The Hot Ones : LEADING LADY, <i> By Kate Coscarelli (St. Martin’s Press: $19.95; 445 pp.)</i>

According to the press release issued by St. Martin’s Press, “Leading Lady,” Kate Coscarelli’s fifth novel, is supposed to be “the perfect beach/poolside companion.” The “beach book,” a genre like mysteries or romance novels, has as its sole criterion the ability to sustain the interest of someone trying to get an even tan while keeping an eye on the kids and an ear on the juicy lover’s quarrel under way on a neighboring blanket.

In this respect Kate Coscarelli’s new novel is a cut above the rest. Despite the sometimes workaday prose, “Leading Lady,” an adroitly plotted fairy tale with feminist overtones, is never dumb or melodramatic. It’s immensely enjoyable even if you’re not sweating distractedly under your SPF 8.

This modern-day Cinderella tale depicts the coming of age of Chelsea Hunter, daughter of Bunny Thomas, one of the world’s most beloved stars, granddaughter of Laverne Thomas, a Dr. Frankenstein-like stage mother who has masterminded the success of the ravishing, empty-headed Bunny.

In the opening chapter, Laverne pimps 8-year-old Bunny to lecherous Gordon Baker, a powerful Hollywood producer, in exchange for Gordon’s promise to make Bunny a star. This sets the stage for Laverne’s outrageous mega-meddling. Faced with the rebellion and hormonal surges of her daughter’s burgeoning adolescence, Laverne marries Bunny off to a respectable upper-class Stanford law student, Frank Hunter. Chelsea, the result of this brief marriage, grows into a beautiful, practical young woman. Her main function in life seems to be as a prop at her mother’s press conferences, cementing the lie that world-famous Bunny, infantile and ineffectual and prone to both crying and eating binges, is a swell mother.

One of the enduring appeals of the Hollywood novel is the reaffirmation that people who are gorgeous, powerful and glamorous are more miserable than the average reader. Thus Coscarelli treats us to the problems-of-the-rich-and-famous facing the Thomas household as grandmother Laverne and granddaughter Chelsea work to keep reluctant breadwinner Bunny, always on the brink of becoming a has-been, in the spotlight.

Coscarelli is a whiz at folding in delicate layers of satire. When Bunny, in a sleeping-pill-induced haze, accidentally burns down the house, Laverne wastes no time in turning it into a photo opportunity. Naturally the truth about the fire’s cause is buried, and Bunny emerges as the valiant mother who risked her life to save her family. This performance garners Bunny a new and more powerful agent and, eventually, a role in a prestigious art film shooting in London.

In the time-honored fairy-tale tradition, a Prince Charming appears on the scene, not for Bunny but for Chelsea, the true leading lady of the novel. When Chelsea, at Laverne’s command, is taken out of school and dragged along to England to be on hand while Bunny shoots her movie, she meets the stunning Wills Ashford. Wills, a future earl, comes equipped with a 15,000-acre country estate, bundles of money, a twin sister who will become Chelsea’s best friend, and, of course, an undying love for Chelsea that will endure the familiar tests of distance, time and class.

Those who are not reading “Leading Lady” under the stupefying glare of the noonday sun undoubtedly will appreciate the subtlety of Coscarelli’s wit. Regarding the screenplay a certain prestigious director will rewrite for Bunny, we learn that “Rick doesn’t work fast. He’s a stickler for detail. I ‘d guess it will take him a month . . . six weeks . . . whatever. He doesn’t work on a schedule. He’s an artist.”

Coscarelli is a master of plotting. Without resorting to cheap shots or strained machinations, she earns the book’s satisfying but not completely happy ending. Her greatest success, however, is Chelsea.

One of the reasons we believe in the purity and perfection of Cinderella is because we know she lived Somewhere Far Away, Sometime Long Ago. Chelsea, on the other hand, lives in a very recognizable time and place. She has suffered enough negligence and mental abuse as a girl to require a dozen years of serious psychotherapy, but is nonetheless “intelligent, thoughtful, caring, and unselfish.” Her goodness and dedication to her family is entirely unbelievable. Nonetheless, you find yourself rooting for her.

Coscarelli has worked the novelist’s magic. Whether it is because the girl actually has a brain in her head or because she has a genuine passion for something besides power and money--in this case it’s jewelry designing, and some of the most nicely rendered scenes in the book are the quiet moments Chelsea spends alone on her craft --you want her to shake off her dotty mom and odious grandma and get on with the business of living happily ever.