Butterfly »

Above an exclusive men's store on Rodeo Drive there is a private club called Butterfly, where women are free to act out their secret erotic fantasies. Only the most beautiful and powerful women in Beverly Hills are invited to join ...

Jessica—The lawyer, who longs for the days when men were men, and women dressed to please them

Trudie—The builder, who wants a man who will challenge her-all of her-with no holds barred

Linda—The surgeon, who uses masks to unmask the desires she hides even from herself

But the most mysterious of them all is the woman who created Butterfly. She has changed her name, her accent, even her face to hide her true identity. And now she is about to reveal everything to realize the dream that has driven her since childhood—the secret obsession that will carry her beyond ecstasy, or destroy her and everyone around her!

Publishers Weekly

The pseudonymous Harvey's vivid, imaginative tale of a unique Beverly Hills brothel called Butterfly focuses on its wealthy founder, and three of her troubled female patrons. Discreetly located above an elegant men's clothing store, the brothel features costumed male ``companions''a masked burglar, a Confederate soldier, a Versailles courtier, a cowboycapable of fulfilling any woman's needs and fantasies. Lawyer Jessica Franklin goes there for relief from her cold, intimidating husband; Dr. Linda Markus tries to cure her frigidity; Trudie Stein wants affirmation of her feminity. Behind the scenes is Butterfly's owner, Beverly Highland, whose harrowing life story is interspersed with the current action of the tale . Having run away from home in New Mexico at age 14 after being abused by her alcoholic father, Beverly succumbed to the rough-hewn charm of Danny Mackay, who put her to work in a squalid brothel and forced her to abort their baby. Vowing revenge, plain Beverly attains beauty through plastic surgery, becomes an affluent California entrepreneur and cunningly plots against Mackay, now an influential TV evangelist and presidential candidate. Glamour, wickedness and passion spark this highly commercial novel, which builds to a dramatic and unexpected conclusion. $75,000 ad/promo; first serial to Cosmopolitan; Troll Book Club main selection. (September)