Four to Score

Stephanie Plum is leaning, and learning, from her close connection to Grandma Mazur, and Joe Morelli is doing a bit more than pressure these days. He’s a Trenton PD vice cop, a hard lean Italian muscle. He wants Stephanie to quit the bounty hunting, and marry him. He feels the torrid heat. They can’t stay away from one another, but Stephanie can’t see marriage in the cards. She’s not playing that piccolo yet. She’s not as Pickwickian as many believe.

Stephanie has been sent out by her cousin-boss, Vinnie, as a bond-skipper retriever to locate, and bring back, Maxine Nowicki, free on a stolen automobile charge,now, a bond skipper. Maxine’s boyfriend offers money if Stephanie can retrieve valuable love letters. Unpleasantness is difficult to deal with. Sometimes, procrastination works, and the thorn-in-the-side goes away. But, sometimes, it doesn’t.

Joyce Bernhardt returns, revived, and ready to prickle Stephanie again. She is a rival bounty hunter and an arch-enemy. Grandma Mazar doesn’t mince words when she asks Sally Sweet, the code-breaking drag queen, some very personal questions about his anatomy. He stands seven feet tall in high heels, and he refuses to shave his arms, legs, arm pits, or chest hairs. So much for luscious.

This book is a real page flipper. The characters are quick on the uptake, insightfully astute, and they have instinctive self-preservation acuity. Stephanie could be the girl next door, if that girl is street smart, has a licentious oriented Grandma, and is tenacious as a bulldog in a thunderstorm. Lulu’s physical magnitude hasn’t diminished, her proportions stretch seam strength, but, she is funny and loyal. The Robin Goodfellow michievousness is refreshing. Keep these alive and well. Humour is infectious. We need more super-heroes with feet firmly planted on terra-firma. Excellent.

Four To Score by Janet Evanovich is a must read. Evanovich is a gifted writer. She can mix laughter and murder together. When I read her books I can see Stephanie Plum’s parents and grandma. Plum is bounty hunter searching for those that fail to show up for court. She gets herself into more jams than peanut butter! Her sometimes lover, Morelli, is a cop and tries to keep her out of trouble. Doing that is like holding water in a pillow case. In Four To Score, Plum gets the help from a drag queen, Sally, who is over six feet tall. The office file clerk, Lula, is a very heavy set former prostitute. She goes out with Plum on occasions to help find the bail jumper and, well, is she a brave as she talks? Plum finds a waitress that has her middle finger cut off. The mother of the jumper is found scalped. Who is the nut that is torturing these people and why? To find the answers, get this well written book. You won’t be sorry. Rated R for very strong language and sexual content. DP. Castro Valley, Ca.

I have read all of these books over the years, and have recently begun to re-read them. Whoa, I must have forgotten about this one. Explicit sex and very foul language. Apparently the author thought she was getting paid by the f-bomb. She took the Lord’s name in vain throughout the book, and even managed to use the worst word possible in the English language to refer to a woman. The plot was so-so.

Having her car incinerated, her apartment firebombed, being shot at, lunged at with a knife… that’s all child’s play to Stephanie Plum when compared to the threat of an old Italian woman giving her the “malocchio” or evil eye. In the case of Janet Evanovich’s “Four to Score” the curse may come in the form of bearing Joe Morelli’s baby. As if she doesn’t have enough trouble with fugitives, jealous boyfriends and/or girlfriends, a six and a half foot transvestite, rival bounty hunters, Mafia wives, and a killer with a penchant for removing fingers, Stephanie finds herself embroiled with the Morelli family–the old women in particular. Like Macbeth’s three weird sisters, these old crones fall into trances, have visions, and make predictions. One of those visions have to do with Stephanie bearing Morelli’s son. Horrors! (Well, at least they give her a lasagna casserole to munch on.)

As always, Evanovich surrounds Stephanie with the usual ensemble cast: Lula, Connie, Grandma Mazur, Ranger, etc. But Joe Morelli gets the spotlight in this installment, and deservedly so. After all, Stephanie has to camp out in his place after her apartment is burned out. More important, their relationship takes a very carnal turn. Joe and Stephanie have a real stake in this now. When thoughts turn to kitchen curtains and cookie jars, both shudder at the potential of commitment.

In the long run though, it is crime that glues everyone together. Who is passing around funny money? What did an angry young woman steal from her ex-boyfriend that is ticking him off and why is she leaving cryptic clues as to where the thing is? Who strangled a convenience store clerk and is scalping and chopping off women’s fingers? Who is threatening Stephanie’s life? Who might be placing Stephanie’s hamster, Rex, in danger? All these questions (well, with the exception of the last one) keep the plot moving at a swift place. And Evanovich’s ear for the right humor at the right time is pitch perfect here. “Four to Score” is another great installment in the Stephanie Plum series.

As always Janet Evanovich doesn’t fail to delight with this, her fourth novel describing the hilarious exploits of her heroine, Stephanie Plum. This is one of her best although she always has me laughing aloud to the consternation of my other half who thinks I’m almost as nuts as Stephanie (although I tend to think I should perhaps be compared more realistically to Granny Mazur!). If anyone reading this is prone to depression or just needs to relax with a delightful, quick and entertaining book then this is definitely for you. Buy it! You won’t be disappointed and will want immediately to read the other 15 books in the series. NB. It is probably best to start the series with this, or a later book, where you have the pleasure of meeting the many memorable characters that surround Stephanie – then read the rest from the beginning.

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