Wednesday, June 20, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.
Who: Jackie Collins
What: Signing advanced copies of "Drop Dead Beautiful"
When: 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Range Steakhouse, Harrah's
Infomation: www.harrahs.com
Jackie Collins brings back one of her most popular characters, Lucky Santangelo, in her new novel.
Since Lucky ends up in Las Vegas in "Drop Dead Beautiful," it's natural that Collins comes to the Strip to launch her 25th novel. The novel will be in bookstores June 26 , but Collins will be signing copies at Harrah's on Saturday.
"Drop Dead Beautiful" is the sixth Collins novel featuring Lucky, a former Mafia princess turned film producer and real estate investor, but the first since "Dangerous Kiss" in 1999.
Collins, the younger sister of actress Joan Collins, started writing steamy novels in the 1960s and is one of the world's most successful authors. She's sold more than 400 million books, been translated into 40 languages and has a fortune estimated at more than $135 million.
Collins recently talked to the Sun by phone from her home in Southern California.
Q . How are you and where are you?
I'm home in Los Angeles with my TiVo. I'm a TiVo addict. I have six TiVos in my house. People say "How do you watch everything?" I say because I watch it in the morning when I'm getting dressed and doing my hair and doing my makeup before I get to my desk - so I always have it on. I'm always catching what was on Jay Leno last night and what was on David Letterman. I'm a popular culture junkie. I like to catch up on everything.
Sounds as if you're plugged into the world, but I guess you have to be when you're a writer.
You do have to be. But there is so much to see. There's a lot every day. What with all the newspapers and the magazines. It's a full-time occupation.
Many of your novels have a Vegas connection, to one degree or another. When did you first visit here?
I came there the first time when I was 15, with a guy. I had no idea how far Vegas was from L.A. He had a white Thunderbird. I liked the car. Wasn't so fond of the guy. He said, "Let's go to Vegas , " and I said, "Oh, fabulous," because I was a wild child. So we jump in his white Thunderbird and like six hours later we stagger into Vegas and he says, "I booked us a motel , " and I said "Why have you done that, because we're coming back to L.A. tonight , " and he said, "No, we're not. I'm going to be too tired." I said, "Yes, we are." And even though I had not yet got a driving license I drove us back to L.A. that night, to his disgust and horror. But that was my first experience with Vegas and I loved it. I fell in love with it. It was so fabulous.
What inspired you to write "Drop Dead Beautiful," your 25th novel?
I have a Web site, jackiecollins.com, and I have an "Ask Jackie" section where they can ask me questions or I have a place where they can just leave their comments. And all I ever hear is, "When is Lucky coming back?" They love this character. I've written about Lucky Santangelo in five previous books. I also wrote 10 hours of prime time about Lucky for NBC, which I wrote and produced, and she was played by Nicollette Sheridan, the very gorgeous Miss Sheridan from "Desperate Housewives" - and she was also played by Kim Delaney. So Lucky is a character that really lives for me and I got so many requests to bring her back that I go, "Why not?"
How do you plot your books?
Actually I have no idea what my books are going to be about. When I write I just pick up my pen and my characters take me on a trip, so I knew Lucky would take me somewhere.
So where did she take you?
I started off with her getting this note at her beautiful mansion in Bel-Air, a rented mansion because she really lives in Malibu, and it just said , "Drop dead beautiful , " and I thought that's the start of the book and it kind of progressed from there. I brought in a really bad villain, one of the worst villains I have ever written, called Anthony Bonar, who is the illegitimate grandson of Lucky's lifetime enemy Enzio Bonnati, so it all ties into the other books but you don't have to read the other books to get it.
And the backdrop of the book is Las Vegas?
Yes. As I say I've always had an absolute fascination with Las Vegas. When I wrote the first Santangelo book, which was about Lucky when she was born and Gino, her father, it was about Gino coming to Las Vegas the same time as Bugsy Siegel and about Gino building his dream hotel there. In the book they built a hotel called the Mirage, which was before Steve Wynn built the Mirage.
Now I can't mention the Mirage because it has sort of a whole different vibe to it, you know, which is kind of annoying in a way because I created this hotel in this very popular book that was one of the 10 best - selling books in America of that particular year, and then along comes the Mirage.
Lucky inherited everything from him - his wanderlust, his strong affinity for Las Vegas. In "Drop Dead Beautiful" she's building the most spectacular hotel in Vegas and Anthony Bonar is out to stop her.
And the plot thickens?
Yes. And she also has this wild 16-year-old daughter who has met what she thinks is a 19-year-old boy on the Internet and she sets off to Big Bear to meet him.
Do you prefer the old or new Vegas?
Oh, the Sinatra Vegas is still there, I think. You go into some of the lounges in Vegas today and you have some lounge singer singing Sinatra songs. It has that old vibe of when Elvis was there and, you know, Sinatra and the Rat Pack and all that. It has a very kind of old-fashioned vibe on one hand and a very raunchy vibe on the other hand, with all the parties and goings - on in the strip clubs. That's what makes Vegas so fascinating - that old Vegas is side by side with new Vegas and in between child - friendly Vegas.
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