PUTTING ON THE RITZ by Joe...

PUTTING ON THE RITZ by Joe Keenan (Penguin: $10; 325 pp . ). This effete comic novel chronicles the misadventures of aspiring Broadway lyricist Philip Cavanaugh and his friend/nemesis Gilbert Selwyn. The tangled plot centers on the efforts of Ivana Trump-esque billionairess Elsa Champion to become a nightclub chanteuse. Like his obvious models, H. H. Munro and P. G. Wodehouse, Keenan relies on bon mots to carry the improbable story. Although some of the witticisms sound forced, he can be very funny: The lobby of Champion Plaza suggests “some stunning two-dimensional set built for the finale of Radio City Music Hall’s Salute to Mammon, “ while the rapacious editor of a Vanity Fair-ish magazine looks “out of sorts, as if she’d woken up ravenous only to have the maid say they were fresh out of babies.” At 325 pages, “Putting on the Ritz” seems overly long, but its genial cynicism offers a welcome respite from the false good cheer of retail clerks during the holiday season.