Three to Get Deadly
Series: A Stephanie Plum Novel #3
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Page Count: 321
My Rating:
Book Summary
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 color 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.
More Facts for Readers about our Sleuth:
Main Sleuth: Stephanie Plum (age early thirties)
Description: 5’7″, brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin (Italian-Hungarian descent)
Business: Bounty Hunter (for bail jumpers)
Pet: Rex, a hamster
Sidekick:s Ranger (fellow Bounty Hunter) and Lula (hooker turned filing clerk)
Love Interest: Jospeh Morelli, local vice cop
Family: Mom, Dad, Grandma Mazur, Cousin Vinnie
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Time of year: Januaury
Any Cussing? Yes
Diversity? Yes! Lula is a badass African American woman whose role is growing from her first appearance in book 1 to now, and I can tell she’s going to be a much-loved character in the series. At times she does come across a little charactery and I wouldn’t say her personality is as authentic as it could be, but she is evolving and I think the portrayal will get better and better.
My Review
Book 3 “Three to Get Deadly” in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich is still going strong. The plot is not your typical cozy mystery, and a fair number of characters have unsavory sides to them – but that’s what makes the series so fascinating. Chances of actually running into folks like this in real life – at least for me – are pretty low, so in a way, reading this series feels voyeuristic. I find myself thinking “ooohhhh” a lot of the times while reading because I never expect the story to take the turns that it does. I fully intend to keep reading onto book 4.
My only complaints are the use of the phrase “gunmetal gray” when describing the sky because it’s now been used in each of the first three books, and the referral to male genitalia. After a while I just felt a little queasy, and I promise you I’m not a prude, I just get to a point where I get it. If you’re also a fan of Stephen King like I am, and you’ve read the Dark Tower series, you will understand what I mean about the over excessive references to male “junk”.
