The Janet Evanovitch series started off really strong (One for the Money), and the first five-ish entries were also solid. That was over 20 years ago now, and for a while the entries were increasingly outlandish and ridiculous. I probably wouldn’t have bought another entry, but this arrived free of charge (a friend clearing out their book hoard) and it was right on time for my New York trip pre-reading (technically the series is set in New Jersey, but this one dips across into New York and it feels very tri-state area).
The series follows Stephanie Plum, an eternally 35-ish bountyhunter working for her cousin Vinny’s bail bonds office in Trenton, New Jersey. Stephanie’s family is Italian-American and close-knit; her maternal Grandmother lives with her parents and she stops by frequently for Sunday dinners. She has two spicy love interests- the Italian-American police officer, Joe Morelli, and the Cuban-American former special-forces now also bountyhunter, Ranger. The other supporting characters that appear in every novel are the bail office’s secretary, Connie, and a former prostitute turned bountyhunter co-worker named Lula.
This entry in the series follows two mysteries: someone attempts to poison Ranger and his office with polonium and someone is attempting to take out a circle of crooks and anyone who knows about their operations (gambling, smuggling, some light human trafficking). Stephanie involves herself in the first mystery out of concern for Ranger, although she’s initially largely held at a distance. The latter mystery actively comes her way as she her bail tickets that she needs to capture and re-bond keep dying. A former accountant for the syndicate who has an unfortunate knack for being to close to explosions (trying but not succeeding to take him out) is also in need of a place to stay until his next court date, so Stephanie begrudgingly lets him crash at her apartment (decidedly not a love interest angle, solely a comedy of errors vibe).
Overall, this was fine. The mystery often feels like its taking a backseat to character antics, but that’s usually what’s brining readers to this series at this point. Unlike many of the ‘teen’ novel entries (each novel is helpfully titled after its number in the series), this one felt more like a return to form. The ridiculous level felt back to say a 5 instead of a 10.
