Dempseys Books in Order

The Dempseys series links two of Jennifer Crusie’s most loved novels, Welcome to Temptation and Faking It. Read together, they trace one unruly family of grifters and artists as they crash into small towns, big scams, and real love.

In Welcome to Temptation Sophie Dempsey drives into Temptation, Ohio, planning to shoot a simple video for a washed-up actress and get out again fast. Instead she and her sister land in the middle of local politics, moral panics, and a suspicious death. Mayor Phin Tucker expects a quiet re-election; what he gets is Sophie, a camera, and a town convinced she is filming porn.

That first book sets the tone for the series: gossip, blackmail, and murder bump up against family loyalty, pool-hall flirting, and some very creative sex scenes. The Dempseys know how to lie, run a con, and protect their own, but Crusie keeps the focus on what happens when a lifelong outsider like Sophie lets herself trust one particular man.

Faking It shifts the spotlight to Sophie’s brother Davy Dempsey and muralist Matilda Goodnight. Tilda is keeping her family’s history of art forgery buried in the basement of their Columbus gallery. Davy has been cheated out of millions by his ex, the wonderfully awful Clea, and wants his money back. When Tilda breaks into Clea’s house to steal a forged painting and Davy breaks in for his cash, they collide in a closet and end up partnering on a dizzy art-and-money caper.

Across both books you see the same Crusie signatures: oddball pets, running gags, and side characters who feel like they could each anchor a story. The Dempseys and Goodnights are big, messy families where everyone has a scam or a secret, and falling in love means admitting the truth for once.

You can read either novel on its own, but there is extra satisfaction in meeting Davy as the slick side character in Welcome to Temptation and then watching him fall hard in Faking It. Taken together, the Dempsey stories offer a full, funny world of cons, kisses, and second chances.