Audiobook Reviw: Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich

Here is a summary of Two for the Dough from Janet Evanovich's website:

Now Stephanie's back, armed with attitude -- not to mention stun guns, defense sprays, killer flashlights, and her trusty .38. Stephanie is after a new bail jumper, Kenny Mancuso, a boy from Trenton's burg. He's fresh out of the army, suspiciously wealthy, and he's just shot his best friend.

With her bounty hunter pal Ranger stepping in occasionally to advise her, Stephanie staggers knee deep in corpses and caskets as she traipses through back streets, dark alleys, and funeral parlors.
And nobody knows funeral parlors better than Stephanie's irrepressible Grandma Mazur, a lady whose favorite pastime is grabbing a front-row seat at a neighborhood wake. So Stephanie uses Grandma as a cover to follow leads, but loses control when Grandma warms to the action, packing a cool pistol. Much to the family's chagrin, Stephanie and Granny may soon have the elusive Kenny in their sights.

Fast-talking, slow-handed vice cop Joe Morelli joins in the case, since the prey happens to be his young cousin. And if the assignment calls for an automobile stakeout for two with the woman who puts his libido in overdrive, Morelli's not one to object.

Low on expertise but learning fast, high on resilience, and despite the help she gets from friends and relatives, Stephanie eventually must face the danger alone when embalmed body parts begin to arrive on her doorstep and she's targeted for a nasty death by the most loathsome adversary she's ever encountered. Another case like this and she'll be a real pro.

My Review:

This was another enjoyable installment of the Stephanie Plum mystery series. As I listen to these books in my car I often wonder what people think about me if they happen to catch me just laughing away all by myself! I know that a laugh has been provoked during every sitting.

The little jobs at the bonding agency just haven't been paying the bills for Stephanie, so she decides to try some bigger prey by tracking down Kenny Mancuso. While she is searching for Mancuso she also finds herself trying to track down twenty four missing caskets. What better place to start looking for caskets than funeral homes? Since Grandma Mazur enjoys attending wakes so much, especially afternoon viewings, Stephanie enlists Grandma's help by attending almost every funeral together in the burg.

Stephanie finds herself working quite closely with Joe Morelli again, and actually welcomes his company because of the non-existent love life that she leads. It so happens that Morelli is a cousin to Mancuso and Stephanie learns a lot about Mancuso's personality that is quite unnerving. Mancuso is mentally unstable and who knows what he is capable of if he were pushed too far. Old ladies like Grandma Mazur are not even off-limits as far as that psychopath is concerned.

Throughout the book, a few body parts happen to show up in unfortunate places. This definitely adds an element of surprise, and believe it or not-humor. The end of the book was quite suspenseful, as even my favorite character, Grandma Mazur, found herself in a life threatening situation. It was certainly interesting to find out what criminals were involved in this scheme besides Kenny Mancuso.

This was definitely a fun and engaging one to listen to and I can't wait until I get a chance to listen to the third audiobook. Things get quite close between Morelli and Stephanie once again, but it looks like we will have to wait for future installments to see if a relationship really develops at all.

My Rating: 5/5