So after watching Bad Popsicle rave over this series and particularly 
the sexy bounty hunter, Ranger, on her site for a few months, I 
finally decided to check this series out. (It was either that or 
drown from the excessive amounts of drool being generated over there. 
LOL) I must say that I'm really glad I did.  I mean to put it 
plainly, this series will put your funny bone in traction! It's 
hilarious.

Even more captivating for me was the nostalgia it generated.  Reading 
about some of these characters, I found myself saying many 
times, "Cripes, I KNOW that person."  They could very easily be a 
member of my own deranged family.  Just watching Joe's mom smack him upside 
the head took me back to a memory of my own four foot, white-haired 
grandmother standing on a chair to smack my six-foot dad upside the 
head for stealing a fresh-baked cookie before dinner.  The series 
really made me miss being a yankee.  I don't miss the snow and cold 
so much, mind you, but I definitely miss the good food, the glamour-
rock clothes, and the "tude".

This series is set in the suburbs of Trenton, New Jersey.  Here, most 
of the residents are of Hungarian-Italian descent and are staunchly 
religious about their traditions which include Catholicism, a hearty 
meal, a spotless home, and at least one familial affiliation with 
organized crime.  Their favorite social gatherings are held at the 
local funeral home parlor where prestige is based on which room the 
deceased is laid out in and how extravagant the coffin is. Other 
standing engagements on everyone's social calendar include the weekly 
trip to the beauty parlor and the bakery.

Enter into this scene our heroine who, after one failed marriage 
(which probably doesn't really count because he was a sleeze-bucket 
lawyer) dreams of something more than being a typical "burg" 
housewife and mother, content to cook, clean, and nag her children 
into insanity.  I mean after all, she was the one who tried learning 
to fly by jumping off the garage roof, right? Thus when fortune drops 
into her lap a job from her cousin Vinnie, working as a bounty hunter 
who brings in bail jumpers, she snaps it up.  Trouble is, she has 
ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what she's doing.

From this premise, we are dumped into a priceless collection of hair-
raising (pun intended) circumstances orchestrated by a bunch of 
colorful characters that will make your cheeks hurt and your sides 
split. You might find yourself like me, rooting for the Buick as 
Stephanie manages to lose more cars than Kim Bassinger loses shoes.  
You might count how many times someone breaks into her apartment. 
(See, now if she'd been a mom, she would KNOW strategically placed 
Legos are full-proof).  You might count how many times she takes a 
shower, or gets her hair done in between fiascos.  You might laugh at 
how many times everyone BUT the person who is SUPPOSED to have the 
gun, has a gun. You might drool over the endless supply of hot 
bods...or even hotter vehicles driven/ridden by the hot bods (though 
Ranger may shoot you if steal his Mercedes).  Or you might just be 
the one who notices that she always manages to feed the hamster, but 
for all the times she uses the cell phone, she NEVER plugs it in to 
recharge. 

There an endless supply of endearing qualities about Stephanie Plum 
and her world that will bring you back again and again.  Ms. 
Evanovich even manages to cook up mysteries that really WILL keep you 
guessing to the end...not some sideline mystery plot that you have 
figured out by the middle of the book. Off-hand, I'd say finishing 
one of these books is like patting your stomach after a big, hearty, 
Italian dinner.  So pop the top button on your jeans and enjoy!