Barb's Book Reviews: Review of "Finger Lickin' Fifteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel" by Janet Evanovich

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Review of "Finger Lickin' Fifteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel" by Janet Evanovich

In this 15th novel in the 'Stephanie Plum' series, the bounty hunter and her cohorts serve up the usual zany fun. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Stephanie Plum's friend and co-worker Lula arrives at work in a frazzle, having just seen two thugs chop off a man's head.

At Lula's urging, Stephanie calls her sometimes boyfriend, Detective Joe Morelli, to investigate.

When the head turns up, the victim is identified as Stanley Chipotle, a well-known celebrity chef.

Chipotle was in town to promote a barbecue contest sponsored by the makers of 'Fire in the Hole Red Hot Barbecue Sauce.'

Morelli sets out to catch the chef's killers, but he's not alone in his quest. The barbecue sauce company is offering a million dollar reward for the capture of Chipotle's killers, and Lula wants to win the prize. Speculating that a cook-off contestant killed Chipotle, Lula decides to enter the competition and (hopefully) find the murderers there.

Since Lula can't cook she teams up with Grandma Mazur, and the two wackos try to perfect a recipe for tasty barbecue ribs. Unfortunately Lula and Grandma Mazur have neither the know-how nor the proper equipment, and they create one disaster after another.

In the meantime, the killers - knowing Lula can ID them - keep trying to bump her off. Lula takes to wearing a flak helmet and Kevlar vest - which makes a nice contrast with her hunky firefighter boyfriend, who wears a blue Dolly Parton evening gown.

While all this is going on, Stephanie is chasing bail skips AND doing a side job for Ranger's security company, Rangeman.

Some of Ranger's clients have experienced break-ins, and Stephanie is checking out the Rangeman staff - to see if an 'inside man' is stealing security codes. As usual, there's lots of 'flirting' between Ranger and Stephanie. 😉

An on-going joke in the series is Stephanie's bad luck. In this book, several of her cars burn down or explode;

Lula and Grandma Mazur blow up a pressure cooker in her apartment; killers shoot grenades into her windows; she's attacked with paint balls; and a bucket of paint is spilled on her. In a very funny scene, Lula gets stuck in Stephanie's car window - with her generous butt on the inside and her big boobs on the outside.

Many series' regulars make an appearance including Stephanie's mom - who introduces Stephanie to 'eligible bachelors' (unemployed losers); Stephanie's dad - who unhappily endures barbecue experiments for dinner; and Joyce Barnhardt - who puts her skanky eye on Morelli - much to Stephanie's chagrin.

Eventually, Rangeman's problems are solved; Chipotle's killers are nabbed; and the reader's had a lot of laughs.

This is an entertaining cozy mystery, recommended to fans of the genre.

Rating: 3 stars

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Barb's Book Reviews

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Review of "Finger Lickin' Fifteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel" by Janet Evanovich

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