Tricky Twenty-Two--Janet Evanovich (3 stars)

[Michael]

A comic chick-lit outing for when you need some absurd diversion from reading too much serious stuff. Stephanie, our intrepid New Jersey bounty hunter, is tasked with tracking down a frat boy at a local college who was charged with beating up the Dean of Students and skipping his bail hearing. It turns out something nefarious is happening there, and her target is hiding out in fear for his life and that of a missing friend who was helping him with making fireworks for a big prank in a locked basement room.

She eventually learns that a faculty advisor, biology professor Pooka, was helping them and took over the project, changing the agenda for some big scheme of revenge for not getting tenure. Her investigations get her into a lot of dangerous situations, and bodies start turning up. Luckily she has her gun-toting grandmother and assistant Lula, a huge trash-talking black woman, to help out (she keeps forgetting to get bullets for her own gun). She also is playing two boyfriends with relevant competence, the cop Morelli, who has requested a pause in their live-in relationship, and the hunky and rich security dude Ranger, who she moonlights with on certain jobs and supplies her with fancy cars she keeps destroying in the mayhem.

This is pretty mindless entertainment that satisfied my need for a dose of madcap comedy and satire about our consumer culture. Sure they are formulaic and the comedy can wear thin if you read too many. This is only my third in a decade, so the slapstick and silly dialog still hits my funnybone. Could this be for you? The following samples could give you some guidance.

Here after Stephanie escaped the evil clutches of Pooka, her mother outran them all in catching and beating him up in a footrace:
She took Stanley Pooka down like a junkyard dog on a piece of rancid meat.
Roger grinned at my mom: “Never underestimate maternal rage.”

Lula here shows her capacity for diversionary lying:
“What happened to him?” the cop asked.
“He tripped while he was running,” Lula said. “It was these baggy pajamas he’s wearing. They’re good for letting your boys breathe while you’re watching television, but you don’t want to run in them, what with your nuts knocking around in there.”

Grandmother and Lula both fire their guns off when threats appear but never hit anyone. Stephanie here tries to cool her jets:
“The truth is you’re the worst shot on the planet. The chances of you hitting your target are zero.”
“Boy that’s hurtful, as it happens I have an eyesight problem.”
“I didn’t know that. What’s wrong with your vision?”
“I can’t see real good.”
“What about glasses?”
“I got them, but they ruin my appearance.”
“Aren’t you supposed to wear them when you drive?”
“Only if I want to see things like signs. I can see big things like cars.”

[Olivermagnus]

I enjoyed the first few of these but it doesn't seem like any of the characters have progressed. I still occasionally pick them up at the library for fun. I think Lula and Stephanie's grandmother are over the top, but they still make me laugh.

[Michael]

You are right. I guess some are comforted with characters who don't change. I wonder if she let Stephanie progress in age.

[Hope]

Wow this summary fits pretty much all the books which is why I stopped reading but I did read about 13 and I agree that if you don't read too many in a row they're fun.