Too Good to Be True

PI Grady Sullivan and sham heiress Annie Kendall lob jokes back and forth while trying to stop someone who wants to kill manipulative toilet-paper billionaire Archie Peevers--and that's just one of several disconcerting elements in Michaels's latest contemporary romance (following Can't Take My Eyes Off of You). In order to take the heat off himself and rile his would-be-assassin into revealing his or her identity, Archie hires Annie to pretend to be his long-lost illegitimate granddaughter and engages Grady to protect her. Although Grady and Annie fan the flames of their attraction while battling over whether they're equal partners in the investigation, there's no real competition among the rest of the crew at the Peevers mansion and little doubt that Grady and Annie will end up together. Michaels deftly conceals the identity of Annie's mysterious confidant, ""Poppy,"" until the end, and Archie's quirky, larcenous butler Dickens garnishes every scene with his sharp wit. However, Grady's sloppy investigative technique (consisting mainly of Internet searches) and Annie's sudden ""I did it for the Kidney Foundation"" explanation for her heiress role-playing are only a few of the weaknesses that undermine this light romp. (Feb.)