Literary Las Vegas: Cynthia Vespia

Las Vegas native Cynthia Vespia spins a tale about an ex-Navy Seal searching for clues to mysterious deaths as a head of casino security in the thriller “Lucky Sevens.” The former head copywriter for Planet Hollywood plans to donate partial proceeds from her book to the Cedar-Sinai colorectal cancer program in honor of her father, Las Vegas entertainer Charles Vespia Jr. Cynthia Vespia is also the author of “Sins and Virtues,” “Theater of Pain,” “The Crescent,” “Warrior Girls” and more. For more information, visit cynthiavespia.com.

Excerpt:

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada.

The sign stood bright and bold like a gatekeeper welcoming the tourists, and their money, into an adult playground. The city itself has been loved, hated, and stereotyped as a fantastical realm of fun and fortune. For Lucky, Las Vegas was home … nothing more and nothing less.

He’d driven half the night back in from a long hiatus of drinking on the shore of Hermosa Beach. Traveling north on Las Vegas Boulevard past Mandalay Bay he decided to head right over to work rather than going home.

Time had passed slowly since Charles Vega’s death but a twenty-four hour city like Vegas ran on its own clock. Lucky hadn’t been away very long but in that time they had managed to transform Lucky Sevens Casino into the mega-resort Saints and Sinners.