BOOK REVIEW: Notorious Nineteen

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Personally, I wish that Janet Evanovich would bring her Stephanie Plum books to a close. I spent part of the Christmas vacation catching up on the last several and have to admit, she still makes me laugh out loud. But, and this is a big “but”, I want to know -- Ranger or Morelli?… tough choice for any red blooded girl. Since NOTORIOUS NINETEEN is on all of the Best Seller Lists that I check and in case you are not familiar with Stephanie and the characters surrounding her, here is a re-cap of her latest adventures.

Stephanie Plum works for her Uncle Vinnie’s bail bond agency chasing people who have skipped out on their bail, in other words as a bounty hunter. Her side kick and friend is Lulu, a plus-size ex-prostitute. 

 

She has parents and a grandmother who live close enough to see that she is fed regularly especially when the skips are not getting caught often enough to pay the bills. She also is involved with two of the sexiest men in literature, Joe Morelli, an Italian policeman, and Ranger, a mystery man who owns a security agency.

In NOTORIOUS NINETEEN Stephanie may have finally landed an assignment that will pay her credit card bill. One of the skips is facing trial for embezzling millions of dollars from an assisted living facility. The bounty on this man will put our heroine back in the money.

Add to this basic plot one very sexy Ranger who needs Stephanie to pose as his date for a friend’s wedding because a homicidal manic is trying to kill Ranger and the groom. Add an assortment of other felons and general odd-balls who keep showing up and you have your typical Stephanie Plum book.

Helping Stephanie as always is Grandma Mazur who goes undercover at the assisted-living facility; it is a good place to meet sexy guys. It is also a break from visiting funerals. 

 

Stephanie has numerous cars blown up, visits a nude beach, almost gets buried alive, and still maintains a relationship with Morelli and Ranger. It’s all in a day’s work for our girl.

Yes, these books are very “formula” as well as outrageous, but there is a reason that they are still going strong enough to put number nineteen on the bestselling lists. They are funny. By now Grandma Mazur, Lulu, Morelli, Ranger, and the rest of these crazies are well known to us and we still laugh at their antics, much as we do some of our own family members who are just a little off center.

If you have not been properly introduced to this cast of characters, it might be a good idea to start with number one, cleverly titled One for the Money. Ms. Evanovich was thoughtful and numbered the books to make it easier for us.