Despite my valiant attempt to get the rest of the series out of the way, I fell short by two (including Visions of Sugar Plums) and found myself slightly lost in places while reading this book. Evanovich, however, does a pretty good job of catching one up while maintaining the reader’s interest in getting hold of past books for the whole scoop.

For the sort of reading schedule I’ve had to be on, I was grateful that Evanovich’s pace is always one that keeps me reading (although, unfortunately sometimes that means an outrageously late bedtime, like 3 am). As far as plot goes, I was a little disappointed in Stephanie’s handling of the Cone brothers. I also have to wonder how much longer she can maintain the Morelli-Plum-Ranger triangle. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for Stephanie keeping her options open while no one’s ready to make a legal commitment. But I also think that there’s only so many devices she has remaining, and part of reading this aspect of the novels is guessing when one of the men is going to be seriously disabled or killed off. Of course, I’m hoping she can creative her way out of this oft-tried ploy.

As far as character treatment goes, I was glad to see that Evanovich decided to keep the action focused more on the professionals (and yes, I’m including Lula and Connie) rather than drawing in Stephanie’s family members and other sidekicks as assistants. While having Grandma Mazur or Moonman along certainly adds to the overall humor rating, I’m going to confess to having a preference for seeing Stephanie develop her skills to a point where she isn’t bumbling through her apprehensions. That tactic is losing some appeal for me. I see enough of it on Cops (as far as the fugitive antics go). Not that I watch it. It’s what the husband falls asleep to on the couch, and I wind up getting the gist of at least one bust while I’m scraping him up and herding him to bed.

Previously published on BookCrossing.com, 2003