ARIGATO

When it comes to entertainment, Mr. Condon is one of the last big spenders and this proceeds with the confidence of all that money -- big money -- can buy. How else can one explain the fact that Colin Huntington who is married to Bitsy (she wears ""many diamonds quietly"") has gambled 200,000 pounds of her money away along with her Watteau, her wine company, and even his marvelous chef Francohogar who has just created the greatest pate in the world. (Most of this is to be read with accents -- and rose colored glasses.) Poor Huntington, even his ""erection is impounded"" while he lies inertly in bed with Yvonne, his mistress. Nothing is permanently depressed around here for long since with the help of Gash Schute, a formidable think tank thinker, and a Mafioso from Marseilles with lots of skilled and unskilled labor, he executes the theft of two million pounds (18,000 cases) of fine wines from a cellar in Bordeaux. But then there's the problem of its disposition as well as that of many of the personnel -- perhaps even Colin's life? A romp which reverses all the laws of probability as well as those other losing aleatory games -- primarily to be enjoyed for its superfatcat largesse.