Three to Get Deadly (Stephanie Plum #3) by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis /

Stephanie Plum, the brassy babe in the powder blue Buick is back and she's having a bad hair day -- for the whole month of January. She's been given the unpopular task of finding Mo Bedemier, Trenton's most beloved citizen, arrested for carrying concealed, gone no-show for his court appearance.

And to make matters worse, she's got Lula, a former hooker turned file clerk -- now a wannabe bounty hunter -- at her side, sticking like glue. Lula's big and blonde and black and itching to get the chance to lock up a crook in the trunk of her car.

Morelli, the New Jersey vice cop with the slow-burning smile that undermines a girl's strongest resolve is being polite. So, what does this mean? Has he found a new love? Or is he manipulating Steph, using her in his police investigation, counting on her unmanageable curiosity and competitive Jersey attitude?

Once again, the entire One for the Money crew is in action, including Ranger and Grandma Mazur, searching for Mo, tripping down a trail littered with dead drug dealers, leading Stephanie to suspect Mo has traded his ice-cream scoop for a vigilante gun.

Cursed with a disastrous new hair colour and an increasing sense that it's really time to get a new job, Stephanie spirals and tumbles through Three to Get Deadly with all the wisecracks and pace her fans have come to expect.

My Thoughts /

Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich is the third book in the Stephanie Plum series. And, continuing on with my previous praise for my local library….this third book is available in largeprint (#allhailandpraise)!!

Let me begin by telling you that this latest instalment……if I’m COMPLETELY honest, is really only a 3 to 3.5 star read. However, this series, as a whole, is such a joy to read and there is so much I like about it that I’m giving it a 4-star rating.

Book 3 has my favourite bounty hunter in the making, Stephanie Plum, back in action surrounded by all the eccentric and quirky characters from the previous books. Evanovich certainly knows how to bring her characters to life. Stephanie:- she eats junk food, oozes sarcasm, loves her hamster, Rex and is a Jersey girl through and through.

And I, Stephanie Plum, 125 pounds, five feet, seven inches, brown-haired, blue-eyed bounty hunter at large, have just been assigned the task of hauling Uncle Mo’s revered ass off to jail.

Ranger:- fellow bounty hunter; a man of mystery; a man of few words; he who has an aura of intensity surrounding him.

Ranger has been my mentor when I’d started in the business and was one very bad bounty hunter. In this case, bad meaning ultracool. He’d been one of those army guys who went around disguised as the night, eating tree bark and beetles, scaring the bejeezus out of emerging third world insurgents.

But in this instalment we get a glimpse of a (dare I say), lighter side to this man of mystery, when he ends up at Steph’s parents’ house for dinner. He is always there to lend a hand whenever Steph needs one.

Ranger declined the butterscotch pudding, not wanting to disrupt the consistency of his blood sugar level. I had two puddings and coffee, choosing to keep my pancreas at peak performance. Use it or lose it is my philosophy.

This story has Stephanie Plum assigned the case of “Failure to Appear” for Moses Bedemier, otherwise known as “Uncle Mo” to practically EVERYONE in Trenton, New Jersey. Uncle Mo owns and operates the town’s local convenience store and, as Steph quickly finds out, Uncle Mo seems to be the entire town of Trenton’s favourite senior citizen. It did seem a little strange to Steph that Uncle Mo jumped bail on a minor charge of carrying a concealed weapon but, she’s been assigned the FTA task so will do her utmost to track down the nicest guy in the neighbourhood so he can reappear in court.

He [Vinnie] was a bail bondsman, which meant he loaned people money to post the bond set by the court. The bond’s purpose was to make it economically unpleasant for the suspect to skip town. Once the bond was posted the incarcerated suspect was set free, enabling him to sleep in his own bed while awaiting trial.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's something more going on here than a simple FTA on a concealed weapon charge. And, as usual, our girl Steph has an uncanny knack for walking right into the middle of things. Pretty soon the case escalates – there are attacks by strange unknown anti-drug vigilantes – and the body count of murdered local drug dealers is on the rise!! Despite all the hostility she’s copping from the public by tracking Trenton’s No. #1 good guy citizen; Steph is taking bullets from another angle. What is the connection between Uncle Mo and the bad guys? And more importantly, why do a bunch of masked thugs – keep trying to knock her off! All she wants is for people to stop shooting at her and threatening violence against her hamster!

