Top Secret Twenty-One

*Book source ~ Library

Title ~ Top Secret Twenty-One

Series ~ Stephanie Plum, #21

Author ~ Janet Evanovich

Publisher ~ Bantam

Published ~ 17 June 2014

Genre ~ Mystery | Humor

Pages ~ 305

My Rating ~ 4 bites

 Stephanie Plum, Bounty Hunter. She may not have an office with a plaque on her door, but she gets the job done for her bond bailsman cousin, Vinnie. Usually. When she was a little girl she had no dreams about catching people who have skipped their court date and need to be rebonded, but here she is. Her mother thinks it’s not a becoming career, but her Grandma Mazur thinks it’s awesome. When used car salesman Jimmy Poletti skips out on a large bond, Stephanie has to track him down and bring him in. But she and her sidekick Lula aren’t having any luck and it seems all the places she’s looking leads her to a dead poker buddy of Poletti’s. Is he the killer or is he running from a killer? And did he try to kill his book cooker, Randy Briggs? Or is someone trying to kill Randy simply because he’s annoying? One thing’s for certain in the Plum Universe…Stephanie is about to get caught in the middle of it all.

This series continues on as if in a time warp. No one ever seems to get older and Stephanie never really improves at catching her skips. She still screws up a lot, has people who help her out of jams and has some decent amount of good luck. The Morelli/Ranger question is still dragging on to the point I’m ready for a sexy firefighter or someone to come along and shake things up. Of course, then we’d probably have a love square instead of a triangle. You can count on things exploding and/or catching fire around Stephanie, some kind of wild animal popping up, Grandma Mazur and Lula being their usual selves and Morelli & Ranger being hot.

Despite the same ol’ routine or maybe because of it, I still enjoyed this book. Why? Because it’s nice to settle down and have a light fluffy entertaining read once in awhile, one that is in a favorite series with favorite characters and favorite shenanigans. Is the plot sound? Not really, but it moved the story along at a good clip.  Plus, there is more of Ranger in this book and that is always going to go over big with me, Team Ranger fan that I am. I don’t understand what she sees in Morelli. He seems to only want a place to store his dick when he’s horny. He wants Steph to quit bounty hunting because it’s giving him ulcers. Ranger protects her as best he can and lets her do her thing. Steph says Ranger isn’t a marrying kind of guy, yet she seems allergic to marriage or she and Morelli would be married already. She whines about Ranger’s healthy eating and yet he’s said nothing to her about her junk food or eating habits. She needs to get over herself and give Ranger some dating time. If her reaction to the danger to Ranger’s life in this book is any indication then maybe she’s wising up. But probably not. All-in-all this was a mildly entertaining read with lots of yummy Ranger added in. I enjoyed it.

One of my favorite quotes:

“As I ran water to wash my hands, my earbud fell out of my ear and went down the drain.

‘Crap!’

I hauled my cellphone out of my bag and texted Ranger. Bad news. Your earbud just went down the drain in the ladies’ room.

It was only a matter of time, he texted back.”