What the Lady Wants by Jennifer Crusie

Mae Belle (Mabel) Sullivan & Mitch Peatwick, (Kincaid)
(oops editing error - Peatwick in the book but Peabody on the back of the book blurb)

Mae Sullivan is on a hunt for her recently deceased uncle’s diary. Her hope is that the diary will contain information that will provide the much needed answers as to the whereabouts of her trust fund millions and her vanished inheritance. She hires PI Mitch Peatwick under the false pretence that he is to help solve the mystery on who murdered her uncle and to search for the missing diary.
Of course the story gets a bit complicated because Uncle Armand was not murdered; she only wants to locate the unaccounted diary.

What the Lady Wants was my first Jennifer Crusie book. It was a short novel and an easy read that tide me over a few hours. It was interesting that the villain of the book was actually dead. Mae’s Uncle Armand was a real piece of work and good riddance to him. I’m glad he had been deceased a few days before the story actually began. The author did a great job by writing all the various mean spirited deeds that Uncle Armand did while not going overboard. She allowed the reader to come to their own conclusions on their feelings. Instead of writing ‘Uncle Armand was a jerk’, she’d write the nasty thing Uncle Armand had done and then allowed the reader to despise him even more. I much prefer to read the story than be told how I am supposed to react.

Mae Belle and Mitch Peatwick was a very likeable couple. I admired Mae’s loyalty to her surrogate parents, the butler and the cook, as well as her ability to look past all the negativity that was forced into her life by her crotchety Uncle Armand. Her other crazy uncles and cousin obviously adored her to bits and she was an easy person to like. Mitch was a great hero. He was smart, truthful and patient. Listening to the banter of the couple at the beginning of the book when they were determined not to like each other simply just succeeded in placing a smile on my face.

A very low heat factor in What the Lady Wants. There was chemistry but only one making love scene and it was on the light side. Jennifer Crusie did include a condom in the love scene but I always pick up on when the author leaves out the clean up part. Condom on, act happens, soft cuddling and the loving pair falls to sleep wrapped up in each other’s arms like pretzels. Uhm, hello? Dude is still wearing what I am sure is an uncomfortable soggy rubber glove there. Time to get up and change it. I know you can assume he got up and took it off but I really don’t like those specifics being left out.

Great turn of events in What the Lady Wants as the ending drew near. I was not disappointed. I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to read the book, but if you get it at the library or for a great deal, go for it.