The Princess of Las Vegas

The Princess of Las Vegas is a novel by American author Chris Bohjalian. Bohjalian has written over 20 novels, including The Flight Attendant (2018), which HBO adapted into a TV series in 2020. Many of his novels take place in Vermont, where Bohjalian and his family live.

Published in 2024, The Princess of Las Vegas is a mystery that follows Crissy Dowling, a famous Diana, Princess of Wales impersonator at Las Vegas’s Buckingham Palace Casino. Crissy’s idyllic and charmed life in Las Vegas is thrown into chaos following a series of suspicious deaths that coincide with the arrival of her estranged sister, Betsy, and her daughter, Marisa. The novel explores themes such as Luck Versus Fate, The Curse and Confusion of Celebrity, and The Healing Power of Family.

This guide refers to the 2024 hardcover edition, published by Knopf Doubleday.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of disordered eating, substance use, mental illness, death by suicide, graphic violence, and sexual violence and harassment.

Plot Summary

Crissy Dowling is a famous Diana, Princess of Wales impersonator at Buckingham Palace Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has little personality outside her impersonation of the princess. Crissy lives an idyllic life at Buckingham Palace Casino, lounging by the pool before her nightly shows. However, her carefree life is interrupted when one of the owners of Buckingham Palace Casino, Richie Morley, dies by suicide. Crissy’s younger sister, Betsy, calls to tell her that she is moving to Las Vegas with her boyfriend, Frankie Limback, and her newly adopted daughter, Marisa. Betsy will be working for Frankie’s cryptocurrency bank, Futurium. Crissy feels that Betsy killed their mother.

One night after her show, Crissy meets a handsome businessman named Yevgeny. The two have sex and begin a relationship. Crissy believes he is secretly a spy, which he denies.

Artie Morley, the surviving owner of Buckingham Palace Casino, asks Crissy to call Congresswoman Erika Schweiker, a far-right senate candidate, and say that she has salacious information about her former paramour and Schweiker’s senate race opponent, Senator John Aldred. Artie hopes that Crissy can convince Schweiker to come to her dressing room after her show, where he will persuade Schweiker to tell her rich campaign donors that Buckingham Palace Casino is not for sale. Artie tells Crissy that he does not believe his brother died by suicide. Crissy reluctantly agrees to Artie’s plan, as she thinks it will protect her livelihood. Crissy unsuccessfully calls Congresswoman Schweiker several times. Several days later, Artie dies by suicide, and the head of entertainment for Buckingham Palace Casino instructs Crissy to pretend like she called Schweiker by accident if the congresswoman calls back. When Schweiker calls her, Crissy tells her it was an accident, which Schweiker does not believe. She promises to ruin Crissy’s life before hanging up.

Crissy asks Yevgeny about Futurium. The information makes her more nervous about what Betsy has gotten herself into.

When Betsy and Marisa move to Las Vegas, Crissy takes them out to lunch. Crissy finds Frankie unnerving. A few days later, Betsy, Marisa, Frankie, and Tony Lombardo, who works for Futurium, see Crissy’s show. After the performance, they come backstage, where Tony asks if Crissy would consider doing a private performance for Futurium, which she declines. Frankie encourages her to think about it, but she says she will not. Tony leaves angrily.

Betsy learns that Futurium workers are also involved in the Mastaba, a crime syndicate. Frankie explains that Futurium plans to take over Las Vegas and the casinos with cryptocurrency, and once Congresswoman Schweiker wins her senate race, she will help them. Betsy worries that she has gotten herself and Marisa involved in something dangerous, but Frankie assures her she hasn’t. He promises that he will help her leave Las Vegas if she wants to. Wanting to trust Frankie, she gets to know the Futurium team and agrees to dye and cut her hair to look more like Diana.

Crissy and her co-star, Nigel, agree to have lunch with Betsy and are surprised when Betsy brings Frankie and another Futurium associate, Rory, along. Additionally, Betsy wears one of Diana’s famous looks. Frankie and Rory try to convince Crissy and Nigel to get in their car, and Rory flashes a gun. Terrified, Nigel and Crissy leave without eating.

Crissy arranges for a second lunch with Betsy, Nigel, and Marisa at a water park. While there, Crissy and Nigel express concern about Betsy’s work at Futurium, but Betsy ignores them, instead warning them that they should be careful after the Morley brothers’ deaths. Frankie soon tells Betsy that Futurium will buy and redesign Buckingham Palace Casino. They plan to orchestrate the biggest impersonator tribute show in Las Vegas. When Betsy asks what will happen if Crissy doesn’t participate in the show, he suggests that Betsy take her place. Betsy is uninterested but agrees to a photo shoot to promote Futurium in Red Rocks.

Yevgeny returns to Las Vegas to stay with Crissy. The next day, he hikes in Red Rocks while Crissy meets with a reporter who is writing about Diana. Crissy worries when she doesn’t hear from Yevgeny, and two detectives come to tell her that Yevgeny fell to his death in the park. She provides the police with her alibi. Crissy calls Betsy to tell her about Yevgeny’s death, but Betsy acts strangely on the phone. Betsy feels uncomfortable that she was having a Diana-themed photo shoot in the park when Yevgeny died.

The detectives return several days later to tell Crissy that her car was seen in the Red Rocks parking lot, where she was seen having a photo shoot. Crissy accuses Betsy and Futurium of setting her up. Betsy soon realizes that Futurium is dangerous and confronts Frankie, Rory, and Damon (another Futurium associate) about Yevgeny’s death. Rory admits to having Yevgeny killed because he was an assassin working for the FBI. He admits to setting Crissy up with Betsy’s help. Frankie says she will need to go to meet and greet at a local casino dressed as Diana. When she refuses, he kidnaps Marisa to force Betsy to comply.

Betsy attends the meet and greet dressed as Diana and takes photos for the press. Rory forces her to go upstairs and pose for salacious pictures with Senator Aldred. Futurium hopes to use these pictures to force Aldred out of the senate race, ensuring Congresswoman Schweiker’s win. When Betsy returns to her apartment, she is furious that Marisa is not home and begins screaming. Rory physically assaults her to quiet her. He reminds her that she still needs to talk to the detectives regarding Yevgeny’s death. Crissy sees the photos of the meet and greet the next day and is furious with her sister. Nigel brings her a gun.

The next day, detectives interview Betsy. She sticks to her script and tells them that she was not at Red Rocks. Rory tells Betsy that her conversation with the detectives was not enough to free her daughter. They want her to bring them Crissy so she can tell them what Yevgeny told her before he was murdered.

Crissy receives a text message from Marisa telling her she has been kidnapped. Before she can react, Rory, Damon, and Betsy appear and kidnap her. Rory drives them to Frankie’s house and interrogates Crissy. When she is not forthcoming and Betsy defends her sister, Rory tells Damon to drain Betsy’s cryptocurrency account. However, Marisa moved the money into her own account. He shoots and kills Lara, a Futurium associate and undercover FBI agent, when she points her gun at him.

Crissy throws a vase at Rory, and Betsy grabs Lara’s gun and shoots Rory before detaining Damon, Frankie, and the other Futurium associates. The police arrive and arrest the men. The Dowling sisters reconcile, and Crissy offers to get Marisa and Betsy a suite at Buckingham Palace Casino.

At the end of the novel, Marisa and Betsy live at Buckingham Palace Casino, and Betsy works as a blackjack dealer. Crissy is now dating Nigel, and Marisa works as her research assistant. Marisa feels happy and cared for.