Two for the Dough

This is the second book in Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. In this one, neophyte bounty hunter Plum goes after a guy accused of kneecapping his buddy and takes a side job involving tracking down some missing coffins. Needless to say, it all gets more dangerous than anticipated.

I think I liked this one a little bit more than the first one. Partly that may be because I knew exactly what to expect from it going in, but it also had some very dark humor that actually made me laugh in places, which One for the Money didn't so much. Still, like the first one, this can only be described as "brain candy." And, honestly, it's not even really high-quality brain candy. It's like the literary equivalent of Circus Peanuts. But, god help me, I can show more eat a whole bag of those things. show less

Gone beyond a joke now. I'm irredeemable.

The redoubtable Stephanie Pum, is in her groove, hunting bounties, or rather, persuading bail skippers to turn up at court when they're supposed to. She becomes involved in a complicated mess involving a murder, dangerous cop-killer ammo on the street, a bunch of stolen coffins and a few stolen body parts. Helped, though more often hindrered, by a lovable if unashamedly unreconstructed supporting cast, this is fast, funny, thrilling stuff.

Why did I wait so long to start reading this series? My husband doesn't know what to think when I'm reading, I'm scared one minute and laughing so hard that I nearly pee my pants.

Part of me thinks I am Stephanie Plum. I'm pretty clumsy and somewhat incompetent, especially if I was a bounty hunter. It's so easy to see myself in this character. Morelli and Ranger are both hot and dangerous - I'm leaning toward Ranger being her love interest...he reminds me a lot of my husband. Always there in the background watching and protecting.

And while I'm not from Jersey and we in the mid-west don't have the same fascination with funerals, I could appreciate Grandma Mazur and her friends. Hysterical.

I'm devouring this series and I'm several book show more reviews behind.

In a nutshell, slimy undertaker, missing coffins, arms dealers, bad guys and of course Stephanie is in the middle of things being blown up, shot up and driving the 53 Buick. show less

I can’t believe a ditzier bondsperson could ever exist than Stephanie Plum. She’s off on another attempt to earn her living hunting down bail jumpers in and around the neighborhood she grew up in. She knows many of her clients, knows they are really bad news, and goes after them as only she can.

This time, a cousin of her mentor and nemesis Joe Morelli has skipped his court date after shooting his friend in the face. Naturally, Joe wants him, too, for information on a gun-running case he’s working. Stephanie tries to team up with the guy she refuses to trust and cannot get off her mind. You can guess how that goes.

Add in the bad guy’s high school bestie and current funeral parlor operator who hires Stephanie to find missing show more caskets. Stephanie stumbles through her misadventure, avoiding harm by sheer luck and finding her man in spite of herself.

Grandma Mazur is back to help out. And maybe help Stephanie finally land a man, something that would thrill Stephanie’s mother to no end.

The mystery and the chase in these stories always seem to play second to Stephanie’s family, relationships, and life style. It is a strategy that works beautifully to showcase the humor found between the book’s covers. show less

Stephanie Plum is a self-professed “fugitive apprehension agent” otherwise known as a budding bounty hunter. In One for the Money Stephanie falls into the business when her cousin, Vincent, needs a fill-in for an absent agent. Turns out, Stephanie has a knack for accidentally catching the fugitives. She’s a little clumsy and a lot reckless, but with luck and accidental courage, she catches on pretty quick.
This time, in Two for the Dough, Stephanie is after one Kenny Mancuso, Joe Morelli’s cousin. To bring you up to speed, Joe is the innocent "bad guy" Stephanie needed to apprehend in the last book, One for the Money. Ex-military man Kenny has been accused of shooting his former best friend in the knee. Armed with a stun gun, show more pepper spray, flashlights, a .38 and a friend named Ricardo Carlos Manoso (aka Ranger), Stephanie is back on the hunt for Kenny. Things heat up when the best friend is shot a second time, this time, fatally. Did Kenny come back to finish the job? When Stephanie’s spunky grandmother is stabbed in the hand with an ice pick, things turn serious. It’s personal this time. Stephanie needs to watch her step because now family’s involved. The plot is fun, a little unbelievable, sometimes a little mumbo jumbo, and more often than not, forgettable. show less

This was another enjoyable installment of the Stephanie Plum mystery series. As I listen to these books in my car I often wonder what people think about me if they happen to catch me just laughing away all by myself! I know that a laugh has been provoked during every sitting.

The little jobs at the bonding agency just haven't been paying the bills for Stephanie, so she decides to try some bigger prey by tracking down Kenny Mancuso. While she is searching for Mancuso she also finds herself trying to track down twenty four missing caskets. What better place to start looking for caskets than funeral homes? Since Grandma Mazur enjoys attending wakes so much, especially afternoon viewings, Stephanie enlists Grandma's help by attending almost show more every funeral together in the burg.

Stephanie finds herself working quite closely with Joe Morelli again, and actually welcomes his company because of the non-existent love life that she leads. It so happens that Morelli is a cousin to Mancuso and Stephanie learns a lot about Mancuso's personality that is quite unnerving. Mancuso is mentally unstable and who knows what he is capable of if he were pushed too far. Old ladies like Grandma Mazur are not even off-limits as far as that psychopath is concerned.

Throughout the book, a few body parts happen to show up in unfortunate places. This definitely adds an element of surprise, and believe it or not-humor. The end of the book was quite suspenseful, as even my favorite character, Grandma Mazur, found herself in a life threatening situation. It was certainly interesting to find out what criminals were involved in this scheme besides Kenny Mancuso.

This was definitely a fun and engaging one to listen to and I can't wait until I get a chance to listen to the third audiobook. Things get quite close between Morelli and Stephanie once again, but it looks like we will have to wait for future installments to see if a relationship really develops at all. show less

Evanovich is on a roll and her sequel to One for the Money, is Two for the Dough (guess what the third in the series is titled). It continues Stephanie’s career as a bounty hunter and is again populated with the same great characters. Joe Morelli, now back on the police force, is the old friend who keeps an eye on her, is probably in love with her, and can’t wait to check out her lingerie (the scene where she leaves him stranded in the middle of the street with no shorts on, then returns to give him back his .45 is a classic). Grandma Mazur is as loony as ever, still patrolling the viewings of funerals to compare handiwork of the funeral directors, (at one such — closed casket — she “accidentally” catches her sleeve on the show more handle and flings open the top so she can see how the funeral home handled the bullet holes). The bounty this time is Kenny Mansuro, Morelli’s cousin, who has stolen some special weaponry from the army, hidden in some caskets, then is double- crossed by one of his partners. In retaliation for the attention brings to himself, he begins sending body parts to Stephanie. You’ll never guess the part sent to her that she opens at home just before dinner. Grandma was most appreciative and really curious to see how the funeral parlor would handle this one. show less