Charlie All Night

Author: Jennifer Crusie
Published: January 1996 (Harlequin), reissued December 2004 (Mira)
Category: Romance
Quote of Choice: "And then Lisa sprayed the place with that stinking pine disinfectant, which explains why this place smells like somebody pooped a pine tree."

At Jennie's recommendation, I picked up my first Jennifer Crusie book yesterday from the library. It's one of her earlier novels, and I hear that Crusie only got better with time. I've read reviews that say Crusie writes really funny, witty dialogue and makes her characters seem like real people. While I felt like Charlie and Alice were real people, I didn't have any laugh-out-loud moments when reading this book.

Charlie comes to the town of Tuttle to do a favor for his father's friend, Bill. He's investigating rumors of drugs being distributed through the radio station Bill owns. As a cover, Charlie pretends to be a temporary DJ so he can figure out who's selling drugs at the station. Bill assigns the stations most successful producer, Alice, to produce Charlie's new show.

Alice is not without problems of her own. She used to produce her boyfriend Mark's show, but he dumped her for another producer (who's younger and prettier). At first, she thinks Charlie will be a good rebound guy to help her get over her feelings for Mark. However, she and Charlie fell for each other even though they didn't realize it. Once, their argument was on the air to Charlie's audience and they had to do segments together where they argued.

Mark, the ex-boyfriend provided lots of amusement. Charlie was an unexpected hit as a DJ, and Mark would copy Charlie to get the same reaction from listeners. When the audience found out that Charlie was nursing an orphaned puppy, Mark got a dog from the pound, only to realize that you need to take dogs out for walks or else they'll poop in the studio.

This was a really fast read and was amusing. However, I wouldn't read this again. I'm sure that the titles Jennie prefers will be better.