Fearless Fourteen

I've just finished reading Fearless Fourteen, the 14th book in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. My friend Shanny introduced me to the series a long time ago, and I loved the first couple of books so much I soon got hooked. Since then I've read every single Stephanie Plum novel. There's usually a new one coming out on paperback every June and that's my summer "must read". The books are numbered, One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to get Deadly and so on and they're best read in sequence as the relationships between the main characters keep evolving and there are new characters introduced in each book.

The series tells the story of Stephanie Plum, a lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to make ends meet after losing her job. Stephanie gets into all sorts of trouble and is usually assisted by her friend Lula and one or both of her love interests, Joe Morelli (yum) and Ranger (phwoar!). There are usually one or two mysteries, disappearances, murders and such like to solve in each book, but for me, the pleasure of Stephanie Plum novels is in the comedic value of the writing, which is witty and fast paced, with plenty of dialogue.

Here are some extracts from the latest book that will give you an idea of the style.

"Congratulations," I said to Lula. "When's the wedding?"
"I haven't decided that. June might be nice."
"That's next month."
"Yeah," Lula said. "You think it's too far away? I don't like long engagements."
"You can't go wrong with June," Connie said. "Everyone wants to get married in June."
"That's what I figure," Lula said. "I always wanted to be a June bride, but I don't want one of them schmaltzy weddings with the big white gown and all. I just want to get married real quiet." She looked at me. "What about you? Did you have a big schmaltzy wedding?"
"Yeah. And then I had an even bigger divorce."
"I remember the divorce," Connie said. "It was spectacular. It was a real accomplishment, since you'd only been married fifteen minutes."

*************************************************************

The house was impressive but felt excessively large for one person. I guess you have a big house like that, you get used to living in it, but all I could think of was keeping toilet paper in all those bathrooms.

*************************************************************

I looked up, and Mooner was in the doorway.
"The door was unlocked, so I figured you were open for business," Mooner said.
I had my hand over my heart. "You took me by surprise. Next time, yell when you come into the house."
"I was projecting my aura, but you might have been too distracted to catch it. Probably you were struggling with the feng shui in this room. Major bummer on that one." He looked across the hall. "Where's Zookamundo?"
"School."
"Again?"
"Five days a week."
"Whoa. He must be serious about it."

It's a rare book that has me laughing out loud, but Stephanie Plum novels always hit the mark. I'm on the floor right now :-)