Turning the Tables

The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad and the Thai prostitutes might be men in comedienne Rudner's Vegas-based mystery romance. Allie Bowen is newly divorced and settling into her job as vice-president of marketing and public relations for Heaven, the Strip's newest and biggest casino that "is deliberately hidden... behind an obscuring cumulous mountain of man-made fog," when her life implodes. First, she gets dumped by her power-hungry boyfriend, Christian, "the third most important executive within the casino hierarchy," then he frames her for making fake casino chips. She's blackballed from casino work, and her ex-husband, Barry, also implicated, lands in jail. While Barry does his time, Allie launches First Impressions, an escort service specializing in celebrity "look-alike call girls," and travels in seedy circles in her quest to clear both their names. Rudner's satirical sense shines as she follows casino executives on a trip to Thailand to scout for the newest restaurant idea—drinking cobra blood—and tours Heaven's new Hello Goodbye project, where customers can have their birthing and dying needs met (one funeral package includes placing customers' ashes into golf balls with their picture emblazoned on them). An over-the-top sendup of an over-the-top city. (Sept.)