Jennifer Crusie

Jennifer Crusie is the pen name of Jennifer Smith, an American author of comic contemporary romance born in 1949 in Wapakoneta, Ohio, known for novels such as Welcome to Temptation (2000) and Bet Me (2004).

She studied art education at Bowling Green State University, took a master's degree at Wright State University and an MFA in fiction at Ohio State University, and completed coursework for a doctorate there, researching gender and narrative, but never finished the dissertation. She spent years teaching art and then English before leaving the classroom to write full time. Her pen name comes from her maternal grandmother's maiden name. She sold the novella Sizzle to Silhouette, but its publication was held up, so Manhunting, issued in Harlequin's Temptation line in 1993, became her first published novel. Further Harlequin category novels included Getting Rid of Bradley, Strange Bedpersons and Anyone But You, and she wrote The Cinderella Deal and Trust Me On This for Bantam's Loveswept line.

From 1995 she wrote single-title novels for St. Martin's Press, starting with Tell Me Lies (1998) and continuing with Crazy for You (1999), Welcome to Temptation (2000), Fast Women (2001), Faking It (2002) and Bet Me (2004). She won RITA Awards for Getting Rid of Bradley and for Bet Me (2005), and has co-written several novels with Bob Mayer, including Don't Look Down (2006) and Agnes and the Hitman (2007).

For collectors

Collectors of Crusie split her work into two groups: the early category romances for Harlequin Temptation, Silhouette and Bantam Loveswept, starting with Manhunting (1993), and the St. Martin's Press single-title novels from Tell Me Lies onward. Getting Rid of Bradley and Bet Me stand out as her RITA Award winners.