DO NOT be fooled by the blurb from The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger on the cover of this book.

Although The Spellman Files is a breezy read with a spunky heroine, it is not your run-of-the-mill chick lit tome complete with travails about shopping, weight and men who can't commit.

Well, okay, there is a romantic sub-plot, involving a sputtering relationship between a cute dentist and the protagonist, Izzy. But that is as far as the resemblance goes.

Izzy, 28, is not even remotely interested in fashion. In her not-so-distant youth, she preferred partying, drugs and unsuitable men.

A private investigator by trade, like most of her family members, this San Francisco girl is far more interested in the mechanics of spying, snooping and uncovering dirty little secrets.

Written with verve and humour, this is an entertaining read. And it offers a welcome respite from the sometimes wearying, whiny tone of some chick lit novels.

Izzy is a little messed up and has her share of vices, but she is also matter-of-fact about how romance is a crapshoot and believes that life's greatest mystery is not how to find that Better Half but how to get acquainted with yourself.

If you like this, read: The World To Come by Dara Horn (2006, $32.03 with GST, major bookstores). The novel starts off like a lad-lit story by Nick Hornby, with protagonist Benjamin a lonely singleton in Manhattan looking for love. It turns out to be a moving meditation on family, heritage and history.

THE SPELLMAN FILES
By Lisa Lutz
Simon & Schuster/ Paperback/
337 pages/$28.95 (without GST)/
Major bookstores