cover image Rich Men, Sigle Wom/

Rich Men, Sigle Wom/

Pamela Beck. Delacorte Press, $18.95 (434pp) ISBN 978-0-385-29667-0

With the background of Los Angeles's most exclusive hotels, parties and boutiques, this lively, engaging novel from the authors of Fling depicts three single women vigorously hunting for ``Mr. Right.'' Paige Williams, Tori Mitchell and Susan Kendell Brown meet at a glitzy Beverly Hills wedding. They become friends on the spot and decide to leave their various communities and move to California, where they are offered the perfect home: the mansion of a vacationing millionaire. For all three, life has been painfulPaige never became a Broadway star, Tori's beloved beau won't divorce his wife, and Susan's marriage has failed. Settling in together, the women plunge into the dating scene, eager to find wealthy, eligible men. Susan falls for Mark Arent, a sensitive economics professor and artist whom Paige toys with for a time but considers too pedestrian to wed. While seeing Mark, she decides to pursue sports tycoon Nicky Loomis, whose fame and flamboyance she finds keenly attractive. Tori, still pining for her married lover, finds herself drawn to Richard Bennetton, an affluent real-estate developer with a suave facade that conceals a terrifying temper. The authors evoke their glamorous settings well and move the story at a brisk pace. Doubleday Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate. (August)