Purchased yesterday from A Peek in the Attic (formerly Old Mission Thrift Shop) at 2640 Broad, San Luis Obispo, CA

Provenance! I found a sales slip inside the book. In a nutshell:

Hastings Entertainment #9823
654 North 3rd Street
Laramie, WY 82072

1 Twelve Sharp 7.99

Cash sale, total $8.47

Date: 10/30/2007
Receipt ID: 093456171936

So we know this book started its to-be-read life in Wyoming in October, 2007. How it got to San Luis Obispo I have no idea.

I'm looking for the right word and it isn't coming to me. So I'll have to be clumsy and put together several.

Stephanie Plum is a young, tough broad who looks good in a short skirt. She works as a bounty hunter for a bail bonds company, in the company of some stereotypical characters. Enter Lula, the voluptuous black woman who doesn't mind showing off her assets and offering sexual innuendos in street language. Lula finds herself attracted to Tank, whose name fits him. This is the funny couple that contrasts with the gorgeous couple.

The gorgeous couple, in this case, is Stephanie along with Joe Morelli, cop...OR Stephanie with bounty hunter Ranger. Yeah. Morelli and Ranger resemble each other in testosterone and gorgeousness but Morelli is "straight" - works as a cop - while Ranger is more the bad guy. The "good bad guy", according to some of the other characters.

So there's that part. The trial of loving two men. What is interesting and perhaps not to real-world (but what about these characters is "real world" anyway?) is that the two men tolerate each other in spite of their jealous natures, and that they don't blame Stephanie for not making a clear decision. Yes, in this episode Morelli is the official bf, but that doesn't stop Ranger from taking some bits when he can and not hiding his feelings.

The thrust of this episode is the discovery of a man who is impersonating the mighty inimitable Ranger. The man is deranged, yet amenable to Stephanie's smart talk when the two meet. He's a villain who kills with impunity but whose main obsession is Ranger. The faux-Ranger kidnaps Ranger's real daughter, Julie.

Then there are the peripheral characters. Including another bounty hunter, female, who dresses outrageously, takes advantage of others, is generally not well-liked but nevertheless determined to get the job done. And a new guy, pursued for failing to appear (FTA = Failure to Appear), a self-described "pervert" who tries to jump off a building but ends up working as a file clerk for the bond agency.

And Grandma. True to form for the more formulaic amusing mysteries, we have an elderly grandma who lets it all hang out, does more outrageous things and tells it like it is. Her favorite activity is looking at dead bodies during viewings at the funeral parlor. Sometimes this means prying off the lid of a closed casket.

Here's the thing. It's as if Evanovich tries too hard. Let's see just how out-there we can make this one. No, let's top that with this other one. And in contrast, Stephanie looks sane and reasonable, but still tough-talking and funny, of course.

Lest this review be too negative I'll say I'll read others of her books when they come my way. They make absorbing reading even if they are completely unrealistic. We do get a little bit into the head of Stephanie even if the others are pure cardboard, and it's kinda fun at times.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

On a table inside.