I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I run out of Stephanie Plum books. Maybe I’ll conquer the other 250 books on my to-read list on Goodreads and try to finish up the 2015 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. For now, it’s onto Finger Lickin’ Fifteen.
Diesel is gone, the Between the Numbers series has ended and we’re back to good old fashion Stephanie Plum entertainment. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen starts off with drama from the very beginning as Lula witnesses a murder. It turns out that a celebrity chef has been beheaded and she is the lone witness. Those who committed the crime are out to get Lula as they try and cover their tracks.
With a large sum of money out there for whoever solves the murder, Lula and Grandma Muzar are determined that the suspects will show up at the local BBQ Ribs contest. They decide to cook up their own sauce & enter as contestants.
Stephanie, in need of extra money, has started working for Rangeman again. She and Morelli are not on speaking terms for most of the book. When Lula’s apartment is attacked by the killers, she moves into Stephanie’s apartment, so Stephanie spends a few nights at Ranger’s apartment. Ranger is having issues with his buildings getting broken into and asks Stephanie to help provide a women’s perspective. In the end she winds up working her way through both a murder & a security breach while attempting to repair her relationship with Morelli.
“Sounds to me like you’re talkin’ about the wrong things. Why don’t you talk about other things? Like you could make a list of things you won’t fight over and then you only talk about those things.”
― Janet Evanovich, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
Finger Lickin’ Fifteen is filled with a lot of barbeque sauce, another one of Lula’s fancy diets & a few blown up cars along the way.
“On the bright side, I’m sure this isn’t the last time you’ll ever get firebombed, so maybe you’ll have better luck next time.”
― Janet Evanovich, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
Overall this wasn’t my favorite Stephanie Plum book. I did like the basic storyline and keeping up with it but I think I enjoy the books a lot more when she and Morelli aren’t spending the entire book fighting. I guess I’m not exactly team Ranger, not that I don’t like Ranger (I LOVE Ranger) just not Ranger and Stephanie together. I also missed the appearance of Bob throughout the book. He usually provides good humor along the way.
One of the things that I’ve found I don’t like in some of the books is how fast they wrap up the mystery. This was one of those books. I was surprised at how few pages I had left and suddenly everything wrapped up in a paragraph it seemed like. It won’t stop me from continuing, but it just wasn’t my favorite. Maybe things will get better in Sizzling Sixteen!
Then again, Lula is back on her diets and they are always a good laugh!
“You think I’m gonna feel better eatin’ a carrot? Get a grip. There’s two idiots out there trying to kill me, and you think I’m gonna waste my last breath on a vegetable? (Lula)”
― Janet Evanovich, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen