Tag Archives: sleuth

Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich (1996) – BR00065 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
November 29 1999

Plot or Premise

This is the second book in the series about Stephanie Plum, new bounty hunter. This time around, her first love’s distant cousin, Kenny Mancuso, is supposed to be a relatively easy pickup. Sure, he shot a guy, his best friend, but he’s not all that bright. Except that he’s fresh out of the army and suddenly wealthy.

What I Liked

I liked the expansion of the role by Plum’s grandmother, even though I thought she was over the top in the first one. Here, it’s funny, as she is out of control. She goes to a funeral with a closed coffin for a guy who was shot, and she opens the coffin to see what he looks like. Another dead guy has a strange-looking ring so she touches the hand and the finger comes off. Don’t even ask about her shooting a gun. The love story with Morelli moves along a bit until he screws up (as all men do) and the brakes come on hard. Add in the sub-plot of 24 missing coffins, and the read is a riot. An improvement over the first book, and further expansion of some nice supporting characters.

What I Didn’t Like

There are a few too many guys running around with no real explanation, and the major baddie Kenny does a pretty good job of going wherever he wants to despite a large number of people looking for him (remembering that he wasn’t too bright to begin with).

The Bottom Line

Another great one in the series.

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (1995) – BR00064 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
November 29 1999

Plot or Premise

This book introduces Stephanie Plum, a good girl down on her luck, who falls into bounty hunting to pick up some cash and avoid having to move back home. She lives in the suburbs of New Jersey, and dances around the question of whether she wants to bed Joe Morelli again — the local cop who stole her virginity when she was young and foolish, and then wrote about it on the bathroom walls and the stadium bleachers. She got revenge years later by almost running him down with a Buick. No cream puff here, she is also not exactly an expert at being a “fugitive apprehension agent”. More like an apprehensive agent, and the descriptions are hilarious.

What I Liked

Stephanie is supposed to find an elusive man — Joe Morelli! Yep, her cop foil and first love is wanted for allegedly shooting an unarmed suspect. Morelli claims there were other guys in the apartment, and there was a gun, but that doesn’t change the fact that Plum needs to bring him in to get the money. And she isn’t experienced enough to match wits with him for most of the book. But she has help from a lot of extra support characters — Ranger, the experienced bounty-hunter; Vincent, the bail bondsman; and Plum’s family.

What I Didn’t Like

Her grandmother is a little over the top but so are Lulu and Jackie, hookers in the downtown neighbourhood; and one seriously disturbed boxer, with a passion for hurting women.

The Bottom Line

Excellent first in the series.

Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs (1999) – BR00071 (1999) – 🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
October 10 1999

Plot or Premise

Twisting sub-plots make it hard to describe as one common theme, but in essence, Dr. Temperance Brennan is back with a problem — dead people, including babies, are popping up all over the place as a result of a religious cult. Even her sister gets involved, not to mention a young female relative (can we say Kay Scarpetta’s niece?). In fact, the majority of this book comes even closer to a rip-off of that other series, but closer to the lousy writing near the end of the Scarpetta series than the tight stories that launched the female coroner genre. The story starts in Montreal, and then moves to Carolina, and then eventually back again to the Montreal area. Unlike the first book, you never get the same sense of place.

What I Liked

A difficult question…the story is interesting, just with a lot of holes and loose threads. One really good thing that is missing from this story that was in the previous one is the removal of the francophone / anglophone dynamics, that is not only annoying, but also inaccurate for the timeframe.

What I Didn’t Like

The list is growing…First, and most important, I hate the way it mirrors the Kay Scarpetta stories, essentially ripping off the work that has gone before. Second, Reichs has a really bad habit — trying to build suspense and mystery by an old trick of hiding certain things. At least two major “clues” in the sub-stories are not revealed, instead having Temperance kind of taunt the reader in an I-know-but-the-reader-won’t-until-I-feel-like-revealing-it-to-them way. None of the “clues” are that big, nor are they worth waiting for, and the reader is just left feeling irritated and cheated by the story. Either the waiting has to be worth it, by making the news so unbelievable that you say “WOW!”, or you have to play fair with the reader and share the news as it comes along. Finally, I have to say that not only is this book not particularly great, but it is also a real let-down from the first one. It reads like Reichs threw it together from two separate stories, and with a lot of extra characters thrown in, none of which are any more than wooden extras.

The Bottom Line

A let-down from the first one.

Rough Stuff by G.H. Stone (1989) – BR00092 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
October 10 1999

Plot or Premise

This book marks the third in the Crimebusters series, with the Three Investigators in a plane crash with Bob’s father.

What I Liked

After the plane crash, they are forced to “rough it”, with standard adventure fare. The mystery is classic Three Investigators, and the series is beginning to somewhat settle into the new characters.

What I Didn’t Like

The adventure side degrades into dealing with polluters with M-16 rifles and there is a “fight” scene that again is very far removed from the Three Investigators’ world.

The Bottom Line

Not bad, not great.

Hot Wheels by William Arden (1989) – BR00085 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
October 10 1999

Plot or Premise

The Three Investigators series that I loved as a kid was transformed some years ago into this new Crimebusters series that I could never find in stores. The stories are aimed at young adults, but I was expecting the stories to have relatively the same type of stories that I fell in love with as a kid. Wrong. Instead, they have updated their ages from 14 to 17, updated their lifestyles from chores and bicycles to part-time jobs and cars. And thrown in lots of women to entice their hormonally-charged bodies. In short, the characters have grown up but not necessarily in keeping with the personalities they had originally. In this story, the 3Is are helping their cousin who has been charged with grand theft auto.

What I Liked

Jupe, Bob and Pete juggle the case, their jobs, and their social life to stay on top of things. In the old series, most of the time the characters were all together, or were working on different parts at the same time. In the new update, lots of other things interfere in their lives (a little more realistic, but less enjoyable). Yet Jupiter Jones is still the leader who relies on his brains more than his brawn.

What I Didn’t Like

The biggest fault is that the authors have added an action element to the series. Kind of like some of the false notes that appear in other series, the characters in this series have increased their physical fitness with karate and judo. So, eventually, there is a fight scene complete with big thugs and guns.

The Bottom Line

Same series, similar concept, same names, but different characters.