At 72, with 26 bestsellers under her belt, Collins (Drop Dead Beautiful) prowls familiar terrain with this overheated tale of the filthy rich, nasty poor, and cravenly ambitious. Collins picks up the saga of the Santangelos with spoiled-brat Annabelle Maestro, the daughter of two Tinseltown icons, who runs a high-priced call-girl ring in New York with her coke-sniffing nogoodnik boyfriend, Frankie. Annabelle's mom's murder brings the black sheep home to L.A. to mourn for a parent she never loved—and to lean on the adventurous Denver, a quick-witted, sex-starved lawyer who's defending the No. 1 suspect in the murder, Annabelle's dad, film legend Ralph Maestro. But Denver also juggles the rescue of his missing best friend, Carolyn, who's fooling around with a horn dog U.S. senator, and a few hot one-night stands. For all the convoluted connections, mismatches, and throw-away references to ripped-from-the-headlines news and celebrities, Collins is at her seasoned best with this raunchy, retro hot-sheets romance. It's men, dollface, one brassy Hollywood agent muses. They all spew forth the same tired old lines. As does Collins. And it's impossible not to fall for it. Again. (Feb.)
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