Mandalay Bay Resort as a snack for the tiger shark.  When the police show up at the Babylon with a hastily prepared search warrant, applied for by the district attorney himself, and Jeremy lands in the hot seat, Lucky realizes her previous night was far from routine. . . .

My take:  If you haven’t read the first book in the series, Wanna Get Lucky?, I recommend you do just to get the full story on several characters. Many of them are back in action in Lucky Stiff  and I was happy to see them again. This time there’s a murder to solve, a wacky scheme for Lucky’s mom to make money, the boxing match of the year at the Babylon as well as a convention of entomologists – Lucky’s life is never dull.

Deborah Coonts described a vibrant Las Vegas. From the pulsing music in the clubs and the sounds of the slots in the casino to the sultry desert air – I felt immersed in the Vegas experience. I also had fun trying to figure out who fed Numbers Neidermeyer to the sharks and how it was done.

Lucky Stiff is an entertaining Vegas romp. Lucky O’Toole is a plucky girl who loves her job, her friends and family, and hopes she’s found her true love in Teddie. I hope she has too and I can’t wait to read more in the Lucky O’Toole Vegas Adventure series.

Source:  FSB Associates

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