Finger Lickin' Fifteen, A Rambling

I thought I'd start off this blog by addressing a subject that has become amazingly prominent in my life in recent months and that is "Who Has Stolen Stephanie Plum and Left This Nitwit in Her Place?" By the way, if you haven't read the book and spoilers piss you off, then get lost because I'll be giving them.

For those uninitiated to the Plum universe, although if you are I'm not sure why you would even still be reading this, Stephanie Plum is the main character of a set of novels authored by Janet Evanovich. Miss Plum is a thirty-ish divorced woman who lives in a one bedroom apartment with her hamster Rex and support herself (barely) by working as a Bond Enforcement Agent (Bounty Hunter) for her cousin Vincent Plum (Plum's Bail Bonds).

This series is much beloved and long-lasting ... originating somewhere in the mid-1990's. Thousands of readers anxiously await the release of the next book every June. The books are always titled by number ... One for the Money, Two for the Dough....Finger Lickin' Fifteen - which makes it really easy to keep them in order on your bookshelf. Sometime in the past couple of years Evanovich started publishing a what she calls the "Between The Numbers" books, that tend to be short and silly and contain the same characters as the main books, but aren't necessarily connected to plot continuity.

Stephanie Plum is most famous for one thing in the literary world and that is the never ending question of Morelli vs Ranger. Briefly explained, there are two smokin' hot men in Stephanie's life and this "Love Triangle" if you will is the stuff of message board legend. Joseph Morelli (Joe) is Steph's first love. He got into her panties at age 6 for a game of choo choo, took her virginity at age 16 and is now her On Again/Off Again Cop boyfriend. Joe likes to call Stephanie his Cupcake. Carlos Manoso (Ranger) is Steph's mentor in the Bounty Hunting business and he also occassionaly throws work her way at his security firm, Rangeman....very helpful for those times that he'd like to get some more fondling in and/or Steph has again gotten herself into the position where she can't pay the rent and buy hamster nuggets. Ranger is a Man of Mystery and he melts hearts across the globe by referring to Steph as "Babe." Women, and more than a few men, LOVE to debate the question of Cupcake vs Babe.

So what's the problem you might ask?

The problem is this --- the books have been going sharply downhill for the past couple of years leaving the rabid fans of the Plum series scratching their heads and asking "Janet Evanovich - Why Are You Doing This to Us?" I recently took some time to scroll through the Amazon ratings of the most recent book (Amazon, home of the any piece of crap will get rated at least 3.5 stars) and wasn't too shocked to discover the book clocking in at a mere 2.5 Star rating.

My friends and I have spent time .... way too much time most likely ... discussing this issue and mostly (whether we were Cupcake or Babe fans) agreed on the following points.

1. What used to be a world funny original plot lines has degraded into something resembling the 3 stooges. The latest book is replete with fart jokes, a hot dog costume, misadventures in cooking, and a pack of dogs that steal dinner. The books are shallow and barely resemble the earlier works in the series.

2. The chemistry is lacking ... whether it be Steph/Joe or Steph/Ranger .... it just isn't there anymore. Readers used to beg Evanovich to choose one or the other, now they seem to beg her to just end the series.

3. A frequent complaint amongst readers is the fact that the story never evolves and the characters never grow. I personally would take this one step farther and maintain that the story has actually devolved. Stephanie Plum used to be unconvential at her job, but she almost always got results. She'd eventually solve the mystery, catch the guy, and keep Joe and Ranger panting along behind her. Now she's just .... silly and dependent. The "mystery" in this latest train wreck was so thin and poorly executed that it might as well not even been there. Steph did manage to solve it, if you could call happening to be in Starbucks at just the right moment to see the villain playing his handheld video game detective work. Of course then rather than apprehending the dude herself, she pulled out her cell phone and called Ranger to come and get him. blech.

Am I the only one who thinks that the Steph of yesteryear would have somehow tricked the guy into the back of Big Blue, drove by the Tasty Pastry to buy him a choco donut with sprinkles, and then hauled his butt down to the Police Station herself?

ah well, next book to ponder ... Burn by Linda Howard