Bestseller Crusie (Fast Women, etc.) takes readers on another smooth ride in her latest romantic caper. At the wheel this time is fab art forger Matilda Goodnight, whose chance encounter in a closet with cute con man/thief Davy Dempsey leads to madcap mayhem and breathless romance. He's trying to steal back the money he filched from Clea Lewis, ex-girlfriend (and possible husband killer), who had taken it right back. Tilda just wants her last "Scarlet" painting, which Clea has bought to impress Mason Phipps, her rich art-obsessed beau. It's the last of six forgeries Tilda did for Tony, her now deceased gallery-owner dad, and Tilda is determined to preserve her newly squeaky-clean reputation. Confused yet? It gets wackier, because the whole Goodnight clan and supporting cast are as enormously engaging as the loopy plot. There's Tilda's mother, Gwen; her sister, Eve/Louise, a split-personality teacher/diva; her gay ex-brother-in-law, Andrew; and her precocious teenage niece, Nadine. Add a host of shady characters and would-be hitmen, and the breezy plot thickens and puffs up like the light airy doughnuts all Goodnight women are attracted to but eventually forsake for muffins: "Muffins are for the long haul and they always taste good. They don't have that oh-my-God-I-have-to-have-that thing that the doughnuts have going for them, but you still want them the next morning." Finally, defying all odds, Crusie answers the burning questions she poses can liars and thieves fall in love, live happily ever after and stay out of jail? while confirming the dangers of dating doughnuts. (Aug. 19) Forecast: The paperback edition of Fast Women hit the New York Times bestseller list a week after publication look for Faking It to move just as fast on the hardcover side. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club featured alternate.

First introduced in Welcome to Temptation, the brother of wacky filmmaker sisters Sophie and Amy Dempsey gets his own story with hilarious and entertaining results. Davy Dempsey is a man on a mission: to recover some money owed him. In a hilarious botched burglary, he ends up stuck in a closet with Matilda Goodnight. She's at the same house attempting to steal back a painting that was not only never paid for but already has a shady past. Later, Davy rents a room from Matilda's mother, and soon he and Matilda are working together to recover their property and trying mighty hard to resist their growing attraction to each other. It doesn't take much for readers to figure out that Davy and Matilda are fated to live happily ever after. What makes the novel work is Crusie's talent for writing wacky romantic plots that shine with generous amounts of humor and enormous good cheer. Her usual assortment of secondary characters is here, along with a couple of loose ends that might give fans a chance to revisit this clan of entertaining souls once again. Fans of Crusie won't be disappointed in her newest work, which is an essential purchase for any public library with romance readers. - Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

A raunchy, romantic comedy about art forgery, thievery, and all manner of con-artistry that's as hard to resist as one of Davy Dempsey's cons. Davy, whose older sister Sophie starred in Crusie's last outing (Welcome to Temptation, 2000), comes from a long line of scam artists. He arrives in Columbus, Ohio, to steal back his own money from ex-girl friend Clea, a charmer whose wealthy husbands tend to die under suspicious circumstances. Davy's plan is to go straight once he has the money, but old habits die hard. Born into a family of art swindlers, Tilda Goodnight is now a respectable painter of residential masterpiece murals (Botticelli in the bathroom). She's desperate to "retrieve" a painting her niece has mistakenly sold to Clea that could expose Tilda's larcenous teenage career, when she painted under the name Scarlet Hodge, the imaginary daughter of the respected primitive Homer Hodge. Davy and Tilda meet in Clea's closet while attempting their separate burglaries. Soon Davy has rented a room at the Goodnight Gallery and met Tilda's lovely, unhappy mother Gwen, her angelic sister Eve, Eve's gay ex-husband and troubled adolescent daughter, not to mention Eve's lascivious alter ego Louise. The Goodnights are a family of eccentric delights, and Crusie avoids the pitfall of portraying them as too impossibly cute or sweet: the sense of real human frailty in all her characters makes even the villains oddly endearing. As Davy helps Tilda retrieve the rest of the Scarlets, the two play a game of sexual cat and mouse that culminates in some very hot sex. Meanwhile, Gwen, who has a secret of her own, is courted both by the art patron Clea has marked as her next fiancé and by the Goodnights'mysterious new Gallery boarder, whom they suspect Clea has hired as a hit man to kill Davy in this roller-coaster ride of double identities, scams, and misinformation, none meant to be taken too seriously. Perfect escapist fare: Who knew Ohio could be so much fun?

Few popular writers handle light romantic comedy as deftly as Jennifer Crusie...A funny, fast-moving, densely-plotted comedy/caper. Crusie clearly has studied vintage screwball film comedies. Faking It is an unabashed homage to such classics as The Philadelphia Story and His Girl Friday. The dialogue, which is peppered with movie references, is arch and smart-alecky, and moves the story at a rattling pace.” —Boston Globe

“The action is fast, the characters are quirky and the one-liners never stop...fast-paced and sexy...should solidify Crusie's place in the big leagues of women's fiction.” —The Columbus Dispatch

“A smart, sexy story of intrigue, seduction, blackmail, and art forgery that will have readers laughing out loud and racing through its pages.” —Sullivan County Democrat

“Delightful...could be likened to skinny-dipping in a cool pond on a muggy, hot summer afternoon: Risque, yes-maybe even a little kinky-but, oh, so refreshing.” —Roanoke Times

“One of the brightest stars in romantic comedy delivers her sequel, to the very popular Welcome to Temptation.” —DallasNews.com

“A hoot. Oh, go ahead. Indulge.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Crusie's madcap tale of stolen art and mayhem contains more laugh-out-loud lusty living than a sudsy-bubble Oktoberfest.” —Bookpage

“Crusie's talent [is] for writing wacky romantic plots that shine with generous amounts of humor and enormous good cheer.” —Library Journal

“This laugh-out-loud romp is one to treasure! Nobody combines wit, irony, and sexy, sizzling plots better than Jennifer Crusie.” —Romantic Times

“This sassy novel is hilarious!” —Walden Book Report

“Faking It is a hilarious, warm novel with a cast of quirky and wonderful characters that endear while they charm.” —Amazon.com

“These bantering anti-heroes are clearly made for each other, and the way that they get back at their tormentor is as refreshing as a mint julep in the summer heat.” —Bookstreet USA

“No one else writes like she does-not Romance, not Women's Fiction, but her own distinct, "bent" view of the world with its Runyonesque characters and arch dialogue...the novel's last 50 pages are simply divine.” —TheRomanceReader.com