Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

Here’s something that I really like about Jennifer Crusie other than the incredibly witty writing – the titles of these books. Seriously, I like the fact that there is no guessing about what the title means – yes, I’m looking at you City of Ashes – it’s straightforward.

Anyway, Agnes and the Hitman is about what the title suggests – a lady named Agnes and the Hitman her friend Joey calls in to help protect her when a man breaks into her house with a gun to steal her dog. I’ll warn you now, if you aren’t into a lot of dead bodies, than this book probably isn’t for you, because within the first 100 pages or so there are at least two, and all in all there are probably about ten. What did you expect from a book that has the word hitman in the title?

So, Agnes is a cook who has just bought the house from her childhood from her best friend’s mother. With help from her fiancé she was able to put down the down payment, and thanks to Brenda – her best friend’s mother – she is paying her directly for the mortgage. In the contract that she signed, though, she has to host Brenda’s granddaughter’s wedding or else she’ll default on the mortgage and the house goes back to Brenda. Considering that Brenda’s granddaughter – Maria – is Agnes’ goddaughter this shouldn’t be too much of a problem…right?

Ha. Wrong. On top of dealing with bodies because someone is trying to kill her, she also has to deal with a renovating the house for a wedding and she only has five days to do it. It doesn’t help either that Brenda is trying to sabotage the wedding.

Shane – the hitman that Joey brings in and also turns out to be his nephew – comes in to protect Agnes from the multiple hits on her life, and well…as the book progress he gets bring in for so much needed ‘recreational exercise to help diffuse Agnes’ anger.’ Considering the last two books that I’ve read from Crusie where the first sex scene between the main protagonists didn’t really end well, this one was hot.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I liked the fact that this book didn’t end with a cliché marriage proposal from Shane. I liked the way Brenda’s character was written; she was such a melodramatic bitch. I also liked the character of Agnes; she was a strong female with a temper. Pretty fantastic.

Bookshelf worthy? Electronic or support your local library!