Murder by Death

I love Jennifer Crusie; she writes two of my favorite books: Fast Women and Agnes and the Hitman and I thought I had just about all her books, but I found this one at the bottom of a box at the FOTL sale Saturday.

For Nina Askew, turing forty means freedom—from the ex-husband whose career always came first, from their stuffy suburban home. Freedom to have her own apartment in the city, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change. And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed—a puppy. A bouncy puppy to cheer her up. Instead she gets…Fred.

Overweight, smelly and obviously suffering from some kind of doggy depression, Fred is light years from perky. But for all his faults, he does manage to put Nina face-to-face with Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger downstairs neighbor.

Alex looks great on paper—a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor who shares Fred’s abiding love for Oreos—but a ten-year difference in age, despite his devastating smile, is too wide a gap for Nina to handle. But with every silver-haired stiff she dates, the more she suspects it’s the young dog-loving doctor she wants!

It's a quick read and not her best work, but it's still a lot of fun.  The show-stealer in this one is, hands-down, Fred the dog.  I also really liked the way the romance  centered around the older-woman/younger-man dynamic.  This was the perfect read for a sunny, lazy afternoon.