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Win-win, think Dad and Flynn’s older sister Freya. Send Flynn to hold down the fort while they try to line up a buyer for the property. It will be a great way to suck her into the family business; it’s time she stopped with the self-actualization and started with the capitalism. What Flynn soon discovers that all is not pastoral pleasure in Scheintown (“Shiny”) New York. She soon finds herself mixed up in crazy computer systems, unscrupulous businessmen, nutty women, a hotel property that feels like home and the future, and a hot hotel bartender. But he’s a former cop, so that’s okay.

Oh, and great-aunt Esther’s ghost.

Flynn is one of those characters a reader can get behind. After an introduction that’s a little too heavy on the classic chicklit set-up, she settles into herself. Unlike Freya, Flynn isn’t motivated by power and money. Her deceased mother convinced her younger daughter to follow her heart and a career would find her. Even after a succession of dead-end jobs, Flynn still believes.

The problem is that being a lifelong underachiever takes a toll on a girl’s self-confidence. Flynn hits Shiny with a sincere belief that she’s going to fail. And despite this, she finds herself falling in love with the hotel and its grounds. Less in love with Esther, who is cutting into her sleep, but that’s another problem entirely. Esther has some unfinished business on this earthly plane.

Enter Jake Tucker. After what is known as a cute meet – only this meet is truly cute and clever – he and Flynn settle into a lovely courtship. Of course, Jake is trying to solve a bit of mystery while pursuing some classic revenge. The revenge first: Jake holds local magnate Gordon Chase responsible for the death of Jake’s father. Jake is also suspicious about the nature of Esther’s death – sure she was old as the hills, but the demise feels off to him. Putting two and two together and then adding in Chase’s apparent involvement with the travesty that ended Jake’s law enforcement career, and, well, Jake has a criminal in his sights.

Flynn is a pure and pleasurable distraction for Jake. None of this fighting the inevitable for these two – the romance proceeds as a classic courtship. Hmm, that is not entirely correct. Classic courtship with ghosts, embezzlement, guns, murder, and even a missing saucier (yeah, well look it up, I did). Still, Rich builds a straightforward, romantic relationship. Flynn and Jake have chemistry on the page. And once they get past the plot, they’re going to have a great life together.

Let me dwell on this a bit more. Rich is funny. I like funny writers. I like funny writers who can pull off sharp, witty dialogue. I like it when characters revel in good conversation…which for the reader translates to fun dialogue. It makes for excellent pacing, good characterization, smart reading, and fine romance. Flynn and Jake don’t spend pages mooning over body parts and perfect skin – they talk to each other. You know, like real people.

In addition to the growing to love you dialogue, there is dialogue that reveals the big story. As we soon learn, there is funny stuff going on with the money in Shiny. Pursuing his investigation of Chase suddenly gets very easy for Jake. Flynn eagerly involves herself in Jake’s plans – her eagerness disappears the next morning, sure, when she realizes that she’s under-equipped for the task – but Jake soon discovers that there layers upon layers uncover. He also discovers that one should exercise extreme caution when dealing with a crazy woman in love (“CWIL” – a most useful acronym presented by Rich). His straightforward investigation grows increasingly dangerous. Flynn, appropriately, is scared and defiant and scared.

Suffice to say that all crimes are solved, though not all characters make it to the end of the book. Teach them to play on the wrong side of the law.

I’d like to now veer off in the direction of Jennifer Crusie, which is totally unfair to Lani Diane Rich. But I suspect she’s sort of getting accustomed to it. And I think it’s entirely appropriate to the larger discussion (see paragraph one).

As some of you might recall, I have a thing for Jennifer Crusie’s writing. She tells a story in a way that makes me very, very happy. I look forward to reading her books. Think about that. How many authors do you eagerly anticipate? How many authors do you trust enough to pull you out of the worst of the worst days with a really good book? And with a book that you can go back to time and again if you need that little extra bit of comfort that comes from rereading a favorite book?

There aren’t so many. Jennifer Crusie, for me. And Susan Elizabeth Phillips, though sometimes she misses for me. But when Susan Elizabeth Phillips misses, it’s still better reading for me than most authors. When I close a Crusie or Phillips novel, I feel satisfied. I have inhabited a world for many hours, learned to know the people there – quirks, good points, weirdnesses and all.

Lani Diane Rich is that kind of author. She writes with confidence, humor, and creativity. Read the sex scene in this book if you want to understand what I mean. Like the authors mentioned above, she doesn’t manufacture silly conflict get in the way of a good romance. Flynn and Jake make mistakes in their nascent relationship (as both note, five days isn’t really all that long). They are hesitant and cautious. They have issues that need to be resolved before they can take the next step in their joint lives.

Flynn still needs to grow up. She needs to understand her strengths – she’s pretty clear on her weaknesses. Jake needs to resolve his feelings about his father’s death and Gordon Chase. These are not small issues for anyone, and Rich does not let the personal growth of her characters obscure the fact that they are crazy about each other. Cleaning out the baggage of the past is a necessary step. Both characters resolve their issues in their own way.

Yeah, I liked this book. I liked this book enough to stay up late reading (way too late, to tell the truth). I liked how I felt when I was reading it. I liked that the ending was neat, tidy, and just plain happy. Heck, I even like the fact that I was tooling along, thinking, “whoo-hoo, no woo-woo!” when a ghost appeared. The ghost was just right here. I forgive Rich for robbing me of my straight-ahead contemporary romance. I am generous to a fault.

So much so that I’m not even going to mention the author’s obsession with trained monkeys.

You can find Lani Diane Rich here. You can buy Crazy In Love here or here.