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What the Lady Wants  By  cover art

What the Lady Wants

By: Jennifer Crusie
Narrated by: Lola Holiday
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Editorial reviews

When Mae Sullivan’s uncle dies under suspicious circumstances, she enlists the help of Mitch Peatwick to get to the bottom of it all. The story of a murder, an unlikely romance, and all the craziness that happens along the way, What the Lady Wants is a fun ride from start to finish.

The narration is interesting. While the main characters are all in their early to mid-30s, the narration is done by a woman clearly older than that. Most of the time, her voice is spot-on, particularly with the female characters, flawlessly switching from emotions in a variety of accents. However, the male characters proved to be much more of a challenge, sometimes missing the mark, verging on becoming over the top and cartoonish. Normally, something like this would detract from the story, however, the whole plot is almost madcap, so the less-than-perfect narration fits in with the lighthearted flow of the story.

The story itself is a good combination of murder, action, drama, and spiciness and you’re dropped into the action from the very first minute. Each character is well-thought out and given a solid background that keeps you guessing throughout the entire novel. Things aren’t always what they seem, giving What the Lady Wants a fresh feeling.

Jennifer Crusie occasionally gets a little repetitive with certain plot points, and drags some conversations out well past their point of being done, but overall, the action is constantly moving forward. There’s a good deal of suspense, as well as enough romance, driving the plot forward, as Crusie has a real talent for both genres, making this book appealing to a wider audience. Lesley Grossman

Publisher's summary

If he’s Cary Grant, where’s his Girl Friday?

Mitch Peabody was learning pretty fast that the life of a private detective was nothing like the movies. He’d envisioned a world of tough-talking detectives and smart-mouthed, stunning dames. Instead he saw case after case of cheating husbands, suspicious wives and unsuspecting mistresses…until she walked through the door.

Right down to her stilettos, Mae Sullivan was a knockout with a lethal body—and a lethal family to go with it. There was something not quite on the up-and-up about her, but she came with a case he couldn’t afford to refuse…and left him with a case of lust he hadn’t had since high school. It didn’t take long for him to fall for her, hook, line and sinker. But was Mae interested only in catching the double-crossing crooks who murdered her uncle…or did the lady want to catch him?

©2010 Jennifer Crusie (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Romance

Critic reviews

“Wonderful, fresh, funny, tender, outrageous…Crusie is one of a kind.” ( Booklist)

What listeners say about What the Lady Wants

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    4 out of 5 stars

what is wrong with this narrator

It's a classic, fun Jennifer Cruise...but the narrator gives a frankly bizarre and annoying performance. I would say 80% of the sentences that she read during this book were not pronounced the way that any normal human would pronounce them. I want to offer the people who made this audiobook to read it for free so that they can have a new recording and no one has to listen to this woman ever again

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Don’t bother

Crusie has written some good books. This is not be of them. Guy is set up as a jerk, develops a heart of gold. Weak mafia characters. Just doesn’t work.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very funny.

I really enjoyed this book. I will read any thing that Jennifer Crusie writes. The characters are always so interesting and funny. The narration was really very well done. The stories are all so different. The have humor and suspense. I really enjoyed all of them.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Pretty Good

Where does What the Lady Wants rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?

It is not Crusie's best, but I still enjoyed it overall. I am reading all of her books. Nice escapism with real insight into relationships.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Love her books

There funny she can make you laugh cry and really feel for her characters. I’m addicted

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Had The Right Premise

Audible Escape
Well I wanted to listen to all the Jennifer Cruise A.Escape offered, and so far Trust Me On This is the only 5 star story. I have purchased that book as It is worth re listening to feel good.. Ms Angela Dawe narrates 3 books of Ms Cruise and I own all of them. She made the humor and story jump to life.
I have start stoped 2 other Cruise books and even at a fast speed, it does not help the story!!! Well I do know that a great narrator can make a good book wonderful and can even pull it out of the fire so to speak. I can only hope this reader has an AKA name, but this narration was so bad. High voice and tinny sounding, Absolutely no male tone at all. Shame on Ms Cruise for not getting better narrators. This was a good tale, so read it if you liked Agnes and the Hitman.
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Not the Best Narrator

Any additional comments?

The story was cute and the characters where interesting and funny. I bought the book becuase of the PI aspect, since I loved Fast Women by Jennifer Cruise. And maybe if there was a different narrator, like say Sandra Burr who did Fast Women and Agnus and the Hitman, I would have enjoyed the story more. There was no inflection or emotion and it was hard to hear who was talking because Lola Holiday's voice didn't change to match the character.

I did finish the story because I wanted to know how the relationship between Mae and Mitch would develop through the story, especially since neither seemed even remotely interested in the other at the beginning of their association. And I wanted to know who did it, if in fact someone did do it.

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Happy pill !

I love this book. I first bought it in print then later as an audiobook,I like it that much, it has become a good remedy for winter blues. The characters are likable even the villains. The dialogue is snappy and amusing,the plot interesting.
These early books of Jennifer Crusie put out by Harlequin are timeless and will continue to amuse and entertain for years to come.
I would suggest you also try Getting Rid of Bradley,you won't regret it.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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not quite crusie

Am a crusie fan. Was hard to get into this book but once I did enjoyed it Lola Holiday isn't a bad read just need to get use to her

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love crusie

so far I haven't read a book of hers which I haven't liked and the three she coauthors with Bob Meyer are if anything even better. for some reason though she has stopped writing. I keep hoping for a new book though!

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1 person found this helpful