Jennifer Crusie is unsure. So unsure she begins the interview by grilling the interviewer: “What did you think of the men?”

        She means the men in Fast Women, the 11th novel from this writer who turned from category romance to general fiction four books ago.

        Well, to be honest, the men in question are pigs. “I was afraid of that,” she says. “I really don't believe men are pigs or that anyone is — everyone has some redeeming quality.”

        Hey, it's OK. It's more fun hating them. Besides, the two leading men, Gabe and Riley are wonderful, warm, real, fully drawn guys who make up for the sty of supporting characters.

        Fast Women is the story of 42-year-old Nell Dysart starting over after her 22-year marriage ends (ex-husband Tim is an adulterous pig), and her two best friends Suze (husband Jack is an adulterous pig) and Margie (first husband, Stewart, was an adulterous pig; live-in Budge is a non-adulterous pig).

        Starting over means a job as office manager at McKenna Investigations, a firm founded by Gabe's dad and unchanged since the '50s. Threadbare carpet, dirty windows, filthy blinds, a wobbly sofa, a dreary, 40-year-old paint job.

        Just the way Gabe likes it. Even partner Riley can't talk him out of it.

        Nell doesn't try. She just takes over, modernizing inch by agonizing inch, causing major conflict and, as in every Crusie novel, hysterically funny arguments.

        Is there any doubt these two are going to fall in love? Is there any doubt Suze is soon to find out about Jack and his 21-year-old toy? Is there any doubt Margie's going to bounce Budge?

        None. The fun is in getting there.

        Like all Ms. Crusie's books, Fast Women is a relationship novel in which the joy comes from the characters' interaction. These are three damaged women, much like the antique china they each collect. But unlike china, they're not fragile.

        Nell is headstrong and take-charge, something that irks the daylights out of Gabe (who thinks he's in charge). Suze is a bombshell given to a “poor little me” act, 'til she's needed, then she's a tower of power. And Margie, when she's not swilling soy milk laced with Amaretto, is the strength behind both of them.

        The relationships — the women's friendship and support network, Nell and Gabe's love-hate thing, Riley and Suze's loooong mating dance — make it a page turner.

        The relationships are the plot. Much more than the murder, 20 years ago, that sets off a new string of murders and endangers the main characters.

        Doesn't sound funny but it is.

        As in every one of Ms. Crusie's novels, there is raucously funny dialogue, bizarre twists, off-center characters and botched-up thises and thats.

        Like the conversation between Nell, Riley, Gabe, Suze, ex-husband Tim and new wife Whitney at a bar where it suddenly dawns on Nell that she has slept with everyone at the table except Whitney. Of course, she blurts it to torment her adulterous pig. Suze (their fling was an experiment, to see what it would be like if all men were suddenly taken by a plague) plays right along.

        Or the SugarPie caper.

        SugarPie is a long-haired dachshund. A woman (divorced from, you guessed it, an adulterous pig) claims the dog is abused and wants Gabe to dognap it. He refuses. So the three fast women dress in black and go do the deed amid, oh, about 400 mishaps.

        But SugarPie isn't abused. She's a doggie drama queen who knows how to fall in a heap, moan and look pitiful 'til someone gives her food. They rename her Marlene, buy her a Columbo-style trench coat and, somewhere along the line, she becomes a major character.

        “You know, I got to love Marlene so much that I started volunteering with Dachshund Rescue Ohio (Ms. Crusie lives in Columbus). Then, I fell in love with one and took it home. His name's Wolfgang,” she says.

        Wolfie wasn't with her when she hopped in her new yellow Beetle (with a plastic Eeyore dangling from the rear-view mirror) and drove to Cincinnati for a signing at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.

        Her signings are popular because her books are, but also because they're a hoot. “I just wanted to see what you look like,” one fan says. “OK, I'm middle-aged and chunky. Next.” Another asked about the writing process: “I sit around in my underwear all day making things up and they pay me a lot of money. Next.”

        “You have to remember, I taught art in junior high for 10 years. You gotta be quick on your feet and learn fast how to be an entertainer.

        “I can relax and be myself at signings because these groups hold no fear for me. No one throws stuff at me like in junior high.”

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