Frisky Business
Sexual innuendo and risqué bantering abound in Fenske’s latest, after Eat, Play, Lust (2013).  Moving from Portland to Bend, Oregon, to become development director of the Cascade Historical Society and Wildlife Sanctuary, Marley Cartman, at 35, has decided not to date men who are wealthy because like her father, now on his sixth wife, they are undependable.  Society director Will Barclay V, divorced after his wife ran off with his sister, has well-earned trust issues with women to whom he is attracted.  Still, sparks fly between Marley and Will, even as she dates a series of blue-collar guys and he tells himself she is not being completely honest with him.  But when Will’s aunt’s prized collection of antique Native American dildos is stolen from the historical society and Marley becomes one of the suspects, even their fragile bond is stretched nearly to its limit.  Fenske, whose previous books are rooted in humor and silly situations, also stretches the limits of humor with sometimes labored setups and quips that border on potty humor, which might disappoint her fans. --Pat Henshaw