I wasn’t a bad person. I only cheated a little on my taxes, and I paid most of my bills. I didn’t cuss at old people (at least not to their faces). I didn’t do drugs. So why was I having such rotten luck?

This was such an easy read. You aren’t busily trying to work out the mystery, the whodunnits. You are here in the present for the pure joyful entertainment; for the laugh out loud humour as you thank the stars that gun-toting Grandma Mazur isn’t in your family tree; or that Lula (the 230lb ex-hooker now bounty hunter trainee) isn’t your sidekick. Although maybe some of you wish she were. This author has a fabulous dry wit and impeccable comedic timing and her characterisations are authentic.

If you have made it to here in my review – kudos to you. I know the one burning question left for you to ask is – ‘What happened to Rex???????’ Chill. Be cool. All is well. He’ll be back in book 4…..I think.

I love how the community came together to protect Mo (aka Old Penis Nose lol). Of course, by the end his crime was much more serious and I think they probably let Stephanie go without too much harassment. At least her mother defended her while she searched for him even if she didn't agree. The whole dirty window comment she made was hilarious. Another great moment was when Mo shot Ranger with a taser. His reaction was awesome. It was so creepy to think that this 'kind old ice cream man' was such a pervert. I do get why those guys would want to kill the drug dealers though. The police couldn't do anything and their kids and families were getting addicted and killed.
I really appreciated the lack of romance for Stephanie in this one. No Morelli, since he was acting pretty cold and no Ranger. They were just professional. It gets to the point sometimes that it seems all Stephanie thinks about and makes for a boring story.

In this third book in the 'Stephanie Plum' series, the bounty hunter is looking for a beloved candy store owner. The book can be read as a standalone.



*****

When Trenton, New Jersey native Stephanie Plum lost her department store job, she became a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie. Stephanie's responsibility is to pick up bail skips (people who've missed their court dates) but she's notoriously inept at the job, and gets into all kinds of comical scrapes.

Stephanie's current assignment is to bring in popular candy store owner Mo Bedemier (known in the neighborhood as 'Uncle Mo'), who was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon.



Weapons aren't a big deal in Trenton - where almost everyone owns a gun - so Stephanie's puzzled when she can't find Mo anywhere. He hasn't even opened his candy shop for two days, which is unprecedented.

While Stephanie's looking for Mo she discovers the bodies of dead drug dealers all over Trenton, and is threatened by vigilantes who want her to leave Mo alone.



Stephanie refuses and her continuing search results in attacks by masked men; cars being wrecked; guns going off....all sorts of mayhem.



As Stephanie goes about her business she's either helped or hindered by her usual associates:

Lula - a big black woman who was once a 'ho' but is now a file clerk/bounty hunter in training; Lula wears kooky clothes, drives a red Firebird, and carries a huge gun. Lula can stop a perp by sitting on them, which is useful at times.



Ranger - a hot Cuban bounty hunter who taught Stephanie the trade (or at least tried to). Ranger is as tough as they come, and seems able to walk through locked doors. Ranger's trying to get Stephanie into shape, but she'd rather eat donuts than exercise.



Joe Morelli - a sexy Italian cop who's Stephanie's on-off boyfriend, and knows exactly when to show up for pizza and beer. Joe has an undercover operation going on, and wants Stephanie to stay away.



Also on hand are Stephanie's family:

Grandma Mazur - who likes guns, funerals, and men; her boyfriend in this story has bad dentures and a glass eye.



Stephanie's Mom - who 'takes a nip' when she's anxious; Stephanie's shenanigans inspire a lot of nips.



Stephanie's Dad - who watches TV, eats, and sighs at Stephanie's (and Grandma's) antics.



There are a lot of laughs in this cozy mystery, including Stephanie's inadvertent orange hair; Lula's bounty hunter outfit (a leather duster and cowboy hat); a corpse protruding from Lula's Firebird; and more. In my favorite comic scene, Stephanie is threatened by thugs in her apartment, and every middle-aged or elderly person on her floor comes to the rescue with a pistol, machine gun, meat cleaver, or metal walker.

Stephanie bumbles her way to locating Uncle Mo and discovering who killed the drug dealers, and I was surprised by the book's denouement - which is darker than I expected. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable light mystery, recommended to fans of the genre.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

n  Adaptation is one of the great advantages to being born and bred in New Jersey. We're simply not bested by bad air or tainted water. We're like that catfish with lungs. Take us out of our environment and we can grow whatever body parts we need to survive. After Jersey the rest of the country's a piece of cake. You want to send someone into a fallout zone? Get him from Jersey. He'll be fine.n

I've never been to New Jersey, or anywhere in the Northeast part of the U.S.. And, from the colorful descriptions I am reading in this series.... I don't think I want to change that.


