Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie

SUMMARY (from Goodreads): When a down-on-her-luck divorcee meets a determined-to-dominate detective, they find out that falling in love can be murder...

Nell Dysart's in trouble. Weighed down by an inexplicable divorce and a loss of appetite for everything, Nell is sleepwalking through life until her best friend finagles a job for her with a shabby little detective agency that has lots of potential and a boss who looks easy to manage.

Gabe McKenna isn't doing too well, either. His detective agency is wasting time on a blackmail case, his partner has decided he hates watching cheating spouses for money, and his ex-wife has just dumped him...again. The only thing that's going his way is that his new secretary looks efficient, boring, and biddable.

But looks can be deceiving and soon Nell and Gabe are squaring off over embezzlement, business cards, vandalism, dog-napping, blackmail, Chinese food, unprofessional sex, and really ugly office furniture, all of which turn out to be the least of their problems. Because soon, somebody starts killing people. And shortly after that, they start falling in love...

MY OPINION:

This is actually a fun read. It has a bit of a snarky tone, and I laughed a lot during reading it. Additionally, some suspenseful elements kept my attention throughout the book.

Unfortunately, the writing is somewhat messy, so I had to pause occasionally and go back to figure out who was talking to whom and the like. There are also some things that do not add up, which furthermore contributes to the confusion.

The strongest point of the book is the portrayal the relationship between Nell and her friends. I liked it how they stick together through thick and thin, supporting each other and having fun together.

Overall, Fast Women is a quick and easy, but captivating, book. A somewhat confusing writing, which disturbs the smoothness of the reading process, is the reason for me rating it three instead of four stars.

RECOMMENDATION: Fast Women is a light and funny contemporary romance with a dash of suspense.