The Princess Of Las Vegas

THE PRINCESS IS FAKE. THE MURDERS ARE REAL • From the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant and The Lioness, a Princess Diana impersonator and her estranged sister find themselves drawn into a dangerous game of money and murder in this twisting tale of organized crime, cryptocurrency, and family secrets on the Las Vegas strip. Crissy Dowling has created a world that suits her perfectly. She passes her days by the pool in a private cabana, she splurges on ice cream but never gains an ounce, and each evening she transforms into a Princess, performing her musical cabaret inspired by the life of the late Diana Spencer. Some might find her strange or even delusional, an American speaking with a British accent, hair feathered into a style thirty years old, living and working in a casino that has become a dated trash heap. On top of that, Crissy’s daily diet of Adderall and Valium leaves her more than a little tipsy, her Senator boyfriend has gone back to his wife, and her entire career rests on resembling a dead woman. And yet, fans see her for the gifted chameleon she is, showering her with gifts, letters, and standing ovations night after night. But when Crissy’s sister, Betsy, arrives in town with a new boyfriend and a teenage daughter, and when Richie Morley, the owner of the Buckingham Palace Casino, is savagely murdered, Crissy’s carefully constructed kingdom comes crashing down all around her. A riveting tale of identity, obsession, fintech, and high-tech mobsters, The Princess of Las Vegas is an addictive, wildly original thriller from one of our most extraordinary storytellers.

Internationally renowned Australian photographer depicts Las Vegas and its environs through a series of lush, panoramic shots. The artist describes the area as a "neon oasis embraced by a spiritual land", and as his photography shows, Las Vegas and the Nevada desert are home to some striking and beautiful visual extremes.

This “brutal and unflinching” novel of fleeting love in Sin City inspired the film starring Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth Shue (Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City). John O’Brien’s debut novel, Leaving Las Vegas, is an emotionally wrenching story of a woman who embraces life and a man who rejects it; a powerful tale of hard luck, hard drinking, and a relationship of tenderness and destruction. An avowed alcoholic, Ben drinks away his family, friends, and, finally, his job. With deliberate resolve, he burns the remnants of his life and heads for Las Vegas to end it all in the last great binge of his hopeless life. On the Strip, he picks up Sera, a prostitute, in what might have become another excess in his self-destructive jag. Instead, their chance meeting becomes a respite on the road to oblivion as they form a bond that is as mysterious as it is immutable.

In Being Oscar,one of America’s most celebrated criminal defense attorneys recounts the stories and cases of his epic life. The Mafia’s go-to defender, he has tried an estimated 300 criminal cases, and won most of them. His roster of clients reads like a history of organized crime: Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, and “Lefty” Rosenthal, as well as Mike Tyson and boxing promoter Don King, along with a midget, a dentist, and a federal judge. After thirty-five years as a defender, he ran for mayor of Las Vegas, and America’s greatest Mob lawyer became the mayor of its sexiest city. He was so popular his image appeared on the 5, 25, and 100 chips. While mayor of Vegas, he starred on the screen in Rush Hour 2 and CSI. He is as large a character in the history of organized crime as any of his clients and as legendary a figure in the history of Las Vegas as the entrepreneurs (his friends and clients) who built the city. This is his astonishing story—the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Join Ed Deline, president of operations for the Montecito Resort & Casino, and his protégé, Danny McCoy, a former U.S. Marine and Las Vegas native, as they deal with card-counting cheaters, costly streaks of random luck, and rival casinos stealing their big-money players in the town deservedly known as Sin City.... Making sure a multimillion-dollar operation like the Montecito runs smoothly is a challenge on a good day. When the casino is overrun by a Western trade show called Stampede!, that job gets even tougher. Complicating matters is an imminent visit by a German business magnate, who will be making a televised speech from the Montecito that could have far-reaching political and economic ramifications. So while Mike Cannon is tapped to investigate the theft of some very...precious...merchandise from the Stampede! floor, Ed and Danny have their hands full coordinating safety measures with the German's private security force and the Secret Service. And when Danny uncovers the blueprint for what appears to be an assassination plan, the Montecito team must race to prevent a lethal incident of international proportions.

Little girls all over the world may hope to grow up to become a princess, but few ever realize the dream. For those who grow up to become showgirls, they go far beyond, becoming goddess-like objects of men's desire and the epitome of feminine beauty, elegance, and class. As soon as resort casinos began to dot the dusty Las Vegas landscape, major stars, extravagant show productions, and beautiful women helped promote the city to become the ultimate adult playground. In the early 1950s, when women began to dance and parade on the stages of Las Vegas, the showgirl persona evolved from the seductive burlesque-style performance art to the elegant productions modeled after those staged in France, with women dripping in furs and feathers, or in nothing more than a G-string and rhinestones. The over-the-top Las Vegas productions may have faded into obscurity, leaving but one show, Bally's Jubilee, as the longest running showgirl show on the Las Vegas Strip, but the iconic showgirl will forever represent Las Vegas in all of its glitz and glory.

Being gay in Las Vegas until the 1990s was a felony with a hefty fine and long prison sentence. The Las Vegas LGBTQ community did not organize to fight for its rights until the late 1970s and by the early 1980s had made headway, before AIDS stopped their momentum. While AIDS was devastating, it taught compassion, self-reliance, and political savvy. By 2017, Las Vegas was a city among the most welcoming of the nation's queer community.

Lost Las Vegas traces the cherished places in the city that time and the brutal forces of economics have swept aside before the National Register of Historic Places could save them from the wrecker's ball or, in the case of Las Vegas, before the Neon Boneyard can claim them.Organised chronologically starting with the earliest losses and ending with the latest, the book details the many hotels and casinos that failed to move with the times and got swept away for something bigger, better and brighter.Legendary names in the field of entertainment have come and gone - the Sands hotel featured many of the rapack in residence, but the casino is long gone. Howard Hughes and the mob featured heavily in Vegas history but neither could sustain their success for very long. Today, it is the showgirl who is under threat. That Vegas institution is under threat from the big setpiece shows such as Cirque du Soleil.Losses include: Arizona Club, El Portal Theater, Clark County Courthouse, Hotel Nevada, First State Bank, Las Vegas Rail depot, El Dorado Club, Old Ice House, Atomic Tourism, Helldorado on Fremont Street, The Green Shack, El Rancho Vegas, Hotel Last Frontier, Desert Inn, Sands, Sahara, The Thunderbird, The Mint, Royal Nevada, Stardust, Showboat, Hotel Biltmore, Dunes, Hacienda, Moulin Rouge, Tally Ho, Paddlewheel/Debby Reynold’s. Silver Slipper, Tam O’Shanter, Bonanza, Boardwalk Casino, Old Las Vegas Convention Center, Landmark Hotel, Aladdin, La Concha, Westward Ho!, Castaways