irrepressible bounty hunter: Smokin Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Perhaps I should be embarrassed to admit that, of the seventeen novels in Janet Evanovich‘s enduring Stephanie Plum series, this is the seventeenth I’ve read. Clearly, I’m hooked on the saga of the irrepressible bounty hunter. And I have no excuse.

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Stephanie Plum and her feisty sidekick, Lula, a former ho (and proud of it), find themselves in yet another improbable quandary in this latter-day Keystone Kops story. Stephanie is a bounty hunter who works for her odious cousin Vinnie’s bail bonds business. She is despatched from time to time to apprehend Trenton, New Jersey’s most colorful criminals. Together with Lula, she does manage to get her man — eventually, but not until they’ve had numerous unlikely adventures, which usually include the utter destruction of Stephanie’s latest (typically borrowed) car.

In Smokin’ Seventeen, Stephanie is still undecided between the two men in her life. Morelli, a bad boy who has become a police detective (and, of course, a good one); and Ranger, a Latino security specialist with a mysterious past and a thriving security business capable of supplying Stephanie with a succession of expensive cars. Both men are irresistibly attractive. So, it would appear, is Stephanie herself, though you would hardly know it to listen in on her interior dialogue.

Each of these novels has a plot, but that’s not important. What’s important is that each provides a platform for Evanovich’s humor. which is alternately macabre and slapstick. Pick up any one of these books, and if you’ve got a sense of humor, you’ll find it worth the chuckles.

Smokin’ Seventeen (Stephanie Plum #17) by Janet Evanovich ★★★☆☆

For additional reading

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