There's a new kid on the book-club block, and her name is Kelly Ripa, Regis Philbin's sidekick who's caused Live's ratings to soar since she assumed her post some 15 months ago. Now it looks as though Pipa (as Reege likes to call his peppy partner) may make some publishers' ratings climb as well, judging from the enthusiastic response to the first selection of her on-air "beach reading" club. If Looks Could Kill by Cosmo editor-in-chief Kate White was published by Warner on May 3 with a 30,000-copy first printing; that figure's now up to 190,000. Kelly clearly has good taste: PW's starred review called White's opus an "impressive debut novel [with] plenty of New York glamour and glitz, besides a smart, sexy heroine and a cleverly constructed murder mystery."
With reporting by Dick Donahue.
