Lean Mean Thirteen

Starred review from May 28, 2007
In her rollicking 13th Stephanie Plum adventure (after Twelve Sharp
), bestseller Evanovich is in top, quirky form. Plucky, bumbling New Jersey bounty hunter Plum is reunited with her two-timing lawyer ex-husband, Dickie Orr, while doing a favor for the mysterious, sexy Ranger. But when Dickie disappears from his house leaving behind only bloodstains and bullet holes, Plum becomes the prime suspect in his alleged murder. Determined to clear her name, Plum and her on-again off-again Trenton cop boyfriend, the irresistible Joe Morelli, uncover Dickie’s ties to a shady group of men involved in everything from money laundering to drug running. And when Dickie’s jilted business partners decide Stephanie holds the key to the $40 million they believe Dickie stole from them, she’s in for a wild ride. With the author’s usual cast of eccentric side characters—everything from a taxidermist with a penchant for bombs to a grave-robbing tax man—Evanovich proves once again that Stephanie Plum and her entourage are here to stay.

June 1, 2007
Stephanie Plum works as a bail bondswoman for her cousin Vinnie in Trenton. Shes mostly in love with Morelli the cop, who calls her Cupcake, but shes also mesmerized by Ranger, who works serious security and calls her Babea split in nomenclature that aptly characterizes this delectable long-running series. Ranger needs Stephanie to plant a bug on her ex, the ever-smarmy attorney Dickie Orr. When Dickie goes missing, a lot of bad people and places start to blow up, burn up, and turn up. Evanovich smoothly slips from the hilarious to the hair-raising, from the erotic to the familial, carrying the running jokes we love so well: exploding taxidermy (a regular plot point here); waiting for the cable repair guy (those fuckers! say at least half a dozen characters); Stephanies oddball assortment of colleagues, buddies, and relatives. Stephanie saves herself in the end, as usual, but both Ranger and Morelli mop up the mess, also as usual. We end with pizza and a tangled tale of underwear. Not quite so sparkling as Twelve Sharp (2006)but eminently satisfying nonetheless.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)