Tag: Stephanie Plum

Fortune and Glory: Tantalizing Twenty-Seven by Janet Evanovich: Stephanie’s on a Treasure Hunt

Fortune and Glory

Fortune and Glory:
Tantalizing Twenty-Seven

by Janet Evanovich
Series: Stephanie Plum, #27

Paperback, 332 pg.
Pocket Books, 2021

Read: December 25-27, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Ranger stopped for a light and looked at me. “How about you? What’s in your bucket list?”

I was stumped. I didn’t have a bucket list. My bucket was empty.“I haven’t gotten around to making a bucket list,” I said. “Do you think that’s a personal failure?”

“No. You’re busy living every day. That’s a personal triumph.”

“It doesn’t feel like a triumph. It feels like I’m moving through my life with no important goals or aspirations.”

“What do you consider to be an important goal?”

“Being a doctor or a vulcanologist or a marine biologist or finding the Ark of the Covenant.”

What’s Fortune and Glory About?

Fortune and Glory continues the storyline kicked off in Look Alive Twenty-Five, this time Stephanie and Grandma Mazur are hunting for the treasure—whatever it may be (no one is telling) that the La-Z-Boy Gang had tucked away. Two of the surviving members are on the hunt for the clues that lead to it, too—and they’re not playing by Marquess of Queensberry Rules.

Naturally, Stephanie also has three skips to track down for Vinnie’s Bail Bonds—one of whom decides that Stephanie needs a bodyguard and devotes himself to that. Sure, Stephanie could use a bodyguard, but probably not one who has a handful (or more) of anxiety disorders that prevent him from doing much of anything.

Dodging gangsters and chasing down FTA’s, just another day in the ‘Burb for Stephanie Plum.

A Backdoor Pilot?

Evanovich has a new series starting next year about a recovery agent, Gabriela Rose. We get to meet Gabriela here because she’s been hired to recover the same treasure than Stephanie and Grandma are on the hunt for.

She’s slick, she’s skilled, she’s apparently successful—she’s pretty much the anti-Stephanie. She’s what Ranger could be if he didn’t have his whole company, either.

Gabriella’s not in the novel much, just enough to introduce her to Evanovich’s readers. But she plays a vital role when she’s around.

I enjoy it when there’s overlap between an author’s series/works, but this felt cheap.

A Change in the Offing?

Stephanie spends a lot of time considering her life, her career, her future…nothing she hasn’t done before, but it felt a bit more serious this time—going so far to ask herself “Who am I?”. Even her newfound bodyguard sees that she wants to change her life.

The presence of Gabriela and some new turmoil in her relationship with Morelli adds fuel to this self-reflective fire.

So, what did I think about Fortune and Glory?

This was fine. This was okay. It was amusing. I appreciate the ambition of the storyline (but glad Evanovich wasn’t ambitious enough to try to extend it). For a series this old, to try something like this for the first time? Pretty impressive.

I don’t know that I found anything funny, though—which isn’t good for a comedic series like this.

It’s not quite as good as the last couple of Plum novels, but not as weak as some of the others. Good enough to read and recommend, but just that good. If I actually believed this round of self-reflection was going to result in a change, I might be more optimistic about things, but I expect that #28 will be more of the same. Which isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just nothing to be excited about.


3 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich: Stephanie’s Discontented but Provides Readers with the Best Book in Years

Twisted Twenty-Six

Twisted Twenty-Six

by Janet Evanovich
Series: Stephanie Plum, #26

Paperback, 305 pg.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2019

Read: December 25, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“You still want to chase after this guy?”

“You bet your ass. Just because he made fools out of us three times, don’t mean one of these times we won’t luck out. Notice he called us losers and not quitters. That’s on account of we never quit. In my mind, that’s the difference between being a loser-and a winner. A winner is willing to look like a idiot for as long as it takes to get the job done. I figure you stick with i it long enough ~ and you win. Unless you die or come down with some disease like shingles or cancer of the rectum. If I ever got cancer of the rectum, I’d go to the best rectumologist out there. Like I’d get a celebrity rectumologist. I wouldn’t mess around with some local yokel.”

“All good to know,” I said.

I don’t even need to provide dialogue tags to that, do I? If you’ve read a single Stephanie Plum novel, you know who’s saying what there.

What’s Twisted Twenty-Six About?

When we last left Stephanie*, her Grandma Mazur had left for a getaway with her new love, who just happens to be a semi-retired mobster. We pick up a week or so later, Grandma Mazur and Jimmy Rosolli had been married, and then forty-five minutes later, Rosolli died (of natural causes, I feel compelled to add). Still, even a 45-minute marriage makes Grandma a widow, but more importantly, a widow of some status in the neighborhood.

* Yeah, I know, right? I’ll talk about that in a minute.

