Strip Poker, by Lisa Lawrence

I hadn’t read an erotic novel since I was in junior high and there was one being passed around the school. When I saw this in a bargain bin, I thought I’d see if the same naughty thrill exists twenty-five years later. While it was less exciting, less forbidden this time, I still found this an enthralling book. As one character says, “The most underrated sexual organ is the imagination.” This book certainly stimulates... the imagination.

There is plenty of sex here; one or two scenes in each chapter. The episodes are both steamy and widely varied, like separate letters to Penthouse Forum. Stitching together the scenes is a fairly silly plot: a private investigator looking into threats made against members of an underground strip poker game. The rules of the game are vague; instead of money the participants use sexual favors as the stake, but the relative worth isn’t explained which makes the betting hard to follow—especially when players can check after a bet has been placed. Clearly though, an entertaining card game is not the focus of the book, the sex is! This is the first of a series, with the main character set up to apparently be some sort of sexual detective. Sherlock Holmes this isn’t, but I might give the next chapter a shot!

First Sentence:

Stretch limos don’t normally impress me.