The Bookshelf: Sizzling Sixteen

I think one of my favorite fictional characters ever is Grandma Mazur. She rocks. I wanna be like her when I grow up. Well, maybe I don't want the highlight of my social calendar to be visits to the funeral home on a daily basis, but still: this woman is a hoot.

If you haven't met Grandma Mazur yet, you totally need to check out Janet Evanovich's numbers series. Stephanie Plum is the comical heroine from Jersey. Her life is a comedy of errors as she begins her new career as a bounty hunter working for her cousin Vinnie. Who apparently cheated on his wife. With a duck. And a goat. No details given, thank goodness.

Grandma Mazur is Stephanie's grandma. I so love her. I also love Ranger. But what's not to love about a super hot, super loaded bounty hunter/security expert? And Lulu..a big, beautiful ex-hooker turned file clerk who works at the bonds office and is Stephanie's pal.

The series starts off with One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, and so on. We're now up to Sizzling Sixteen in the series. Thrown in the middle are some other "Plum" books: Plum Lucky, Plum Spooky, etc. Same cast of characters with the addition of a super-natural bounty hunter of sorts named Diesel. The Old Man reads these, too, so they are not just chick books.

First, let me say, Sizzling Sixteen was right on par with the rest of the books. As usual, Stephanie manages to destroy her car, Lula is on a diet (this time it's the "you can eat one of anything" diet...1 donut of each kind that you like and one green bean. See why she needs a new diet all the time?), Grandma Mazur hangs out at the funeral home (in a boot brace from injuring herself while working out), comical bonds apprehensions (imagine turning all the cattle loose from a meat plant in Trenton), and more. Oh, yeah: Mooner is back. With Hobbits. At a Hobbit Convention.

Now this time, Vinnie is kicked out by his wife and kidnapped by some shady organized crime thugs in retaliation for him skimming some funds. Stephanie and pals decide to rescue him. They end up robbing the mob and paying them off with the money they stole from the mob. Which was guarded by a pet gator. Which like the cattle ended up loose on the streets of Trenton. The Hobbits and Ranger end up rescuing Stephanie and Mooner. It's all good.

Seriously, this is one of the only literally laugh out loud series I read.  Columbia TriStar has the movie rights. And filming is supposed to be underway for One for the Money. Katherine Heigl will play Stephanie.

I was thinking Sandra Bullock. But whatever. It's not like anybody asked my opinion.  Debbie Reynolds will play Grandma Mazur (she's the voice of Charlotte in Charlotte's Web). I can't wait. For more info on the casting, click here.

My next reading? Wicked Appetite, same author. And it has Diesel in it. Yum. Loaded and ready to go on my iPad while taking a mini vacation this weekend.