Sunday, July 19, 2009

Stephanie Plum

I flew through Finger Lickin' Fifteen in a long afternoon.

The cast of characters in skip-tracer Stephanie Plum's life is incredible. And unforgettable. Best friend Lula, the pistol-packing reformed 'ho busting out of her outrageous and colorful outfits, is up to her generous endowments in trouble after witnessing a machete murder on the street in front of her Firebird, which, btw, ends up torched. Also torched are Stephanie's old Escort and two of the mysterious Ranger's new Porsches. Lula and Grandma Mazur(also a pistol-packer) set fire, not once but several times, to their chef's outfits and surrounding areas while practicing their barbequeing skills for a cooking competition to win a million dollars. Stephanie's apartment is firebombed, and Rex the hamster survives an exploding pressure cooker of BBQ sauce which demolishes Stephanie's kitchen. Stephanie is rescued by Ranger, resists his charms to bed her, and agonizes over her breakup with Morelli the cop, as her rival Joyce Barnhardt is on hand to move in on Morelli.

It is impossible to read anything else when one of these wacko, campy adventures awaits me.