Three to Get Deadly

Stephanie Plum is less than thrilled when her cousin hands Stephanie her latest bounty hunting assignment: bring in Uncle Mo, the well-beloved proprietor of her neighbourhood's local candy and ice cream shop. She's even less thrilled when it turns out that Uncle Mo is not the easy collar he appeared to be and instead appears to have left town. While Stephanie works to hunt down Mo she finds herself in the unfortunate position of discovering the murdered bodies of several drug dealers, figuring out just what's going on between her and police detective, Joe Morelli, and fighting the urge to eat yet another doughnut that will just end up on her thighs.

Pure fluff from start to finish, there's something very satisfying about working your way show more through a Stephanie Plum novel. While I had largely figured out the mystery well in advance of Stephanie, there's still plenty of fun to be had with these characters. Like many readers of this series, I'm a big fan of Grandma Mazur and her hijinks and would pick up the books just for her. A solid entry in the series and I look forward to following Stephanie's adventures in the (many) books to come. show less

This one was the funniest yet. Between Lula calling Mo ‘Old Penis Nose’, Stephanie’s orange hair, her disaster of a used pick up truck and her inability to catch a 17-year old bb gun shooter, I laughed a lot. It was also one of the most brutal. The people really behind the drug dealer killings don’t want her to find Mo and they threaten to shoot up her hamster with dope if she won’t back off and then they burn her hand with a cigarette. I don’t know whom I felt worse for.

In the end, it isn’t Mo who’s been killing all the bad guys. It’s this reverend of a renegade church. Mo kind of got a little caught up in it and that’s why he was carrying the illegal handgun he got stopped with, but he hasn’t killed anyone. He show more wants out almost as bad as Stephanie wants to find him.

As usual, Joe Morelli makes an appearance. I think he sticks his nose into all of Stephanie’s cases just because he wants her so badly. They do almost make it this time but are interrupted by someone knocking over garbage cans in the ally. Afterward, Stephanie repents and says it was all the booze. We know there will be a next time. show less

Review posted here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-review-three-to-get-deadly.html

Stephanie Plum has only been a bounty hunter for 5 months, but she has already earned herself a reputation as trouble magnet. But the pressure is really on for her now since she has to arrest the town’s saint, Moses (Uncle Mo). He has been Trenton’s Candy Man, owns his own shop that sells candy and ice cream to the kids and it is even known as a safe place for them to hang out. But what is supposed to be a simple bust on minor charge (carrying concealed) soon becomes explosive for Plum when Uncle Mo is beginning to look less and less like the town saint. But that doesn’t stop Uncle Mo’s supporters from showing Plum how much they show more don’t want Mo gone and this puts Plum in even more danger than she thought.

Oh, how much I love this series. Again, I so regret how long it took for me to start it. I am not sure I would classify this as Chick Lit or not, but it is something I think both men and women will find entertaining. Plum is still Plum, always in the wrong place at the right time (you read that right). I love how her strange hunches send her to the correct places, even though what occurs isn’t the best of situations, it helps. I love how crazy things get. Everything seems so normal and BAM, Plum is surrounded by dead bodies, drug dealers, bullets, and a rocket launcher. Yes, a rocket launcher!

I got the abridged version again, but in this one there wasn’t much of Grandma Mazur which is greatly disappointing, but we do get more Lula. I really loved her. Adding more of her made up for not having a lot of Mazur (still wanted her though). She becomes Plum’s unwanted sidekick, but she was loads of fun. I couldn’t stop cracking up at the amount of things she would say to and about the criminals they needed to bust. One of my favorite scenes was when they had to catch some kid working at the mall. The fight between him and Plum/Lula was hilarious. Seeing two chicks having mustard squirted on them and trying to take down a guy in a chicken suit is just priceless.

We also meet some of Lula’s interesting friends who might be crazier than she is, but made this even funnier to listen to. And of course, there is Joe Morelli, but he is acting surprisingly weird around Plum. He has been after her since the beginning, but now he is acting like they are just buddies. This leads to some sexy and once again very frustrating scenes. Why Evanovich do you continue to tease us? As much as I enjoy Morelli, I am most curious about the character Ranger though. Something quite sexy about him, he definitely screams alpha and I want more. We are definitely going to see more of him.

Don’t have much more to say without spoiling things. This book was great. This series is yet to disappoint. I can’t possibly put it down. If you haven’t started it, you must. No way can you get bored with this series. Going on ridiculous chases with some of the most unusual characters ever, plus the loads of laughs, this is a definite hit. show less

Poor Stephanie Plum is tasked with tracking down beloved candy store owner Moses Bedemier, known to all in the burg as Uncle Mo, who has skipped bail by missing a hearing. The community shuns Stephanie while her parents nag her to settle down and get a real job. The characters come alive with eccentricities and personal histories with Stephanie that go back to grade school. Throw in a gun-toting grandmother, a lecherous cop, a retired 'ho' and the whole story runs rolls out like a comedy of errors told in a graveyard. Macabre, hilarious, unexpected fun!

Book three in the Stephanie Plum series. At this point, our heroine has been in the bounty hunter biz for five whole months, and has still not entirely gotten the hang of it. Her current assignment is to bring in a beloved neighborhood figure for missing a court date, but the guy is nowhere to be found. Looking for him, of course, quickly plunges her into a much more complicated situation, this time involving a surprising number of dead bodies.

I think this series is starting to feel a little more polished as it goes along. It's still complete brain candy, but it's increasingly really digestible brain candy. Shallow and unmemorable, yes, but a very quick, reasonably amusing, and thoroughly undemanding read. Which, some days, is exactly show more what you want.

Mind you, even if it is starting to feel more polished, it's also starting to feel decidedly formulaic. Three books in, and I'm pretty sure I could already write a Stephanie Plum drinking game: Drink when Stephanie has car problems, drink when she goes to her parents' house for dinner, drink when someone shows up to threaten her at her apartment (twice if they threaten her pet hamster)... I'm thinking this could get tiresome down the line, but for now, I'm not too bothered by it. show less

Stephanie is the pariah of the neighborhood as she tries to track down everyone's favorite "Uncle Mo." In her usual way, she soon stumbles into more than she had bargained for. More violence, "People keep shooting at me!" More confusion, Morelli is treating her like a sister, and more pain, Ranger has her up and running every morning to get in shape. Full of fun and charm, not the most difficult mystery to solve, but fun to read anyway. More explicit language and graphic sex than I'm comfortable with, I put up with them because Stephanie feels very real and I like being around her.

Friends have talked about how good the Stephanie Plum books are. I read the first two and was not wild about them. They were okay, but I was underwhelmed. I decided to give the third one a shot, and I'm hooked. The third installment in this series is hilarious! Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter since her lingerie job fell through, sets out to apprehend the owner of the local candy store. At every turn someone is trying to hinder Stephanie because everyone loves Uncle Mo. When armed men start threatening Stephanie, she realizes there is more to Uncle Mo than anyone knows. I don't even know what to say about Ranger and Morelli. I would not turn down a stakeout with either of them!

I laughed my way through this book from the image painted of show more Lula, an ex-prostitute and aspiring bounty hunter, to Grandma Mazur. I will definitely be reading more in this series. I have a long way to go! show less