Another good one; not as funny as the first two.

Uncle Mo's been running a candy and ice cream shop for decades and every Trentonian has grown up loving the man. Now the most revered citizen in the burg has gotten himself into a pickle: while pulled over for speeding he also gets popped for having a gun under his jacket. Concealed carry is against the law in NJ, and Mo has skipped his court appearance. Stephanie is assigned the case and as usual, nothing about it is straight-forward. Taking hooker-turned-file-clerk Lula along as a trainee bounty hunter isn't making her life any easier, and then there's Morelli, suddenly keeping her at arm's length and calling her "a friend"...

This book has a lot of focus on Ranger, and Lula takes a special interest in his personal life. As an ultra-private person listing a vacant lot as his home address, she decides to get to the bottom of his "superhero alter ego." Grandma Mazur is less prominent in this novel, and I missed her.

Looking forward to reading Four to Score.

I know this is not great literature, but for me it still deserves 5 stars. I find the Stephanie Plum stories to be so engaging. I literally laugh out loud several times while reading and that is so rare for me. In this book, so many of the situations involving Lulu were hilarious! The dialogue and descriptions were delightfully funny! After reading more heavy-themed books, these are a welcomed break!

Still enjoying the shenanigans of Stephanie Plum and her sidekicks. More Lulu this time and less Grandma Mazur (she is a hoot). Creepy subject matter and high body count.

**Content Warnings and Original Review Below**

So I reread this novel while in the middle of NaNoWriMo this year, so to say that my reading journey is disjointed is an understatement. I didn’t remember much about this novel from the multiple times I read it before and this time through, I can see why. It is just multiple things happening to Stephanie and she does not have a lot of agency in solving the crime or her own life in this novel. Now part of Stephanie’s charm is that she is more lucky than good, which she will admit herself, but usually, she uses her street smarts to figure out where the Failure to Appear is or what else is happening that made them disappear in the first place. Stephanie felt like a secondary character in her own novel. It could have been the circumstances around reading this book, but I felt as if it was missing something that I expected from a Stephanie Plum novel.

The one thing I enjoyed with this novel is that Stephanie had to deal with someone that the community looked up to, which made Stephanie the enemy instead of a woman attempting to do her job. For a book published in 1998, it really captured the mob mentality that can take hold of religious communities, which we have seen time and time again in the last couple of years. It also has a lot of language and attitudes that would have been acceptable in 1998 which caused a bit of discomfort reading today. The people who can do the most harm are the ones that can get the common man to turn on his neighbors in the name of “saving the children” or “protecting the community”. The vigilante mob that threatens to kill Stephanie again and again are just normal people. I realize that this is a spoiler and now have to hide this whole review, but I feel like it’s a point that needs to be made. We knew even back then that it wouldn’t take much to turn certain community members against others and then we saw it happen in the last couple of elections.

I do appreciate the shift in the relationship between Stephanie and Morelli for most of the novel. It keeps Morelli from being one-dimensional in his relation to her being purely sexual. It isn’t as if there isn’t tension and another almost sexual encounter between the two of them, but they are both recognizing that they probably aren’t good for each other at this point in their life, but they also can’t stay away from one another. Since I have read further in the novel and know that they are a three-steps forward two steps back couple for over twenty more books (or at least I am assuming I am not completely caught up) it was nice to have something different than just sexual banter. This is also the first time that you see that Morelli does actually care about Stephanie more than just wanting to have sex with her.

As I said at the start of this review, the fact that everything that happens in this novel is a coincidence or something that someone else tells Stephanie really impacted my enjoyment. Even the big reveal about Moe came out of left field that was only found out through the Burg gossip. Lula provides almost all the sightings of Moe, which gives Stephanie more information about where he might be. Stephanie doesn’t even realize the entire plot until she finds Moe and he tells her everything really unprompted. The final showdown was so over the top that it was hard to suspend disbelief more than I usually do in these novels. It wasn’t a bad read, but one of the things about the Plum series is that Stephanie usually figured things out in an unorthodox way, not just having all the pieces handed to her.

Overall, I would say that this is a 3 out of 5 star read and won’t stop me from reading on, but not my favorite entry in the series. Luckily, I have quite a few more in the series to try and find my five-star story.

**Content Warnings**

Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse

**Original Review**

The third book in the Stephanie Plum series once again sees Stephanie Plum over her head at her job as a bound enforcement agent (bounty hunter). When Vinnie forces Stephanie to track down the Burg's favorite ice cream store owner, Uncle Moe, she becomes the very unpopular with the local residents very quickly. However, when the dead bodies start piling up, most found by Stephanie, and Joe Morelli starts sniffing around Stephanie starts to think that there is more to Moe than meets the eye.

Stephanie's development as a bounty hunter was one of the things that I really enjoyed about this novel. Sure, she still makes a lot of mistakes, but she cracks the case by herself which is a development from the other two novels. Another development is how the relationship between Morelli and Stephanie is portrayed. This time it is Stephanie that chases after Joe when he stops making advances and while they are once again interrupted it still shows that Morelli is not just a creep that is constantly trying to get into her pants.

Overall these books are a fun read and perfect to add to a summer reading list if you want something that is a quick read.

It wasn't until after I listened to the second book in this series that I realized the library had abridged audiobooks. I don't really understand why they chose to abridge a comparatively short work, but that is what the library offers so I'm just rolling with it. I have enjoyed them, even abridged. They're just fun, quick little jaunts that offer some good chuckles.

Stephanie is after another runaway criminal but she keeps running into dead bodies. It's a real downer. Also, why is Joe Morelli chucking her on the chin instead of wildly kissing her? So much to sort through.

