Imagine finding yourself burnt, or getting beat up or even shot at! All of this comes with Stephanie Plum’s job’s territory. It’s occupational hazard. She’s a bounty hunter. In the fourth book of the series, Stephanie is after Maxine, a first time offender who stole her boyfriend’s car after a fight. The problem is Stephanie is not the only one after her. Her nemesis, Joyce, has given up her make-up counter job at Macy’s for the glamorous job of felon apprehension, and is after the same felon! Joyce even puts together an apprehension team, but hers is not as colorful as Stephanie’s. She still has Lula, a 200 lbs ex-hooker in hooker clothes, Grandma Mazur, who is always up for anything especially when it involves guns and criminals, Joe Morelli, stud-muffin (in Grandma Mazur’s words) and Ranger, superhero bounty hunter. She also enlists the help of a cross-dressing singer who has a knack for cracking codes. In  Four To Score, Stephanie gets to travel around Jersey, following the FTA as she goes back and forth between Trenton, the shore, and Atlantic City… As expected, Stephanie finds herself in some unusual situation (never of her own doing, of course!). Between the questioning, the surveillance, the shooting, and the chocolate cakes, who knew she would find the time for a little steamy lust.

As usual, very entertaining. I love the ever-growing list of lively characters. Stephanie can’t seem to get anything right, but somehow, she does get the job done, to everyone’s astonishment (whether it be the people around her who care for her, or the ones who want to kill her). A quick and enjoyable read. I’d recommend reading the first three books before reading this one, in order to know who is who, and appreciate each character to their fullest.

Four to Score by Janet Evanovich is just plain fun. These are not deep mysteries or scary thrillers; they are just plain fun. The characters are people you would love to eavesdrop on while sitting in a diner but not necessarily have them next to you at a dinner. I love Grandma Mazur!!!!

Go Cards! L1C4!

Another fun read. Sally and Lula along with grandma Mazur are all good foils for Stephanie.

I've made a new pact with myself. I am not going to apologize for reading books that lack any real intellectual value. I suppose if that was all I read ever...well then maybe I would need to excuse my horrible habits.

However, since I do read plenty of good and worthy literature, both fiction and non, I am not going make excuses. I like Stephanie Plum, and I like this series. And at some point in time, I am going to get tired of it and that will be that.

Won't say much about this. Same sort of formula going on as the other books. Stephanie getting involved in finding a fugitive whose story is more complicated than just the "I skipped out on my bail" sort of thing. She gets more involved with Joe Morelli. More antics from Lula and Grandma Mazur.

It's a formula and it works for me. It may or may not work for you, but I take no responsibility if it doesn't. Just know that you've been warned that this is pretty mindless stuff. And again the vulgarity, which might be worse here because of a new character. He sure has a potty mouth. Yikes! I actually hope he's not around for any more of the novels.

Four to Score (Stephanie Plum #4) by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis /

Nabbing Maxine Nowicki, thief and extortionist, would be the answer to Stephanie’s prayers and monetary woes. The only trouble is that Maxine is nowhere to be found, and her friends have been mysteriously turning up dead. To make matters worse, Stephanie’s arch nemesis since grade school is also looking for Nowicki, hoping to cash in first.

Stephanie’s mentor and tormentor, Ranger, needs her. Vice cop Joe Morelli has invited her to move in… temporarily. And Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur, sidekick, Lula, and a six-foot-tall transvestite rock musician want to take Stephanie to Atlantic City. One thing is for certain, no good can come from any of it.

My Thoughts /

I listened to the audio version. I still find this series to be very funny.

Hilarious read.

Again, nothing really new - LOVE these books...

In this "episode" we meet a new character - Sally Sweet. He is a cross dressing drag queen... yep... that's what I said. And Joyce is back - Stephanie's arch rival... in bouty hunting (now) and with her husband, Dickie (then). Surprise, Joyce is the reason for the demise of Stephanie's short lived marriage to Dickie, a trenton attorney.

Jealousy over Stephanie's relationship with Sally creates tension until things start to explode, literally, and Stephanie is "forced" to stay at Joe Morelli's house - oh boy. But that is where is hospitality ends - "No!" Morelli said. "You can't boorow my pickup. You are death on cars."

I tend to find myself reading for the characters more than the individual mysteries (which is why I didn't really write about that in this review). These books crack me up and when Stephanie's eye starts to twitch, I can't help but laugh. Watch out for pistol-packing Grandma and Lulu... they are in rare form again!

favorite one so far

Stephanie and her crew are back at it again. This time her eccentric sidekicks include thrill-seeking Grandma Mazur, hooker-turned-file clerk, Lula, and seven-foot-tall drag queen, Sally Sweet. They are on the hunt for Maxine Nowicki, an angry ex-girlfriend seeking revenge. They are in competition with Stephanie’s arch-nemesis, the girl who had an affair with her husband and broke up their marriage, Joyce Bernhardt. Their rivalry is a leeetle too cheesy for me.

The fourth Stephanie Plum entry was one of the funniest stories that I have read in a very long time, I pretty much spend most of my Saturday reading this one only to burst out laughing every few minutes like a maniac which scared the krap out of my cats who like to hang out with me when I read, I know, how lucky of me right? :P Stephanie, Joe Morelli, Lula, Ranger, Sally, Grandma Mazur and Maxine made this an amazing read, this is part mystery and part thriller and about ninety parts wise cracking wit which will make anyone with functional eye balls holler. I loved it so much that I had to start the fifth book right away; I simply missed the characters and the atmosphere way too much to let it go.

I adored how Stephanie could be hiding behind a car doing surveillance when her mother would call inviting her for a nice roast with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy, her friends of course invited and her current squeeze also forcefully invited mainly due of the pregnancy and dating rumors. The girl’s apartment gets licked by a Molotov cocktail and suddenly people think she’s shacking up with her new roommate, the nerve, never mind that they aren’t technically wrong…. I loved the progression between Joe and Steph, it reminded me of some stuff that was started in the first book and now it adds a fun touch as the series continues. Stephanie Plum is a calamity, she is sweet and funny and dangers to people who skip their court dates, how she manages to get these criminals is one of the best parts, it’s really hard to describe the beauty of this series and one simply has to read it to find out what all the fuss is about. In a nutshell each story revolves around a new case, throw in some family drama, some dating disasters and voila, a hit!

Laugh Out Loud Funny, Intriguing, Fun Read! I Loved It!