I don't think so. I'll stay in Texas... and that's saying something!

But, it's funny! Very funny.

So, Stephanie is trying to pick up the local beloved candy-shop owner because he failed to appear. He is so beloved that Stephanie becomes public enemy number one by doing this. Her mother is getting phone calls.

Of course, nothing is ever as easy as it should be for Stephanie. She is a walking disaster area. She manages to fumble her way into extremely dangerous situations and has a habit of getting her cars blown-up. Except for the giant blue Buick that belongs to her grandmother. That thing is the only vehicle that can survive Stephanie. It can also survive the Apocalypse. It is made of some strong stuff. They probably make those airplane black boxes out of it. And, eventually, Stephanie always gets stuck back in that car.


This is the year, color, and model she describes... Actually, it's kind of cool...

Even Stephanie's poor little hamster, Rex, gets into danger because of her. He survived a murder attempt in the last book, and in this book someone else tries to off him. Poor little guy! He needs to find a safer place to live!


or, at least get him a little gun. Everyone else in Jersey seems to be packing.

So, this was another fun-filled, silly, cute, madcap story. Of course, I was very disappointed that nothing happened with her love interest yet. We went all the way back to square one. Come on, now! That is just mean! There'd better be some action in the next book!

Not as exciting as the first two, but still wonderful! Lots of laughs with a few touches of terror. Poor Rex. Good thing he's a fighter. These books are for pure enjoyment. My 'bubble gum books'.

Reread- March 2018

Loving this Series. Off to read book 4! this book makes me want to be a bounty hunter with orange hair LOL

Book three was my favorite thus far. I rated this book four stars, because I just couldn't put it down. I really enjoy Janet Evanovich's writing style because something is ALWAYS happening in her novels.
Ugh, sorry to be a "negative-Nancy", but am I the only the that doesn't laugh-out-loud at these books? Lula gets on my nerves (even though she's a sweetheart,) and Stephanie has the "oops! hehe" sense of humor that just always seems to be getting her in trouble. Don't get me wrong, I love reading these books and enjoy the men characters especially, but I think one of the other members of goodreads.com said it best when she claimed she needed a break between each of these books because they are such and easy, quick read. For me, they aren't books that I think about much after I am finished with them, just ones that I enjoy during the reading process :)

Another fun romp. Stephanie makes as many mistakes as apprehensions but she’s still good value. Some genuine giggles and a satisfyingly high body count. I don’t know how many more crims she can track just by relying on local gossip but I’ll keep going with these until they get utterly ridiculous instead of only mildly so.

I'm not one to laugh out loud. I chortle. I chuckle. I read the amusing bits out loud to my husband. But I rarely laugh out loud. I did with this book, more than once. I'm talking tears rolling down my face and me coughing up phlegm from 1974. This is a VERY funny book. It seems that each book in her series gets better and better. Dare I hope it continues?

This is the continuing saga of wacky Stephanie Plum, girl Bounty Hunter. This time she's traded in her 53 Buick, a pale blue land barge for a pretty little girly truck, that sputters, backfires and stalls causing passersby to call it a "Fartmobile". Every good crime solver needs a side-kick and in the last book Stephanie had her equally wacky grandmother, but this time she's paired up with a big-breasted brass ex-ho keen to learn the ins and outs (I'll just pause here while you think about it)of Bounty Huntering. More like Laurel and Hardy, these two unlikly partners stumble into more dead bodies than a near-sighted mortician.

It seemed an easy retrieval. Uncle Mo, the sweet, elderly owner of the candy store beloved by generations of Burg kids, needed to be brought to justice after he skipped bail. Who ya gonna call? Stephanie Plum. It's a riot of dead bodies, close shaves, coitus again interruptus and enough dinners with the family to make Stephanie's eye twitch.

All in all, a delightful read and really good for loosening phlegm.

Life Ain't Like This Box of Chocolates... at Least I Hope Not



Oh, Stephanie is in it again. Shocking, I know.

excellant!

I have a feeling I'm going to spend quite a bit of this summer counting up the numbered books with Stephanie Plum. Found myself laughing out loud through most of this book - so far the best of the bunch. But if any of the bad guys finally harms the poor hamster Rex, I'm OUT!!!