Lots of fun! I like riding along with Stephanie.

2.75

It’s not that I’m disappointed, just… I remember how much I loved the first book, even the second book although it was a bit weaker than the first one, but I wasn’t that impressed with this one. It had some fun/funny sentences and it was an easy read, but I’m afraid that’s it.

Not quite as good as the first two, or as funny until closer to the end. There are a few parts, but not like the other ones. I'm not happy with the character Lula. I find her very off putting. She is abrasive and kind of gets in the way and then runs when things get too rough. Some of the later parts were kind of gross and you really don't want to think about stuff like that, but it does exist. Stephanie's neighbours are really funny at the end as well. I guess I'm trying to say that the first parts weren't as funny or engrossing as the ending. It really picked up then. Still a good read though.

This book demonstrates an explosive and brilliantly comical story.

Stephanie Plum. Bounty hunter.

I checked my pocketbook to make sure I had the essentials…beeper, tissues, hair spray, flashlight, cuffs, lipstick, gun with bullets, recharged cell phone, recharged stun gun, hairbrush, gum, pepper spray nail file. Was I a kick-ass bounty hunter, or what?

That about sums her up. She’s hilarious. She’s brave and bold. She’s a woman on the edge. I don’t know who should be more frightened, Joe Morelli or the criminals she’s searching for.

As the books continue, the inevitable character progression always fascinates me. I expect nothing less of the characters in the Stephanie Plum series.

Grandma Mazur holds a special place in my heart. I always picture my momma as Mazur and me as Stephanie. My sister has the personality of Lula, but we won’t tell her that!

In Three to get Deadly, Mazur steps on the edge and takes some interesting chances. Why not find a man of her own?

“How was church?” I asked.

“Boring,” she said. “A big waste of time. We got a bunch of duds in that congregation. Nobody hot to trot. I’m gonna try the bingo hall tonight. I hear they got some live lookers coming to bingo.”

And that’s just the beginning. I love Grandma Mazur and look forward to reading more of her!

Lula. My momma always says she wants to be Mazur or Lula. The character is totally rockin’ awesome! In this book, her character plays a more integrated role, and with the books to come, she will not disappoint you. Wise ass, daring and sexy, Lula will force a smile upon your face even if you’re fighting it.

“I want a triple-decker burger,” Lula yelled at the box. “I want bacon and cheese and special sauce. I want a large fries, and I want lots of them little ketchup packets. And I want a large chocolate milkshake.”

Dickie. Ex-husband sleazebag. He shows up a little in this book, and the verbal sparring matches between Stephanie and Dickie are priceless.

“Bitch,” Dickie said.

“Dickhead.”

His eyes narrowed. “Slut.”

“Asshole.”

“Fat cow.”

“Listen,” I said. “I don’t have to take this. I got a divorce.”

This book took some interesting and gruesome turns.

Stephanie, as always, forces her chin up and remains strong. With people shooting at her, torturing her and leaving her as a suspect in a homicide, she perseveres with grace.

I blink back the threat of tears, swiped at my nose and narrowed my eyes. “Listen to me, you two bags of monkey shit, “I yelled. “I am not in a good mood. My car keeps stalling. The day before yesterday I threw up on Joe Morelli. I was called a fat cow by my ex-husband. And if that isn’t enough…my hair is ORANGE! ORANGE, FOR CHrISSAKE! And now you have the gall to force yourself into my home and threaten my hamster. Well, you have gone too far. You have crossed the line.”

As always, a double thumbs up for this book! There is moderate violence and a few sex moments scattered periodically throughout the book. I would not recommend this book to children or immature young adults. I will most definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a great night of laughter!

Happy reading!

Once again, Grandma Mazur wins the show! Throwing political correctness to the wind (because this was written before PC was a thing), Grandma delivers much needed comic relief. Supporting characters are really the highlight of this book. Lula, Ranger, and even Morelli. Stephanie is great and all, but a bit of a mess and must have one hell of a guardian angel because she should have died about 6 times. These books are a lot of fun. I don't think I'll put a year between books again.

Stephanie Plum is a tough one, I like her character, her acquaintances and the backstory of how she landed her job as a skip tracer.

The New Jersey backdrop is compelling to this West coast guy, and the familiar characters and humor brought me back for #3. This was a short one so still trying to get a feel for the author and her style.

Part of my apprehension is listening to the narrator, who has a difficult task of reading both male & female characters. Will likely read the next in the series as a physical book to get a different perspective.

One more adventure, one more fumbling through the bounty hunter world for our heroine Stephanie Plum. This time Plum gets an assignment which true to the series trend so far turns into so much more. Once again the story is funny as hell and the mystery is nice.

I had meant to read this series for a long time and finally started and it has been fun so far and let's see how the later issues turn out to be. So while I go and jump for the next book you should also be busy and Keep on Reading.

People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading. I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while. I read almost all the genre but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most. My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore. I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

n  n    Book Reviewn  n
4 of 5 stars to Three to Get Deadly, the third book in the "Stephanie Plum" mystery series written by Janet Evanovich. This was one of the more funny books, as the cast of characters just keeps growing full of hilarity. And if you love ice cream, you need to read this one. Stephanie's kinda like that cousin or old friend who keeps popping back into your life, kinda needs a favor, but is a kick ass person who just sometimes doesn't know how to get things under control. But she keeps trying and eventually gets much closer. Often with your help. Evanovich gets in her stride in this series with this book, as she has a good, repeatable pattern and formula, but always throws a few surprises in. Good mystery in this one... tho it spans the gamut of ice cream and drugs!

n  n    About Men  n
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

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