Now That’s What We Call Beach Reading

By Neal 

patterson-swimsuit.jpgNobody has ever accused the GalleyCat editors of being fashion experts, so it was news to us that the partial-body model on the cover of James Patterson‘s latest, Swimsuit (co-written by Maxine Paetro), is wearing a Perry Ellis original, and one from this summer’s collection at that. But somebody’s figured out that this is a golden cross-promotional opportunity, so today, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square is having Patterson over to sign copies of the novel for the first 300 people who are willing to buy $100 worth of Perry Ellis swimwear. We are told a stylist from Lucky will be on hand to help people pick out the appropriate suits.

This is all well and good, of course, but if you ask us, it doesn’t go far enough—somebody get Isaac Mizrahi or Betsey Johnson working on a novel, stat!