Monday, May 2, 2011

Plum Spooky: Whodunit #7



For several years now, the Stephanie Plum series has been my go-to material for when real life humor is elusive, for those times when I need to rest my gray matter after reading a particularly draining novel, or for when I'm feeling inordinately stupid and need to feel smart.


Stephanie Plum is a Jersey bounty hunter, though not a very good one. In a city where even the little old ladies pack thirty-eights, she goes after her skips-- those offenders out on bail who, as bond enforcer, Stephanie is supposed to bring in to re-schedule when they miss their court dates-- armed only with pepper spray and a defective stun gun. She fumbles along unequipped with skills for bond enforcement but manages to hang on to the job through sheer pigheadedness and desperation, as her only other alternative is to concede unemployment and move back in with her parents. Her minor successes at work are largely due to luck, stubbornness, the workings of a divine being with a sense of humor and, often, with many thanks to Ranger, her own personal deus ex machina who pops up, clad in black and driving a shiny new SUV to rescue her from whatever sticky and embarrassing situation she gets herself into. If anything, Stephanie is accomplished at having trouble find her.


In Plum Spooky, she finds herself in the company of a finger-flipping monkey named Carl, chases after boy genius Martin Munch-- who was arrested for breaking his boss' nose with a Dunkin' Donuts mug and stealing a magnetometer from the lab where he works-- after he fails to show up for his court date, comes face to face with the frightening and dangerous Wulf Grimoire who kills without remorse and disappears theatrically in a puff of smoke, and rides shotgun with Diesel, over 6 feet of stunning, hard-muscled male who is also after Wulf.


As in each of the Stephanie Plum books, the plot is not too complicated, the suspense is not too exciting, the twists are never unpredictable and the bad guys are always caught in the end. But I love Janet Evanovich's smart-talking characters, Stephanie's drool-worthy paramours, the main characters' outrageous adventures and their firm belief that jelly doughnuts solve most of the day's problems. I couldn't agree more.

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1 comment:

GatheringBooks said...

sounds interesting! i haven't heard of this one yet, will try to look out for this title.