We don’t know a lot about Jimmy’s criminal life, but among his group, he had a particular importance. He was “Keeper of the Keys.” Now, no one—not Grandma, not the cops, not almost anyone that Stephanie can talk to about Jimmy knows what that means. The few that do know, aren’t talking to anyone about them (also, they don’t believe Stephanie or Grandma when they say they don’t know where the keys are).

So Jimmy’s partners are looking for the keys, their rivals are looking for the keys. And everyone thinks Grandma Mazur either has them or can get them (she is the beneficiary of his will, after all). And none of these men are willing to take any means necessary to get her to talk. Stephanie, Ranger and Morelli team up to keep Grandma Mazur and the Plums safe.

All the while, Stephanie and Lulu are on the hunt for people who missed their court dates for the Bail Service, Stephanie is dealing with a destroyed car, Stephanie is fending off advances from Ranger—and not doing fending off much from Morelli, you know, typical stuff.

A moment of chronological accuracy

At one point, Stephanie is lamenting to Lulu about how her life isn’t working out the way she wants and states her age—a larger number than Lulu is ready for (okay, I wasn’t ready for that amount of candor, either—but the math works), and a sign that maybe Evanovich is going to start aging her in real time. It’s not long before Stephanie blows off that moment of honesty as a joke and we’re elft wit an indeterminate age again.

Still, for a couple of poages, it looked liek Evanovich might have been making a big step.

Old Dog, New Trick?

From the start of this series, there’s been a little carry-over from one book to the next—Stephanie’s sister’s marriage and kids, glacially slow advancement of her relationships with Ranger and Morelli, and so on. But largely, these are stand-alone books and can be read in any order.

Until now (obviously).

The end of Look Alive Twenty-Five leads into this book. The ending of this book propels the reader into Fortune and Glory (aka Tantalizing Twenty-Seven). This is new. This is a positive movement, there’s something to sink our teeth into. Not much, maybe, but it’s something.

I’m not sure why Evanovich has changed her approach. I’m not sure I care, either. I’m just happy to see that it has happened, and wonder where she’s going with all of this.

So, what did I think about Twisted Twenty-Six?

“I don’t want to do this job anymore. I’m not good at it. I don’t like it. I don’t like being in the bad neighborhoods looking for the bad people.”

“What would you rather do?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Do you have a direction?”

“No.”

“Babe.”

“Yeah, I’m a mess.”

“You aren’t a mess,” he said. “You’re just a little burned out.”

“It’s more than that. I’m stagnant. There’s no growth in my life.”

“That’s okay as long as you like what you’re doing. Not everyone needs to keep moving up the ladder.”

I have to read a State of the Series in these words (see also: the quotation at the top). I doubt that Evanovich set out to do that, but “mess,” “stagnant,” and directionless are words I’d use to describe this series lately. But like Stephanie’s (no doubt) futile efforts at self-improvement, over the last couple of books I’m seeing signs that Evanovich might be trying to add some direction and clarity to the series

I do not think it’ll ever reach the comedic heights it once hit. Nor do I think that Evanovich is going to suddenly become the new Grafton (not that I’d complain), but it seems like she’s taking the storytelling component of this seriously again. I could be 2-3 books away from again wondering why I’m sticking with these series. But until I get to that point, I’m going to enjoy the ride.

As for this book? It was fun—I admit to laughing out loud on a few occasions. I liked the story (I’m not convinced the bad guy was set-up correctly before the reveal, but…I’m not going to argue about it). The action was decent. I didn’t roll my eyes at the destruction of the car, and best yet, I think this is one of the best uses of Stephanie’s parents in ages (if not ever).

This might actually be a decent jumping-on point (Look Alive Twenty-Five would be marginally better) for this long-running series. This is definitely one to use to come back to the series after a time away. Or if you’re just plugging away with a new annual entry, you’ll be satisfied. Give this series a shot, it’ll be worth it.


4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Dusted Off: Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

Eleven on Top (Stephanie Plum, #11)Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
Series: Stephanie Plum, #11


Mass Market Paperback, 321 pg.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 2006

So here in number eleven, Evanovich shakes things up a bit. Stephanie’s had enough of the way things are going and quits the bounty hunter biz. This leads her to the first of a series of ridiculous and embarrassing jobs (and one great one). Great, funny stuff there.

But, of course, the bounty hunter biz isn’t done with Stephanie–someone from her past wants to settle a score, so the book’s more than just a montage of crappy jobs.

The more things change, the more they stay the same: Despite her best efforts, Stephanie gets her man; the family and relationship stuff are at their usual goofy levels; and once again, car insurance premiums in the Burg are jacked up.

I have no doubt that there will be a return to the status quo, but I’m hoping we keep the current setup for another book or two.

—–

3 Stars

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