Gambling runs through the blood of the Navarro family. And like the luck needed to score big, the Navarro clan will certainly need a lot of it, if they're going to hold themselves together through a hilariously highstakes game of family history and secrets.

Having heard her entire life of the lost glory of La Estrella -- "The Star," the name of the casino the Navarro family owned in Havana before Castro took power -- Esmeralda thinks it a joke when her mother informs her and her siblings Sapphire, Ruby, and Quartz that the family has a duty to bring La Estrella back into existence.

With a mandate given to her through a dream, the Navarro matriarch announces that in order for La Estrella to thrive once more, the family must be reunited in Miami. Only there's a hitch: the youngest daughter, Diamond, a journalist living in Las Vegas, is missing. The family must find a way to rescue her, not only in time to restore the family's lost business to its shimmering glory, but also to save Diamond's life.

Esmeralda, the eldest and most sensible of the Navarro clan, is dispatched to Las Vegas, and to an underworld that this Miami mother of three thought she would never be suited for. Surprisingly, Esmeralda is not only suited for it, she thrives in it.

From seedy bar to casino to back alley, Esmeralda sleuths her way through Las Vegas with sexy style -- and into a mystery that is much larger than she, her family, and her family's history had ever bargained for.

With a lightning-paced narrative and the author's trademark sense of glamour and tongue-in-cheek humor, Luck of the Draw will keep you laughing, and in suspense, until the very last page.

This is another great novel. The newest character , from Miami, starts out being rather unsympathetic and unlikeable, seeming odd in her living habits, and giving her kids each two double expressos before school each morning just to wake them up ! But she soon becomes involved in tracking down the disappearance of her sister (who lives in Las Vegas). During the time in Las Vegas, we come to like the main character.

I view ALL of Aguilera's books as "women's fantasies." All of her books are about woman characters, told in first person, solving various mysteries. Yet, each book is about different characters and situations. Furthermore, while each book is a lighthearted mystery, really funny and clever, serious elements are brought in for the reader to consider. Usually, the main character is having some marriage problems (as most people experience in their 30's). Each character in each book deals with those problems in a unique way, while solving the main mystery in the story. I highly recommend ALL of Aguilera's books, and I can hardly wait until she gets her next book written!


Garcia-Aguilera comes up with another ace!   August 2, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I really liked this book, and recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed Garcia-Aguilera's writing in the past. I miss Lupe, but the characters introduced in Luck of the Draw are just as funny and interesting. I had no idea that there were so many Cubans in Las Vegas. Ms. Garcia Aguilera, if there are any in Topeka let me know where they hang out!


A fine follow-up to Lupe Solano   July 30, 2003
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

As a fan of Garcia-Aguilera's Lupe Solano series, I was at first disappointed to meet a new heroine. However, if anything, this book was higher in quality than the later Solano novels, combining fast, upbeat tempo with a three-dimensional heroine.

I was drawn to the larger-than-life Navarro family, defined by their gambling style (everyone aced the SAT's in math because they've been calculating odds since they could talk).

After seeing an apparition, the Navarro family matriarch convenes four of the five grown children, each decorated with the name of a jewel, to search for the missing youngest child, Diamond. Esmerelda quickly rises to the challenge, flying to Las Vegas to search for her much-loved beautiful younger sister.

When her limo driver identifies himself as a retired NYPD detective, Esmerelda realizes she's gotten lucky. She follows clues and her own instinct as she learns about how Diamond lived just before she disappeared. A sudden interest in her Cuban roots? A tendency to religion? A possible involvement with criminal activity?

Thanks to wealthy parents, Esmerelda plays detective from the vantage point of a luxury hotel. In the end she draws on what she and her family know best: the gaming tables.

As she detects, Esmerelda also discovers herself as she learns to depend on herself in a new environment. She enjoys a brief escape from a troubled marriage and three loveable but demanding school-age sons. And she's too smart to accept, without question, a series of coincidences, beginning with the incident that set her on this quest in the first place.

True, Garcia-Aguilera does leave a few threads hanging. As another reviewer noted, she gets confused about dates and ages of her characters. Another plot element (I won't give it away!) remains a mystery, since every luxury highrise in Miami comes with alarm systems that could guard Fort Knox.

Most of all, any woman who can dodge the Las Vegas mob is perfectly capable of figuring out what to do with a dog while she's away. We're treated to a graphic description (mercifully brief) of the poor animal's digestive upsets and the husband's understandable frustration. Can't the well-heeled Navarros pay for his stay in an upscale kennel? Some services would even drop off the dog and pick him up.
Ms. Garcia-Aguilera should consult equally delightful mystery writers Carol Lea Benjamin and Susan Conant.

And Harper-Collins -- a very fine house -- slipped up on the dust jacket, identifying Esmerelda as the oldest and most sensible of the siblings. Between the covers, she's the middle child who combines commonsense with availability: sister Ruby, a lawyer, was getting ready to start a trial.

Minor quibbles! Luck of the Draw is the perfect book for a hot summer day, especially if you've ever spent time in South Florida.


Thoughts of a Gringa.   July 15, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I am a gringa living in Miami, and I confess that I consistently look to Carolina Garcia-Aguilera for insight into the people that make up this vibrant and colorful city!

Garcia again delivers with "Luck of the Draw" and the story of Esmeralda. Hilarious!


incredibly incredible   July 10, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I happen to be a huge fan of Ms. Garcia Aguilera's books. I fell in love with the Lupe series, and she has out done herself again!