The Starlight Hotel-Casino is the story of a troubled family business doomed to fail and the stressful dynamics among its members and key employees during the collapse. It describes the inner workings of the casino business and the demise of Reno as a major player in the industry; unable, as it was, to meet the triple threat of Las Vegas, Indian gaming, and the legalization of gambling throughout the United States and abroad. The novel is both a roman à clef and bildungsroman.

William A. Douglass is a social anthropologist and writer. He received his PhD in 1967 from the University of Chicago. He then founded and directed for 33 years the William A. Douglass Center for Basque Studies for the University of Nevada System. He has authored more than two dozen books and 200 articles. He was born in Reno, the eldest son of Jack Douglass--a Nevada gaming pioneer. William has extensive personal experience in the gambling industry, having been a part-owner of Reno's Club Cal Neva and the Comstock and Riverboat hotel-casinos. He is currently the president and principal shareholder of Nevada's Leisure Gaming.