In Praise of Robyn and The Thin Woman

First a grateful thanks to Robyn from Snarkling Clean for her recommendation of a new series for me to try. Robyn, you rock! Dorothy Cannell's "The Thin Woman" was a pure pleasure to read!

I finished the first book this morning over my coffee and felt compelled to write about it today. "The Thin Woman" follows Ellie Simons, an overweight single interior designer, to a weekend family reunion at her uncle's estate outside of London. Desperate to take attention from herself, she hires Bentley Haskell, a porn writer who also works as an escort, to pose as her "boyfriend" for the weekend. Enter Ellie's quirky relatives and the weekend slides quickly into disaster and, though she truly likes Ben, she leaves his car upon their return to London determined never to see him again.

But life has other plans. Uncle Merlin dies and leaves the bulk of his estate to Ellie and Ben! But he charges them each with a responsibility: Ellie must lose 63 pounds--no less--and Ben must write a publishable-length book with not one swear word or sexual reference in it. Also, together they must find a treasure related to the house. If they fail to accomplish these things in six months, they'll lose everything.

Well, the six months doesn't go very smoothly for Ellie and Ben. They're both fighting their inner demons while joined together to figure out the mystery of the treasure. Enter a grumpy groundskeeper and a no-bullshit housekeeper and the wit and intrigue only escalates.

The ending was satisfying and I confess I was surprised by the unmasking of the villain. And several other things happened during the course of the story that kept me on my toes and glued to the pages.

"The Thin Woman" was a worthy read and lots of fun. I am checking out the next book in the series today and I hope it will be as entertaining.

And once again, thanks, Robyn!