IT ONLY HURTS A Ml UTE by Don M. Mankicewicz. 312 pages. Putnam. $5.95.
As he stands shaving himself on his 40th birthday, Lew White has to acknowledge the fact that he is strictly a tinhorn. He has been many things in his lifehonor student, salesman, husband but the only thing Lew has ever been full time is a compulsive gambler. Somewhere along the line he has lost his nerve. Now he is only a house player for a California casino, holding cards and shooting craps for hourly wages.
But one predawn morning a golden hussy named Lisa Fortune comes gliding into Lew's...