Hot Men and Hot Water: Hot Six by Janet Evanovitch

PLUM AMAZING

Stephanie Plum's got trouble in Hot Six, the next entry in the continuing travails of Janet Evanovitch's New Jersey bounty hunter with attitude. Sure, Grandma Mazur has moved in with her (which really ticks off Joe Morelli). Sure, she's a self-admitted nymphomaniac. Sure, she has a serious doughnut jones. But I'm talking about real hot water, here.

This time, she's been assigned to bring in Ranger.

Yes, the same Ranger who's been tutoring Stephanie in the niceties (and nasties) of effective bounty-hunting, and giving her butterflies in the stomach over a bet he won, but for which he hasn't yet claimed his prize (Stephanie herself). Ranger is on videotape entering and then leaving an apartment building where a fatal fire broke out. There's a dead body, evidence of arson, and 48 hours of videotape that show no one else entering the building except Ranger and the victim. And Ranger's disappeared.

It's bad enough that Vinnie has assigned Plum to bring in her mentor, the "most dangerous man in the Burg." But she's got two sinister fellows following her around, threatening her with dire mayhem if she doesn't drop her pursuit. So, being Stephanie, she goes to the expert for guidance, Ranger himself.

   "Why did you skip on your court date?"
   "Bad timing. I need to find someone, and I can't find him if I'm detained."
   "Or dead."
   "Yeah," Ranger said, "that, too. I didn't think a scheduled public appearance right now was in my best interest."
   "I was approached by two Mob-type guys yesterday. Mitchell and Hobbs. Their plan is to follow me around until I lead you to them."
   "They work for Arturo Stolle."
   "Arturo Stolle the carper king? What's his connection?"
   "You don't want to know."
   "Like if you told me, you'd have to kill me?"
   "Like if I told you, someone else might want to kill you."

Hot Six may be a bit darker than previous Plum adventures. I found myself getting seriously worried that she might not make it this time. Even the looney bounty-hunting efforts of Grandma Mazur and the "ex-ho" Lula, and the introduction of Mooner, Dougie the Dealer, and the poop-productive pooch Bob couldn't lighten some of this action.

So at the risk of spoiling the suspense, let me assure you that Stephanie doesn't die. But you knew that anyway—after all, there are five more Stephanie Plum novels after this one.

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Prior reviews by DrPat in the Stephanie Plum series:
One for the Money
Two for the Dough
Three to Get Deadly
Four to Score
High Five
Seven Up
0312976275,0312990456,0671001795,0312966091,0312966970,0312971346,0312980140,0312983867,0312991460,0312289723,0312306261


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