Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Stephanie Plum #27
Publication Date: 11/3/20
Number of Pages: 320

I absolutely adore Stephanie Plum. She’s totally inept at almost everything, but somehow, she always manages to persist until the job is done. The stories are always delightfully entertaining and witty. Everything from her professional life to her romantic life is always in a state of chaos and it is so much fun to see Stephanie deal with it. Some readers seem to be concerned about the Ranger Vs Morelli saga, but not me. Ranger is quite adamant he’s not ready to settle down and I don’t think Morelli is either – but then, I don’t think Stephanie is ready for marriage and a house in the burbs either. So, maybe at some point, she’ll choose one of them – or there’ll be somebody new.

Truth is, I didn’t know how to categorize Ranger. He was more than just a friend, but he didn’t feel like a boyfriend. There were times when our relationship felt more like a marriage. There was an acceptance of personality that was sometimes lacking between Morelli and me. Maybe that was because Ranger and I had no illusions about a binding, long-term commitment. There wasn’t as much at stake between us.

For the last few books, we’ve been dealing with Stephanie’s Grandma’s forty-five-minute long marriage to an elderly retired mobster hitman. Yep – they married and before they could leave the wedding site, he had a heart attack and died. Now, his elderly cronies – known as the La-Z-Boys (because of their recliners) think Grandma has the clues to lead them to a treasure they’ve had hidden for many years. She doesn’t – or if she does, she doesn’t know it. We’re finally down to the last three of the mobsters who are after Stephanie and Grandma and one of them is totally insane. Each of the mobsters has a single clue about the hidden treasure – Stephanie knows two of the clues – she just needs to get the others and find the treasure before they end her and Grandma.

“That leaves Shine, Salgusta, and Benny the Skootch. I need their clues.”

Stephanie has her hands totally full trying to keep Grandma safe and also keep up with her work as a Bail Bonds Enforcement Agent. Yes, Stephanie is the inept version of “Dog the Bounty Hunter”. Somehow, she always manages to get her man/woman though – often with the help of Ranger who finds her antics entertaining. She has three men to hunt down this time – you’ll love their crimes – and two of them are big, aggressive, and mean. The other one is annoying as the devil but so very entertaining to read. I wonder if we’ll see him in any future books.

Potts started his nervous humming. He had a right to be nervous. He’d been punctured, shot at, and kidnapped. And in spite of all that, he was sticking with me. That took guts. There was strength of character buried under all his weirdness. Unfortunately, that didn’t make him any less annoying

It is a fun, rollicking, adventuresome time watching Stephanie avoid kidnapping while traipsing through dark, damp, rat-infested tunnels to track down the bad guys, save Grandma, and maybe even find the treasure. She does all of that without much (if any) help from Morelli, but lots of help from Ranger – who keeps her supplied with cars she keeps wrecking. Add a newcomer, Gabriella Rose, into the mix (I think she might be getting her own series) and poor Stephanie has her hands full.

I hope you will read the book and be as totally entertained as I was. It is always great to visit with Stephanie and all of her friends and family – Grandma Mazur, Morelli, Ranger, Connie – and Lula – goodness we can’t forget Lula who is as entertaining as they come. It is an entertaining and fun read and I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Stephanie Plum #26
Publication Date: 11/12/19
Number of Pages: 320

This is the perfect book for a dark, dreary winterish afternoon (or even a sunny happy afternoon). The zany antics of Stephanie along with her family, friends, and co-workers will keep you smiling. Yes, sometimes they are over-the-top and a bit annoying, but all-in-all, they are an enjoyable and entertaining read.

Grandma Mazur was married for all of forty-five minutes before the groom keeled over – dead. Who knew he had a bad heart? Now, his other octogenarian mob cohorts are after Grandma because they are sure that she has ‘the keys’. Everybody knows that there are ‘keys’, but nobody seems to know what they unlock – but they all believe that there is a treasure involved. It is up to Stephanie, Morelli, and Ranger to keep Grandma safe. Of course, Grandma doesn’t help matters – she has to attend the funeral, the wake, bake sales, bingo – you name it.

Aside from trying to keep Grandma Mazur safe, Stephanie is having a pretty good week. Stephanie works for a bail bondsman and it is her job to bring in people who have skipped out on their bail. She’s had several skippers this week and has retrieved them all – including one who brought in a pretty good paycheck for her. So, her rent is paid and she has groceries in her cupboards. (Picture Dog the Bounty Hunter without the talent of skill).

Then, the first attempt at a kidnapping occurs. It was easy to tell they were amateurs, but that didn’t keep them from being scary. They enraged Stephanie’s mom so much that she took her iron to one of them, and the other one ran off. As the paramedics are there to see after the injured one – Lula asks:

“Is he dead?”
“Not yet,” Grandma said.
“Good thing,” Lula said. “If California found out a guy got killed with an iron, they’d ban them, and all those movie stars would be wrinkled all the time.”

Ranger has his security guys watching the house and trailing after Grandma and Morelli is investigating on the police side, but grandma and then Stephanie manage to get themselves kidnapped. They are in the hands of some really bad guys – can they save themselves? Will it be Ranger and/or Morelli to the rescue? Who knew Stephanie could drive a cement truck?

I was well entertained from the first page to the last. If there was a downside, it was that Stephanie is back to her dissatisfaction with her life. This seems to happen every three or four books and it gets a tad tiresome because she whines and complains, but is never willing to do anything about it.