Dice Angel
Brian Rouff
Hardway Press
ISBN 0-9717148-1-9

Ever have one of those days where nothing is going right? Jimmy Delaney is have a series of them: his saloon/gathering place gets broken into, his accountant brother-in-law runs off with all his money, the IRS has given him two weeks to figure out how to pay the taxes his brother-in-law didn't or turn the bar over to them, the banks won't lend him any money because the IRS has claimed the bar as collateral, and he takes up drinking again. In Las Vegas. The only thing he hasn't tried is gambling, but he swore off that years ago.

This time, he has a new-age helper-the Dice Angel. Guaranteed to make you win, if you follow her three simple rules. Well, what does he have to lose that he hasn't already lost?

This one projects the city of Las Vegas as only someone living there can (although never having been there, I'm taking the author's word for it). It's funny, and saucy, guaranteed to make you laugh. Or maybe I'm just a pushover for scenes with Girl Scout cookies in them. Whatever the reason, this one is one to get. The dialogues are zippy, and while the plot may get sappy at times, it never gets in the way of a good time. Rouff's characters are people you'd expect to run into in Las Vegas, and he has a way of nailing them with brief descriptions that let the reader imagine them. The ending is completely satisfying, though I'm not sure you can call it happy.

Come to think of it, I do have one complaint-it's not long enough.

Reviewed by:
Ann M. Beardsley

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