When I went in to the Iowa City Public Library for my regular reading fix I discovered that the "New Fiction" shelves included a reprint of a 1990 standby by Janet Evanvich, her romance, "Wife for Hire."
This is much more than the usual lusty busty. Evanovich is careful to finely detail a whole town full of quirky and memorable characters. Maggie Toone accepts a six month "job" as the fake wife of an apple orchard farmer, Hank Mallone, and moves from her town in New Jersey to Skogen, Vermont, to take up her duties. She believes this part time wife role will leave plenty of time to write a book based on the diaries of her Aunt Kitty, a famous New Jersey Madam. Hank's housekeeper, Elsie Hawkins, is constantly adding to hilarity by keeping everyone in line by wit or force.
Maggie, Hank and Elsie find themselves fending off intruders who go after the diaries for some mysterious reason. Meanwhile, Maggie finds herself alternatively fending Hank off and inviting him in.
There are a number of laugh out loud scenes in "Wife for Hire," as is typical in an Evanovich book.
Liz Nichols
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